Are You Special?

This morning I checked my email inbox as I do every day, and I was greeted by a few status quo emails. But there was one email amongst the lot that was not status quo; it stood out above the rest.  This email was directed to me, I mean REALLY directed to me. I felt a real sense of love as I began to read the words of this one particular email. The email was from the blood donation centre, and they were wishing me a happy birthday. But this was not your ordinary birthday wish. The basic message of the email was this: ‘Even though you get to feel special one day of the year on your birthday, to us and these people whose lives you save, you are special every day.’

For some reason this email really struck a chord with me. So much so that I have been pondering over what it really means for a person to be special ever since. In my pondering a simple truth has begun to repeat in my heart, a truth that often escapes us in the pursuits of daily life. The truth is this: each and every one of us is special, every single second, of every single minute, of every single day of our lives.

The most important question though is do you really believe it? Normally we only feel special when something outside of us triggers us to feel that way. An example being the way I felt after reading that email this morning. But the reality is that our specialness is always there within us, it never vanishes away or ceases to be a reality. It is an innate part of our essence, and forms who we really are. We are each children of the Divine. And as such each of us possess the attributes of Divinity waiting to be brought into full blossom.

Why then do we not always feel special in our day to day lives? Is it because we are not as good looking as our best friend? Or is it because our neighbour gets more attention than us because of their million dollar house? Perhaps it is because we don’t get as many people post on our facebook wall as other people we know? Could it just be that our job isn’t special so we are not special? There are many such examples, but you get the picture.

And so it is that most of us associate being special with having something outside of us. In order to feel special we need to be told from an external person. Or it is some other external source in the form of a quote or a book that fires up the feelings of specialness within. But is this really where our specialness exists? Does our being special reside in a book? Does it exist in facebook? Can it be found in having blonde hair? Or a fast car?

The answer is no, it cannot be found in anything external to you. The reality is that we are always special. Where then does this specialness reside? Where can one find it? The answer is within your true self. Now there is a difference between your true self, and your fake self. Each of us has a fake self. The fake self is formed by others opinions and beliefs. It is formed by our own judgements of ourselves as we go throughout life. Our fake self creates the mask which blocks the true self.

Within the true self is our innate specialness. It is always there, and is never not there. The only time most of us see or feel this specialness is when something external causes us to remove the mask for a time. But the reality is we have the ability to remove the mask ourselves, any time we choose. The moment we stop comparing ourselves to others, looking outside ourselves for self-worth, judging ourselves etc., is the moment we remove the mask. The mask is merely an illusion, a mask we all have to varying degrees.

So when will you choose to take off your mask? When will you step outside the shadow of your fake self and into your true self, who you really are? Are you ready to stop accepting what other people say of you and start accepting your true special nature? Special is who you are, who I am, and who the all are. As it is for one, so it is for all.

All the answers to life are within you this very moment. You are the very thing you’ve been looking for. You are the most special person in existence. As the old proverb goes, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Right now my heart is telling me that I am special, and that you are just as special. Glorious be the day when we can accept this every single second, of every single minute, of every single day of our lives.

Follow Your Heart, Uncover Your Passion

When you wake up in the morning are you lethargic and dreading getting out of bed? Do you feel dismay in thinking about the day ahead? Does it feel natural to be doing the things you are doing in your life? Or does it seem like you are walking against hurricane force winds day by day?

If you are like most people, then you have experienced and felt all of the above at some point in your life. If not, then this article is not for you, and you should probably be writing an article or book of your own on the topic! But few there are out there that can say they haven’t experienced all of the above at some point in their lives.

I can definitely say that for the most part of my life I have felt this way. There have been the fleeting moments where I just felt in the flow of life and everything seemed so natural. But those times have been few and far between. And so it is with most of us. To most of us life is a drag and it feels like we are constantly butting out heads against a wall and never getting past it. And so I ask you this one question, why is that?

There may be many of you that have never seriously asked yourself that question. But yet it is one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves on a consistent basis. Is life really meant to be so dull and boring? Is our purpose to merely live meaningless lives where we never seem like we are accomplishing anything of any real worth? Surely as human beings we are destined for better circumstances than these in life?

Again you may not have an answer for these questions, or maybe you do. It is also possible that you try not to think about answers to questions like these because it only leads to more sadness and depressed thoughts. If so you need not think that way any longer. You see life is not meant to be like that. Each human being is born onto this earth with a specific purpose innately within them. Every single one of us fits into the overall jigsaw puzzle, with all our pieces being the same size, yet different in appearance. No one person has a greater or more important purpose than the other.

One of the hardest aspects of our lives is to find out what our purpose is. In actual fact it can be just as hard to find out that we actually have a purpose in life. For most of us we are brought up being told what to do and who to become. There is no freedom for us to express our individuality and unique purpose to the world. Nevertheless it does not detract from the fact that each one of us has a purpose. This purpose is manifested in the things we are passionate about. When we find something we are passionate about, we are beginning to uncover part of our life’s purpose.

The question still remains though, how do we find and uncover our passion in life? Many people, including myself have been looking for the answer to this question for many, many years. But yet the answer, as I am beginning to learn for myself, is simpler than you might expect. It is simply a matter of getting in touch with and following your heart. Now I am not talking about the physical heart, but the spiritual aspect of the heart, the one we usually associate with love and joy and other such things.

It is within this aspect of our hearts that our true passion lies. It is here that all the answers about your purpose in life are found. This is where you must seek, and it is there that you shall find. The problem is most of us live our lives completely lost in our minds. When the mind goes to work, it seeks only the answers it already knows. Therefore it is impossible to find your purpose and passion in life through your mind.

The mind is limited by knowledge that we’ve attained throughout our lives, or in other words, by our memories. So by seeking from memory only, our minds unconsciously limit us only to what is known. And if you have never known your passion in the past, it is impossible to find it in the future within the mind. The true solution to this problem and most of life’s problems lie outside our conscious awareness. They real solutions reside in our hearts.

When we are in tune with our heart’s desires, we are in flow with life. This is because our hearts are connected with the higher aspects of life, the unseen elements in the universe. Our heart is literally the connection between us and everything else in the universe. The heart is the key. When we connect with the heart aspect of our being we connect with the very Source of life itself. This is where true inspiration emanates from.

So then how do we connect with our hearts? How is it that we can uncover our true purpose and passions in life? Simply follow your heart’s guidance. Follow the feelings and hunches you have in life. Go with your gut instincts and intuitions when you feel them within you. They are all sourced from your heart. Those things don’t come from your mind they come from a deeper aspect of yourself.

When you stop living from your mind and start living from your heart, then everything in your life will begin to change. The mind casts a veil over us that we cannot see beyond when we look through its blinkers. The heart is able to see clearly without the tainting and constraints that are associated with the mind. It is not easy to let go of the mind and trust the feelings and instincts that come from the heart. But in order to uncover your purpose in life it must be done this way. You will never find your true purpose in life within your mind.

When you start living from your heart you can expect to have the following things occur in your life. You will wake up in the morning feeling energised and alive. You will feel enthusiasm about the day ahead. Everything in your life will feel natural and things will just fall into place for you without any effort on your part. And you will find the resistance beginning to disappear until eventually you find the wind is now behind you and guiding you forward in life.

And so it is as you follow your heart, you uncover your passion. The joy and excitement you have always longed for is within you. The trick is in getting in touch with the aspect of yourself that possesses all those things you are seeking for. You are the key. Now it is up to you to use the key to unlock the aspects of yourself that will allow you to live the life you have always dreamed of.