Yesterday, I was taking my daily walk on what happened to be a particularly freezing Boston morning.
I usually listen to audiobooks when I walk and I decided to re-listen to one of my favorites: The Power of Myth, a 6-part series of conversations between Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell, recorded a few years before Campbell passed away.
If you’re not familiar with Joseph Campbell, I highly encourage you to learn more about his work, which has had a great impact on me.
He was an author and teacher most known for his work in comparative mythology -- if you’ve heard of the Hero’s Journey, it’s likely due to him.
So here I was, dressed in 10 layers and still freezing, when I heard Joseph Campbell say (I’m taking a bit of liberty in paraphrasing):
“Many people live programmatic lives. They are doing what they think they’re supposed to.They are not listening to themselves. They are not following their bliss. And I think when that happens for a long time, there is a great chance they suffer a breakdown of some kind. Because we’re meant to follow our bliss.”
As cold as I was, I stopped, took my gloves off, and with my half-frozen fingers tapped rewind. I did this twice more, standing on a windy street corner.
These words felt like they touched something very deep inside me.
Which is why I am sharing them with you.
In them, I recognized myself.
For the first part of my life and career, I lived a programmatic life.
I did the things I thought I should have done -- impressive jobs, taking care of my family, doing hard things just because I could.
But I did not listen to myself. I didn’t really know how to do that. Not until I suffered what I first thought was burnout, but turned out to be much deeper than that. I’ve called it my crisis of being.
In a way, I’m grateful for it.
I was so stubborn and staunchly attached to what I thought I should be doing -- and so willing to tolerate a certain degree of dissatisfaction with my life that was simmering under the surface -- that something drastic had to happen to get me to listen to myself.
I know I am not alone.
I’ve met and mentored so many wonderful awesome humans who hang on with all their might to the life they think they should be living…
… even as they sense an emptiness inside, a growing feeling that something is missing.
Many of us are taught to be responsible and do “the right thing” -- which somehow we take to mean that our joy is not that important.
We’re taught that life is a struggle and we’re not meant to enjoy it -- even though, if you really pause to think about it, why are we here other than to feel joy and aliveness?
And -- and this is a big one -- even if we hear the inner call to do more of what fulfills us, the uncertainty and fear of change stop us from ever answering it.
And so we live our programmatic lives, as Joseph Campbell says, instead of following our bliss.
But as we come to the end of the year, I want to lovingly agitate you to fight for your bliss.
Because as I have discovered through my own experience and guiding so many leaders, entrepreneurs, and impact makers, there is nothing more important.
Your bliss is not frivolous.
Your aliveness is the most important thing you can strive for.
Not just because it is the whole reason you’re here, on this wonderful and challenging adventure.
But also because it’s the best way you can be of service to the people you love and our world.
As Joseph Campbell went on to say: “A vital person vitalizes the world.”
When you follow your bliss and your aliveness, you become your fullest, vibrant, and most authentic self.
You unleash your greatness.
And boy, does the world need your greatness!
So here are some questions to marinate on as this year nears its end -- and the new year brings an opportunity to evolve and reinvent:
- When do you feel your bliss?
- What has made you feel most alive this past year?
- What is one way in which you could expand your aliveness and follow your bliss in the new year?
Following your bliss doesn’t mean you need to break everything in your current life. Not at all.
It could mean uncovering a dimension of yourself that’s been dormant (say, taking up a new creative project), or exploring something that’s always called to you (writing a book, perhaps?).
You can start small.
The most important thing is that you listen to that inner voice that’s calling you to reinvent some aspect of your life so you can feel greater aliveness and true fulfillment.
And then begin to take steps in the direction that’s calling to you.
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