Discern Your Bliss

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore
"For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self."
~ Thomas Merton
“Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself.”
~ Thomas Merton
Tao Te Ching verse 7:
"The Tao of Heaven is eternal
and the Earth abides.
What is the secret of their durability?
It is because they do not live for themselves.
Therefore, the Sage puts herself last;
but finds herself up ahead.
She is detached from all things;
but finds herself safe and secure.
Because she remains selfless
her Self is realized."
“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.”
~ Thomas Merton
“We are gifted the gift of gifting the gifts we’ve been gifted.” ~ Brother Owl
"By caring about the happiness of others, we find our own." ~ Plato
“I will not serve Allah like a laborer, in expectation of my wages. He does not refuse sustenance to the one who speaks ill of Him. How then could He refuse sustenance to the one whose soul is over flowing with love for Him?”
~ Rabia al Basri
“We can do no great things,
only small things with great love.”
~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta
“My chief care should not be to find pleasure or success, health or life or money or rest or even things like virtue and wisdom - still less their opposites, pain, failure, sickness, death. But in all that happens, my one desire and my one joy should be to know: “Here is the thing that God has willed for me. In this His love is found, and in accepting this I can give back His love to Him and give myself with it to Him. For in giving myself I shall find Him and He is life everlasting.” ~ Thomas Merton
“A man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.” ~Thomas Merton
“The best way to lose yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
"In all things, be fully present, be fully love." ~ Brother Owl
“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything and between the two my life moves.” ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world. Your own Self realization is the greatest service you can render the world.” ~ Ramana Maharshi

[@susieroberts9745]

I love your analysis of this topic and the wisdom of serving others to serve ourself. You bring up so many wonderful ideas.
I read somewhere that our brains actually do release endorphins when we help others.
Question: Would you say, practically speaking, since we can't just up and quit our jobs, that in the short term we should focus on incorporating an ATTITUDE of service into our current jobs? Mainly just smile and be pleasant to people, treat them with respect, it changes their day and you have served them?
And then eventually you can work towards whatever your true purpose in this life is...
What you said about our "Eeky Gai" --being paid to do something we have a talent for, that we love to do and are passionate about, and that others have a need for-- that does sound ideal!!!
Thanks for another thought provoking presentation!

[@susieroberts9745]

I have no idea why those words have lines through them, LOL 😂😂😂

[@BrotherOwlsGarden]

Ultimately the highest service to the collective is to work on yourself....refine, purify, and ascend at every opportunity the best you can as you are able. But we are given an endless stream of choices at every moment, and how we choose has a great impact on the collective as well as the individual. Our karma is determined by our responses to life's events. We tend to underestimate our impact on those around us, but that is almost always inaccurate. Small things make a big difference. Focusing on being pure love, you will automatically receive and present to people from a higher vibration, and the kindness, understanding, and compassion all come with that. As it is said, "Love covers the multitude of sins,: and, "the greatest of these is love." Now I personally struggle greatly with actually living and being this, but if it takes me 999 lifetimes to master, it will be worthwhile. There is literally nothing we can do for God that does not also serve us well. It's fused and never in conflict. Thank You always, Susie.

[@susieroberts9745]

Wow, such beautiful truths that are just so eloquently expressed! I get goosebumps reading it! Thank you Brother Owl!!!💕🙏🦉🦉🦉