“And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.”
Dr. Thomas Wayne to a young Bruce in Batman Begins
The month of October typically signals the start of my favorite time of the year. On the East Coast, the harsh humidity of Summer transitions into clear, crisp days and the foliage on the trees turn into a menagerie of transcendent colors that frame every vista into the perfect postcard. For us sports junkies, it's a treasure trove of goodies as the NFL season is in full swing, the baseball playoffs can be found on some channel almost every night, and both the basketball and hockey seasons are just underway. Throw in the fact that it's my birthday month AND the Holiday Season is just around the corner.....just two words.......YES PLEASE!
But October of 2012 was not so much of a time for celebration. In fact, it was one of the most challenging points of my life (And I've had plenty of them... just sayin' !) I found myself in the unenviable position of being jobless, broke, and living in my parents basement. If that wasn't tough enough, the Crohn's disease I had been battling since my early teens required biologic shots twice a month to keep me in remission, that without health insurance, cost three thousand dollars EACH! No health insurance company would even discuss a personal plan, so I applied for disability coverage. Sometimes, you do what you have to do, right?!?After waiting for nearly six months, the official letter of disability denial came in the mail. OUCH!
Believe it or not, things only got worse. My little pup Nacho started peeing around the house like he was a firefighter in training. A trip to the vet revealed he had become diabetic and was going to need two insulin shots a day to live. And I can't stand needles. Aye dios mio!! To top it all off, a job I had really wanted, and went through an extensive interview process with, completely fell through at the last moment. And if one more person tried to cheer me up with ‘This will all pass, Jeff,’ I thought I was going to go ballistic! FYI, telling someone everything they are going through will ‘pass’ should be saved for stomach and gas attacks. NOT a complete life meltdown!!
Slowly, my heart started to sink and my faith completely crumbled. Every facet of my life was a total disaster and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see a way out. Until one morning, 'Uncle D' (my not so affectionate name for full blown Depression) showed up at the front door, his bags in tow, giving me no signs of how long he planned on visiting this time.
One late night, just a few days later, I found myself sitting on the edge of the bed, racked with an aching heart and soul. The type of pain that makes it hard to breathe. I didn't feel like a failure, because that word didn't seem large enough to handle my current narrative. My mind raced from one insanely torturous thought to another. All I knew for sure was that something had to change, or Uncle D would be taking me back home with him at the end of this stay.
As tears began to flow, I prayed to God to have mercy on me. I needed a sign that life was still worth living. I needed....anything.
A box of tissues were sitting on the top of a cabinet full of books next to my basement's bed. I stood up to grab a handful, when the pristinely white jacket cover of ONE book on the shelf grabbed my attention with such an immediate intensity that it nearly started to lightly glow. With over 300 like minded tomes in my collection, this phenomenon of a book 'calling' to me was not new. But never before was it quite this consuming.
As I bent down for a closer examination, I saw that the book's title was Pathways to Bliss by Joseph Campbell. Despite devouring books like this with a fervent passion over the previous 15 years, I had ironically never actually read anything by this author. I had bought the book on sale at Borders several years earlier, after seeing an interview with George Lucas in which he talked about how much Campbell's work had influenced his work on Star Wars. Little did I know how much the book was about to change my life.
As I began to wipe dry my tear stained cheeks, I pulled the book from its resting place and brought it with me back to the edge of the bed. Miraculously, my mind stopped its racing, and I was able to focus on the words I was reading. He wrote about the attainment of Bliss, and how ‘the privilege of a lifetime is being who YOU are.’
But what absolutely struck at the core of my utter BEING was his explanation of what he has termed ‘The Hero's Journey’. And how everything that life brings us is no thing short of EXACTLY what we need in order to fulfill our purpose here on Earth. Of course I had heard of the Hero's Journey during my previous travels. But this time, I REALLY HEARD IT. Truly understood its meaning with a ferocity of acceptance and purposeful enlightenment. I wasn't a failure. In fact, ‘just the opposite’, I thought. If I had gone through THIS much suffering and pain so far in my life, then my Hero's Journey must be pretty frickin' big. I had always believed I was here to be a guide to assist others on their warriors path, but now, I KNEW IT. Big difference!!
So no matter what your current situation may be, there is HOPE. In those moments of despair, please remember that there is a REASON for everything you are going through. I PROMISE! You are not alone. That's what we are doing here, together. Trying to help one another figure out why we are going through so much pain and suffering, and how we can channel it into our reason for being! Through much trial and error, including HOURS of meditation, studying at the feet of my mentors and masters, I have come to understand that WE ALL HAVE THE EXACT SAME PURPOSE!!! Read that last sentence over again! Because that is as close to Universal Truth as I can currently provide....... That our collective PURPOSE is being of service toward others with LOVE and Compassion. Now, many of you may be thinking, “Are you kidding me?! That's the grand answer to the greatest and grandest question all of mankind has asked?!?” And the answer is a 100%...... ABSOFRICKINLUTELY YES!! Now before you decide to stop reading and turn your computer off, let me add the SECRET SAUCE to this quandary. Although we all have the same PURPOSE, one of the magical aspects of the human experience, not to mention the CORE tenet of The Hero's Journey is that we each have the opportunity in following our own unique CALLING!
Our CALLING is the particular manner in which we fulfill our PURPOSE. And the world is truly our oyster when it comes to the plethora of variant ways in which we can choose our individual CALLING!!!
For instance, here are just a few examples for you to ponder: being a mother, a doctor, coach, teacher, leader, an entrepreneur, an architect........... My point here is that the options are truly endless!! Because there is no RIGHT or WRONG answer!! In another post I will further flesh out the meaning and manner in which you can find your own CALLING. But in today's post I will leave you with this........ Each and every one of us was sent here with one or even several CALLING's that are meant to share our one of a kind talents, gifts, and passions with the rest of the world. No pressure... :0) It is perhaps the topic I am most passionate about as a spiritual teacher and coach as I BELIEVE with every sense of my being that the fastest way for us to raise the current vibration on this very troubled planet is if each of us were to wake up Monday morning and stop whatever we are doing(unless it is in complete alignment with our CALLING) and listen to our own HEARTSONG and have the courage to follow our CALLING!! And if we haven't found out what our CALLING may be, that we either take the time to uncover it for ourselves, our find a coach, teacher, or mentor who can assist us on the most important Journey of our lives!! THE WORLD NEEDS MORE HEROES...... NOW!!!
I am also aware that not all of us can just quit our current occupations overnight. And that we all(myself included) have responsibilities, bills, etc. that need tending to. But I also inherently believe that if we at least begin the process of small action steps toward our CALLING, that all of our Spirit Guides and God's most potent angles will flood into our space of experience and create MIRACLES to assist us in our JOURNEY!!
I have a deep KNOWINGNESS that this may be the only way to turn around the tipping point of disaster that we are on a collective journey toward on this planet..........As I write this, the wind chill temperature in Washington DC is -20!! That's right. -20!!! This after weeks of horrendous fires that threatened the very suburbs of Los Angeles in which I lived for over a decade! And I refuse to even broach the current state of our own political system, which threatens to completely squash the American Dream forever!!
Before I bring today's post to a close, I want to leave you all with the trust that I know that the entire New Age Nerd Community has the insight, courage, and strength to start off the New Year with the INSPIRATION to begin the process of both finding and FOLLOWING the CALLING that resides within your Soul!! The WORLD is depending on us for its salvation... And despite what the so called experts may be declaring, I KNOW IT IS NOT TOO LATE!! But, there is NO time to spare.... It will take the SUPERHERO within us all to change the tide.... I don't know about you.....BUT I STILL BELIEVE!!!!
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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