I was walking with a friend, and we were talking about life and its challenges. \u00a0We were talking about how sometimes we can get driven along by the frenetic pace of life, lose our balance and be tossed around on the currents of circumstances, feeling like we are adrift and aimless. \u00a0And other times, like we are being bashed against the rocks of life.<\/p>\n
As we spoke, a quote from Paulo’ Coelho’s book The Alchemist came to mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.\u201d\u009d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Alchemist is a story of a boy named Andalusian and his journey in pursuit of his treasure. \u00a0 It chronicles his interaction with people and circumstances that while independent of each other work to help our hero discover a deep sense of self, meaning, purpose, and ultimately .. his treasure.<\/p>\n
So, I shared the quote in the context of the conversation, and it was mistaken for an idea that was taught as a part of what many might know as the Secret. \u00a0(It was one of those reminders that context is indeed everything and my friend was privileged to the unspoken context in my\u00a0own thoughts.)<\/p>\n
No, I am talking about something much more significant. \u00a0Something that satisfies deeper than the allure of the Let’s Make a Deal<\/em> life, and one in which our deepest self is discovered – the treasure. \u00a0 When we commit ourselves to something bigger than ourselves<\/strong>, we discover ourselves in a transformative way in the process.<\/p>\n
Happiness<\/strong> Paradox<\/strong> – \u00a0the counter-intuitive relationship between seeking\u00a0happiness as an end in itself and actually achieving it.\u00a0 Research has demonstrated an inverse relationship between one’s pursuit of happiness as an end unto itself and the elusiveness of feelings of happiness.\u00a0 Research reveals that those who have the most of what is often believed would make them happy (money), often reported feeling the least happy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It is in the process of the journey\u00a0that we learn the path is one which looks like we give ourselves away or downward mobility. We realize that self-discovery is not found from within the Billabong of self-centeredness, rather it\u00a0is found in\u00a0things bigger than the egoic, small self. \u00a0That bigger thing that with time, we find has resided within<\/span>\u00a0us, as if from the very beginning. Jesus would talk about this\u00a0when he spoke about those who cling to their life will lose it, and those\u00a0who\u00a0gift their lives as a gift to others will find genuine, deep life.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0To do so<\/span>, we commit ourselves to love, to faithfulness, to generosity of spirit, peacemaking, to truth (as an experience not necessarily a set of propositions) and wisdom (defined as integrated living of truth in real life). \u00a0The lived journey of cultivating these in our lives will excavate our true self from the cultural graffiti that has super-imposed its vision of who you are\u00a0upon you. \u00a0As you live into life through love, mercy, beauty, generosity, and creativity, you will discover your\u00a0emerging\u00a0<\/span>true self as a natural process of the\u00a0journey itself. \u00a0You see, what you are really seeking\u00a0is not found at the destination, but in making the journey itself,<\/strong> it’s that we realize the truth of is the case when we arrive at the subjective destination. \u00a0In the words of T.S. Eliot:<\/p>\n
We shall not cease from exploration<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnd the end of all our exploring <\/strong><\/span>
\nWill be to arrive where we started <\/strong><\/span>
\nAnd know the place for the first time.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt is to this way that all of the universe conspires in helping you discover authentic life, – your treasure. \u00a0The process of this journey not only serves you but as we discover our true self, as we become love, it inspires everyone and everything around us. Our becoming, living from our authentic self, contributes\u00a0to others on the same journey. We serve as signposts and encouragement for them along the way. We become co-creators with the universe (I prefer God) of the new creation, and you’ll discover your unique place in it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was walking with a friend, and we were talking about life and its challenges. \u00a0We were talking about how sometimes we can get driven along by the frenetic pace of life, lose our balance and be tossed around on the currents of circumstances, feeling like we are adrift and aimless. \u00a0And other times, like…","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-soul-significance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}