How do you recognize your destiny?

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word ‘Destiny’, it completely intimidates me.

What? Am I supposed to save the world or sacrifice myself?

I remember as a small child in Sunday school being totally freaked out by the minister. He said ‘God has already ordained your destiny and when he calls you, you must answer, because not answering will render your life useless! You will never succeed at anything else but God’s will.’ Hectic!

This had a profound impact on me ‘ would God call me to do something that I didn’t want to do? (like becoming a nun, even though I wasn’t Catholic! )

Bottom line is that my relationship with the idea of Destiny is not a good one.

How does one start to even imagine your destiny. How I envy people who seem to have been born knowing exactly what they want to be one day. Or people with natural talent and ability ‘ their destiny just unfolds in front of them.

How do you recognize destiny when it presents itself? Which opportunity that comes your way will unlock your destiny. How do you know which of your talents are supposed to unlock your destiny?

What must the impact of your destiny be on the world? Does destiny require enormous talent, or passion, or dedication?

I have thought about it at length, but I don’t know’.

For years I have been searching for this thing ‘ this destiny or passion that I am supposed to find and it would make me express myself and become someone who makes a difference. But I have no idea how to go about it.

What about passion?

Yip, doesn’t that irritate you? It bugs me badly when I hear people talking about passion. Oh, just follow your passion and your destiny will unfold! Or, don’t focus on making money, just follow your passion and money will realize itself! And so it carries on’

What is passion anyway? How passionate do you have to get about something to realize that it is passion you are feeling? Does it have to border on fanaticism to be passion? Should the fervor sweep you away, compel you to act?

Well, for me personally, I still haven’t figured out what my passion is, so if someone could let me know and then I can just pursue it and everything else will fall into place ‘

And then there is also the small matter of meaning

You create the meaning in your life. But for the purposes of this post, let’s look at meaning from a different angle.

Do you add meaning to the world?

I think that this is a requirement to fulfilling your destiny. So how do you add meaning to others? Do you add meaning to humanity? Do you add meaning to your environment? Are you doing this out of love and/or care or are you sacrificing yourself to give meaning. Is sacrifice a pre-requisite to adding meaning? Can you be happy in adding meaning or is it a serious pursuit?

So how exactly do you get onto the path that leads to your destiny?

An epiphany:

Stephen and I, inspired by the 30 day challenge, decided to do something cool every Thursday when we go on our date night.

So last Thursday we went to Tanz caf’ to watch Wonderboom. I didn’t know anything about Wonderboom, except that they’ve been around for a while. I wasn’t even sure what type of music they played, but we were going for different experiences and so I bit the bullet and booked.

They blew us away ‘ what an incredible performance!

Masters of their art. We were riveted, mesmerized and swept away by their absolute passion, skill and slick performance.

Whilst I was watching Wonderboom do their thing on stage, I was filled with envy and fascination. After we got home, I started thinking about what it was that they symbolized for me. Why were they able to affect me so profoundly?

These guys were completely present. They were 100% engaged in what they were doing. There were no hidden agendas, insecurities or doubt. Then it dawned on me’

They are living their destiny.

They are totally authentic and real. They embodied what I aspire to. A place where I am comfortable, unique, magical. Where passion and meaning are combined into an energy that profoundly impacts on others.

And perhaps the key to this place is in being in the moment. When you are swept away by what you engage in and totally there, totally real ‘ perhaps that is the way to your destiny.

Then I started thinking about the things that make me feel engaged and in the moment.

When Stephen and I discuss something psychological or philosophical, or when someone tells me their dream, or when I see beyond what a client tells me to what is really going on ‘ these things pull me right into the moment.

Revelation! These are the signposts on the path to my destiny!

What an incredible realization. I was overwhelmed. How many years of searching, thinking, crying, worrying about this thing called destiny! Is it possible that I have finally solved it for myself?

Your personal take

So perhaps you have a similar dilemma ‘ that you don’t know what your destiny is. Maybe this technique could help you realize where your destiny lies.

Think about what activities you do that pulls you out of your head and into the moment. Anything that you do that fully engages you. This could be the key to unlocking the path to your destiny. And it doesn’t have to be moving mountains. Your destiny is what defines you as being different to others. It is what makes you unique.

Your destiny is the true, authentic you that is waiting to be awakened.

Until next time
Anja