Sacred Secrets

I became an emergency nurse to support my family, make a difference in people’s lives and serve my community. This was a dream job ~ I wish I’d stuck with it longer. It fulfilled my personal needs as well as my desire to be engaged in humanitarian service by being able to practice kindness and compassion almost daily. I also had plenty of time to spend with my family, which included weekends at the beach and holiday camping adventures. Those years were my kids’ best memories! Because I was a people-person, a role model and a natural leader, I was offered multiple promotions. As happy as I was in my ER Charge Nurse job, I was flattered by offers to be promoted to increasingly more powerful positions. Ultimately, I ended up in roles that were more focused on bureaucracy than patient care. It later dawned on me that I’d lost touch with the very reason I became a nurse in the first place. Though my career became stressful and consuming, I continued to be admired and respected in my various roles. I kept pushing harder for what was needed and worked longer hours to get things done, usually without the benefit of the resources that were promised along the way. Finally, I realized that there was a limit to what I could do, and I had reached it. It’s common in our society to focus incessantly on what we have yet to achieve and continually push ourselves in the more-is-better direction. A healthier approach is to acknowledge all that we have accomplished in life and applaud those moments when we shined our brightest. Again, this is about being fulfilled by what we have or what we’re doing, rather than desiring more. Rest, recovery and reflection are also essential components of success, at any stage of the game. Why work so hard if we can’t appreciate the fruits of our labor? Creating a sustainable lifestyle is the key to a healthy and gratifying one. As you can see, I found this out the hard way…. The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present ~ the result being that he does not live in the present or the future ~ he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” I recently chose a simpler life, one more aligned with my passion, in order to save my life. What I’ve learned is that rather than trying to aspire to be like our role models, often steering us away from our unique purpose, we can inspire ourselves to be our soul models ~ in alignment with our essential reason for being in this present existence (as well as in all conceivable lives in past and future timelines). In this way, we are not only enriching our lives, we’re fulfilling our destiny…