Why do some people feel vitality even during busy, stressful times, while others only feel miserable or burned out? I believe one of the key factors to energize your life is in the way you approach the tasks before you.
If we think of work as being about achieving, we may visualize something outside ourselves that we need to get to make us happy. But this perspective leaves us working endlessly towards an often elusive goal. We may seem to meet our targets and feel happy for some time. Then something doesn’t go as expected, and once again, we are left listless and unfulfilled. Living this way is like a hamster running on its wheel. We are busy, but we likely do not feel we are making progress or moving forward. This is deeply exhausting.
The spiritual and humanitarian leader Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, lovingly known as Amma or the Hugging Saint, reminds us that the most valuable asset we have is time, which we too often squander. Keeping focused on the purpose of our life is paramount, especially as we move through our day and encounter seemingly small things that become large obstacles and that take us off path.
When we say yes to our highest purpose, we give life to our deepest joy. In so doing, life unfolds with grace-filled support that we otherwise would not have seen – or even thought possible. We feel more energized. We want to get up in the morning and engage with life. We feel enthusiastic and have more patience for even the smaller, seemingly mundane things, because we see them as a part of the greater whole. We begin to glimpse the truth that Amma so beautifully expresses: “Where there is love, there is no effort.”
The deeper blessing about following our joy and saying yes to our highest purpose is that we feel great. Everyone, everywhere wins, because we are all connected. By choosing to follow our true joy, we participate in a total shift in the energy patterns of which we are a part. We create ripples in the fabric of life, beginning a wave toward the positive possibilities of being.
As you realize how much more vitality you can experience when you focus on your true purpose, you become more discerning. You show up wholeheartedly for what is yours to do. Since you want to spend time on the things you love, you can quickly set clear priorities. You don’t let hours of busywork take you away from the work that most challenges and inspires you. A momentary illusion of comfort or safety as you “check off the boxes” is not worth the lost connection with your real joy. You see that the person with whom you could potentially get entangled on the phone for hours is not where you are meant to be, so you politely bow out. Their needs will be better helped by someone else. You know that getting caught up in any situation that makes you less than you are and pulls you off path is a lose-lose dynamic.
As you move through your life, get clear about your goal and choose to spend your time wisely. Say “Yes!” to your highest purpose. When you bring your fullest self into the now and free yourself from limiting beliefs and hindering habits, you tap into true vitality, embody deepest joy and inspire others to do the same.
Parvati is an award-winning musician (“I Am Light”, “Electro Yog”, “Yoga In The Nightclub”), yogini (YEM: Yoga as Energy Medicine), author (“The Grace Mindset”, “Aonani of Avalon”, “The Three Supreme Secrets for Lasting Happiness”) and founder and CEO of the nonprofit Parvati.org. All her work is dedicated to protecting all life on Earth by establishing the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary (MAPS). More info: parvati.tv; parvati.org.