Guest post by Melissa Heisler, 3rd Place Winner of Best Coaching Blogs 2010.
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is. – Albert Einstein
I always loved the quote above. When I experienced people who wanted to prove this or that “truth” about evolution, science, health, the stock market, or any topic, I held on to this quote. To me it released the pain of having to determine the singular right answer. However, the other day it was infused with an even more important meaning.
Lately I had been obsessed with the answer to life, the universe, and everything. My little pea-brain wanted to uncover why we are here. What is our purpose on this earth? Previously a friend recommended Anthony De Mello’s book Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality. I had read 90% of this very interesting and deep read conveyed in a soft voice in March and for some reason picked it up again the other day. In the last few pages, I came across this wisdom.
“Every time you make sense out of reality, you bump into something that destroys the sense you made. Meaning is only found when you go beyond meaning. Life only makes sense when you perceive it as mystery and it makes no sense to the conceptualizing mind.”
This was the final puzzle piece for me. I had spent my life trying to undercover the meaning of life. Was it this career or the other? Was it family or romantic relationships? Was it hedonistic joy or solemn prayer? Was it self-care or servitude? Was it margaritas and the Simpsons cartoon? As I grew and became more wise, each option was seen through. It was seen as a thing of itself, not true meaning. I tried to play the game that I just had to find a more noble and less self-serving thing, action, career to find meaning. But those felt hollow too.
Thinking that life, all of life, is a mystery opens up not only a new world of understanding but a new way of being. There is now an immense joy I had never experienced before. Being stuck in traffic, wanting a new pair of shoes, or checking off my to-do list no longer have significance and precedence in my life. Now I try to focus every moment on soaking up the mystery. How does my brain communicate to my fingers to type these words? How does a cold front wash across the plains to create raindrops to feed my plants? How is it that I can feel the joy or sadness of others deep in my heart even before they speak a word?
Take a day to look at the world as one of mystery. See how it changes your life. Namaste.
Melissa Heisler, personal and business coach for It’s My life, Inc., loves to help small business owners, direct sales professionals, and home based businesses thrive during difficult times.
Visit Melissa's entry in the Best Coaching Blogs 2012 Contest Here.
