The Mastery of Delight or the Delight of Mastery? You Decide…

October 24, 2018

What is my purpose? Who am I? What am I doing? What will I be when I grow up?  Will I ever grow up? These, and many other questions race through my head, and maybe yours as we “live” on this spinning planet circling the sun. At the heart of the matter, or in the heart to be more specific, lives the desire of Delight. Delight is what is experienced when a person lives her/his passion on purpose.  What does it mean, really, to live your passion on purpose? There are many slogans, mantras, affirmations, jingles, and tag lines that seem to point to purpose.  Sayings like, “Just Do It”, “Be the best version of yourself”, or “Live life on purpose”. What we forget to remember, as the poet said, is “to thine own self be true.” We are living in a time where indifference is the overpowering attitude and social influences dictate our choices.  What are we indifferent to? The harsh reality is that we are indifferent to the delight of our own hearts.  What will people think if I quit my job and become a full-time artist? Or, choosing to acknowledge that, social media is sucking the life out of relationships. I am hopping off social media and calling people to meet in person. Do you have a longing to do something, be something, try something? Then “Just Do IT!” Find the delight.  Seek the delight. Trust the guidance of your own GPS, your heart.

Now some of this may sound cliché. Maybe it is? Maybe it’s not! What if each person, actually, followed her/his heart? What if we supported the dreams, the conversations, the musings of each other’s souls? The thing about true delight, is that it is Divine.  It is beyond joy.  It is the soul stirring, heart pounding, life affirming expression of purpose.  We all have the voice inside, nudging us towards our passion and purpose.  What has happened, in our culture, is that we listen to the voices outside of us more than we listen to the One inside.  We listen to the negative mind chatter that is a recording of the societal nay-sayers, telling us  “it’s just not possible,” or “you can’t possibility want to do that!!, Really???” We have lost trust, in our own selves, to know what is best for us. Can you feel my eyes roll?  I have done this too, so there is no judgement here. The question becomes, how can I get back to delight? 

It is a quest to find your personal delight.  It may be that you try many things, become skilled and versatile in a variety of things. You may question the direction of your path. I know I have at least a dozen times!!  It is said that mastery comes after doing something for 7 years.  If that is the case, how many years have I been listening to the nay-sayers? Have I mastered that? I have been doing my own laundry since I was 7 years old.  Am I a master of the laundry? I have been cooking since about 7 also, I wouldn’t label myself a master chef, even though my Irish stew is yummy. So you see, there are many things that I have learned to do, many things I can figure out how to do and most are things I couldn’t care less about doing…obviously, these are not my purpose! Mastery of purpose is a discernment process of skill, action and delight. Where these converge, there is your purpose. What is stopping you from finding it?  Fear? Need for acceptance of others? Money?

Your purpose, my purpose, is not tied to the JOB we do, the friends we have, the house we live in, the vacation we go on, or the influences of society…our purpose is where our delight meets the needs of the world. Where our actions connect and create something for the greater good.  This may seem paradoxical, and it is.  What happens when we live our purpose and listen to our inner GPS is that our inner world, matches and serves our outer world.  Can you even imagine what it would be like to live in the beauty of a world working and living in the unison of living a delightful life of purpose? We are all connected in a Divinely woven web, a fabric of many colors and there is purpose to each piece of fabric, each color and each purpose.  This is just the beginning of the discussion of purpose! Let’s talk more about it. Ponder these questions: What is my purpose? What is my delight? Sit with them, find the answer and then “Just Do It”.  In the end, you will Master the greatest challenge of your life time…to simply and humbly BE YOU! It may not be easy, liked by others, supported by society and yet it is what you were put here, on this spinning planet circling the sun to do! So, go do it!! And yes, it is a paradox, a labyrinth or even pandora’s box…discover it anyway!

Just Sayin’!!!!

Beth is a candid presenter and teacher. She is available to speak for your small groups or create a workshop that is right for your organization.  Contact Beth for more information and rates.