February 9, 2023
In my last email, I concluded with the notion of feeding your soul first, in order to allow the rest of your life to flow more naturally. Let’s explore this a bit further today through a conversation around dharma, beginning by asking ourselves a few questions:
What have we come to offer and be a part of?
How can we serve that which is larger than our individual selves?
What are we in service to that will outlive us?
To know our dharma, or our unique gift we’re meant to give to the world, is perhaps the greatest desire within each of us. And yet, how many of us can say with absolute certainty, that we know what this unique gift is, what our purpose is? Thankfully, there are processes and maps that can help us identify our true calling, which then allows us to take the appropriate steps to bring it into the world.
The questions above are meant to be reflective, hopefully sparking some insight about your own dharma, or true calling. Identifying and then following your dharma is what I mean by feeding your soul first, and then trusting that the rest will fall into place. To help with this process, I’ll add some framing, specifically through the lenses of two amazing books on the subject.
There are two primary books I’ll be referencing here. The first is The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope, which unpacks the process of finding and following your dharma through the framework of Arjuna’s journey in the Bhagavad Gita. The second is by a heroine of mine, Lynn Twist, called Living A Committed Life. Twist offers a slightly different framework than Cope, though you’ll see how the two meld together beautifully.
Beginning with one of my favorite books of all-time, one I’ve certainly mentioned in previous newsletters, The Great Work of Your Life breaks down this dharma discovery process into four primary aspects, which Cope calls “the four pillars of dharma.”
- Look to your dharma
Number one invites us into introspection so that we can identify our dharma–our gift to the world–and recognize that it is the primary thing that will fulfill us. The Gospel of St. Thomas says, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” The thing that each of us comes to offer is the thing that’s unique to each of us. It’s the one-of-a-kind gift that only we can provide and give to the world. - Do it full out
Once you’ve identified your dharma, this second pillar is all about doing it with your full effort and spirit. In this framework, there’s no way to partially live out your dharma. Prioritize it and continue to orient yourself fully to your dharma if you get pulled away, distracted, or lost in other pursuits. - Let go of the fruits (outcomes)
Following your dharma with one eye on the future outcome is actually a disservice to yourself and the world. Focusing on the outcome splits your attention and energy away from the present and creates a set of expectations that are strictly outcome-based. This is a recipe for disappointment because although we may think we know how something ought to pan out, the universe continually reminds us that everything will unfold in its own way and in its own perfect timing. This frees us to focus solely on the task at hand, with full attention, energy, and hopefully joy. - Turn it over to God
Once we’ve let go of any assumption or expectation about what the outcome should be, we can surrender to a higher intelligence altogether. It’s not up to us to figure out how everything will work out. All we can do is follow our soul-level calling and have the inner knowing that our alignment to our dharma is bringing about the best situations for ourselves and the collective.
Twist’s four primary points in Living A Committed Life are a bit different:
- Receive the guidance and commit to it.
- Offer our gift and move from scarcity to sufficiency.
- Meet the challenges and persevere.
- Implement the calling through action and gather support.
When we combine both frameworks into a summation, I find the synthesis to be really direct, clear, and useful:
- Get clear on our gift, and offer that fully.
- Meet the challenges that lie ahead and persevere through them.
- Let go of the outcome and give it over to something higher than ourselves.
- Put it into action and rally the support necessary.
So, if we basically follow these four primary concepts, there’s going to be a clearer script that outlines what we’re here to do, how to do it, and how to offer it to the world in the best way.
The hardest part of all of this, in my experience, is that first concept–identifying what our dharma or soul-level calling is. In order to do that, we have to really commit to listening. We commit to slowing down and being in the unknown for a longer period of time, rather than grasping at something, doing something that somebody else thinks we should do, or following what somebody else is doing.
You might as well be the best version of yourself because everybody else is taken. So what’s the best version of yourself? If we can find that best version of ourselves and we’re feeling really alive by serving how we want to serve and bringing forth our unique gift, we can then move into unpacking the soul aspect of all this.
I invite you to reflect upon the questions at the beginning of this newsletter, and to ponder and journal both Stephen Cope’s and Lynn Twist’s concepts for a bit. In my next newsletter, I’ll share with you my own take on the four pillars or concepts as I’ve come to experience them through this process.
To your health,
Dr. Dan
Get healthy. Stay present. Help out.