What Is Your Calling?

Five simple questions to crack the mystery!

Many of us seekers, whether of personal transformation, or of spiritual meaning, may have asked ourselves the potent question, What is my calling, my life’s purpose?
 

We sense that if we find it, and can apply ourselves to it, we can be a force for good in the world and make a difference. But if we don’t, maybe we feel our life is meaningless, or perhaps deep inside, that we are forsaken – like we’ve missed the juice of life!
 
What’s often wrong in this thinking is the distorted concept that ‘our calling’ needs to be something big and impressive—like that of a musician, a Middle East peace-maker (good luck with that!), or a Mother Teresa. That a calling is something others have, and we don’t. So we go looking outside ourselves for this grand personal mission, when really our true calling can only be something that is already in us. Like Oz’s Dorothy, already wearing her magic red shoes.

Finding Home

As for Dorothy, instructed to click her shoes and chant “there’s no place like home” to get back to the land she yearned for, we have but to engage in the seemingly radical act of turninginside, rather than out, to find the gift, and passion, and fulfillment—the calling, that has lived inside us all along.
 
This inquiry can result in what is a deeply profound act of joining the spiritual with the material within us, not just conceptually, but in our actual lives.
 
The culture of today tends to be grossly imbalanced on one side or the other of the spiritual-material spectrum.We may value‘the spiritual’over material plane pleasures and pursuits, and feel our love of nice clothes or a delicious meal is ‘inferior,’ ‘ unspiritual,’or at best,an insignificant aspect of ourselves. Meanwhile, we operate in an economy driven by the conviction that material acquisition and achievement can provide fulfillment, leaving a spiritual hunger that translates into greed for more stuff.

Spiritual-Material Convergence

Finding our calling within, and then living it,is a way to resolve this dilemma, by uniting spirit and matter. The essence of our calling is the spiritual part, which remains unchanging (although it has many layers and aspects); while the expression of our calling, which can change in different phases and circumstances of our lives, is the material part.  This means that when we align with our calling, we serve the spiritual-material balance of creation and our unique expression of it.
 
Think of yourself as a point of consciousness in the universe. See that you are a manifestation of awareness, and that you can travel from the spiritual to the material. In this sense, youare a portal through which expansive consciousness can travel across realms: spiritual-material, emotional-physical, imagination-realization, compassionate-active. It’s endless…and pretty amazing!
 
If each of us is a portal for uniting spirit and matter, then not only do we have boundless opportunities and methods through which to live this union—through our calling, our gift& mdash;but we also have the responsibility to decide how we want to do this.
 
So just how do we do know our calling?
 
Before we get to that, I want to tell you that whether you know it or not, you already are living your calling. And by discovering consciously what that calling is, by naming it, and applying yourself intentionally to and expanding it into many parts of your life, you can experience the sweet fulfillment of being attuned with your purpose.

How to Identify the Spiritual Essence of Your Calling

Mining your calling is not so difficult. Thoughtful reflection on the following simple questions has helped my clients, and myself, come to know our essential purpose.With each question below, try to give yourself space to really enter the inquiry. Begin by closing your eyes, taking a few breaths, and relaxing.Pay attention to where you're holding tightness,breathe into it, and let go. Then ask yourself the question.
 
Have a pen and paper handy, and write down what comes to you. Don’t edit or second-guess. Then try to boil it all down to a word or two. Voila, your calling!
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1. What makes me come alive?

There's a saying by Howard Thurman, Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it.Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

2. What is a gift I was given by the Universe to share with the world?

What am I inherently good at, without having to try? What is an innate talent?
 

3. What makes me feel whole?

What activities or situations make me feel complete and content and what contributes to that feeling?

4. In what moments do I experience balance in life?
Balance feels like we are listening to or using different aspects of the spectrum of ourselves at different time. So there is an overall sense of equilibrium.

 

5. What makes me feel fulfilled?

Don’t be discouraged if your fulfillment is not “professional”-sounding. What matters is that it’s true for you.

To give you a sense of how this works in practice, here are some examples from some of the people I’ve worked with (names changed) on finding their calling. The words they came up with may not sound like your typical idea of ‘calling,’ and as such these show how we need to expand our sense of what calling really is.
 
Ken is a retired businessman. He’d made a lot of money and was trying to find his next passion. The spiritual essence of his calling emerged through the words “clarity” and “direction.” He realized his gift and passion had been in finding and exercising clarity and direction at key crossroads in his successful business life. Now, he realizes he can offer this gift to his adult children, to help them find their own clarity and direction, as well as help non-profit organizations function with greater clarity and direction.
 
Colleen was in between jobs, not knowing what type of work to look for. While responding to the five questions above, she suddenly had a big Aha! She remembered that she had been fondly called “Mother Goose” by her colleagues in her last job, and that her real passion was to be a mom, as she loves to nourish and nurture others. So, she named her calling “Mother Goose!” realizing that she should look for a job where she could play the role of ‘mother:’as a mentor, or supportive team leader. She felt excitement and a renewed sense of direction with this realization.
 
Another woman I worked with, Megan, discovered that her calling was curiosity. Megan is eternally curious about the world and the people with whom she interacts. There are many ways she can and has applied this gift, depending on whether she was a young child, a student conducting research, or a teacher of young children. She felt a sense of fulfillment as she discovered the north star of her life, what lights her up and keeps her going.
 
Clarity… direction… mothering … curiosity...You can see from these examples that the essence of your calling is a common word or quality. However common,your calling is something that you are gifted with, and when you express its many aspects, in multiple areas of your life, you can be blessed with a sense of fulfillment of purpose. Nice!
 
And remember, you needn’t go looking farther than your own self to find what that quality is. What might be the essence of your calling waiting inside you? Try the 5 questions for yourself—or with a friend or colleague—and see if you don’t start to feel more excitement in doing the things you already love to do, or do so well. Then, have fun with seeing what other parts of your life you can extend this calling to that you might not have thought of!
 
I’d love to hear from you what word best describes the essence of your calling!