To arrive at this place in my life, I had to overcome so very much. I had to overcome emotionally unwell parents, crippling abandonment issues, childhood poverty, internalized shame and self-doubt. I had to punch my way through endless challenges as I worked to become a lawyer, to let go of law, to surrender to writing as a path. I had to knock on hundreds of thousands of doors in Canadian winters to sell windows so I could afford to write through the night. I had to fight for my right to the light, time and time again, for more than 5 decades.
When people ask me how and why I did it, I only have one answer- Soul. Not masochism, not the need to be acknowledged but, instead, the deep need to fully excavate and actualize my soul’s voice- my reasons for being, my entelechy, what James Hillman called the ‘innate image’. It was like a desperate longing to be who I was called to become in this lifetime. And as difficult as it was to find and live that voice, it was easier than the uncomfortable alternative. It was easier than living a lie.
Wherever you are at on your journey through time, be assured that there is a soul path somewhere at the heart of it. And, as difficult as it may be to see it, as overwhelming as it may seem to embody it, it is well worth the effort. Once you catch a glimpse of it, it will beckon you home, like a fire of divine possibility with your name on it. And that fire… will not only show you the direction to walk, it will fuel you as you overcome the obstacles in the way. It will warm and inspire your every step.
When you walk through the gateway of your sacred purpose, you walk into yourself. Blessingly buffered from the madness of the world, your purpose filters out those relationships and energies that undermine your expansion. Infused with vitality and a clarified focus, new pathways of possibility appear where before there were obstacles. Life still has its challenges, but you interface with them differently, coated in an authenticity of purpose that sees through the veils to what really matters.
Don’t lose the faith, wherever you are on the path. Keep going.
Jeff Brown, author.
