“Our own life has to be our message.” Thich Nhat Hanh
Our message is our life.
But what is your message and how does your life compare in contrast? Lets think about this for a bit.
If you think of role models for this particular way of living Gandhi, Mother Teresa …come to mind. They walked their talk. They lived. They taught. They inspired. They brought about revolutions in good conscious living. They LIVED their message of love, peace and compassion. Their life story is still fragrant with their message and will forever be.
Again I ask YOU, What are You Living today? What is your Life’s message?
How I found My Message:
About 14 years back, I asked myself this very question. At the time I was in a very difficult place in my life. There seemed no message left in me(or so I thought at the time) to share with the world. But, in time, there was a pattern developing. A thought pattern, a feel pattern. A pattern that led me to my life’s purpose and yes, I found my message. But that was just the first step.
Finding the message and then living the message are two completely different things. Your message might be profound, but if you can’t walk your talk, why must anyone in this world believe anything you have to say? Its like having Big dreams, but not moving a finger to make them a reality.
So, 14 years back, I was faced with this very dilemma. I had this awesome message I wanted to share with the world. I wanted to bring about a revolution, I wanted to bring about big positive changes in the world. I wanted to(and still want to) heal the world. Yup! A pretty BIG message hmm..
Healing Self to Heal others
Now with message and passion in place, I had the task of taking the physical action. The big question was HOW?
I had the degrees, the know how, the drive…and I even started on my ‘heal the world’ message to the world. But noone took me seriously. Why should they have? Was I Healed to even begin healing another human being? The answer came to me in a not very happy situation….NO! I was unhealed, unhappy, living a sham of a life….. which was apparent to everyone around me, except me!
It took me a while, to work on myself, to heal my wounds, to heal my heart and my soul.
When I started healing, my life began to take a beautiful positive shape. One even I was happily surprised by. The change was seen, the people who began to meet me felt energized and healed just by my presence. When they would state this fact, I would literally tell them they were joking, and laugh it off.
But it was apparent in one special case: I would travel by the bus to wherever I needed to go when this incident took place. I would travel to and from the same bus stop everyday, while I was doing a childrens research then. I had to be a certain place at a certain time, so would travel the same time everyday. This research took about 6 months. During which I traveled by the same bus everyday. The conductor in this bus was a lady(which is rare in India). She would hand me my ticket, I would hand her the change for it everyday. I began to smile at this lady unconsciously everyday while this exchange would happen. And even greet her with a smile as soon as I climbed onto the bus. One day in between these 6 months, she wasn’t there or was rather replaced by another male conductor. Several days passed. I even asked the current conductor where she was and when she was coming back. He didn’t know anything. After 8 days, she was there again. This time she smiled when I got on. I smiled back. Our usual silent exchange of ticket and change, turned into a conversation, where she shared her dilemmas with me. I listened. Everyday she sat with me. Shared with me. Spoke to me about her problems. I gave her advice, counseled her. Prayed for her. After a few days I missed that bus, cause of the heavy rains. The next day when I got back on the same bus, she sat next to me, and cried. I tried to console her. She went on to say, “When I sit with you, see you, talk to you even for the 20 minutes you come on the bus, all my pain vanishes. All my problems disappear. When I didn’t see you yesterday, I thought how will I take care of my life without your presence.” That was an Oh My God moment for me!
Before this incident I had no idea of the effect I had on people. I was counseling people, helping them, but never had I imagined that on an unconscious level, without even trying, could my just being there make so much of a difference. The gravity of what I was doing and how I was doing it hit me. I asked my spiritual teacher about this, and she smiled at me then. She said, “You are what you are. You are walking your message.” She went on to tell me what so many before her and after her have said, “You are meant to help and heal. It comes naturally to you.”
It took me a while to get to where I am and realize and LIVE my message. But you can do it NOW. Just ask yourself these simple questions and the pattern will appear that will lead you to your Life’s message:
What do you love to do in your free time?
What is your life’s greatest dream?
What legacy do you want to leave behind, when you have passed away?
What do you want to be remembered by?
What kind of a role model would you like to be?
What makes you happiest?
What is your burning passion, your purpose?
The widowed bus conductor went on to make her 2 sons doctors. She now lives the retired, happy life with her grandchildren. At the time I met her, her husband had just passed away, her sons were in school and she had two really old parents to take care of too, with no bank balance at all. We are still very much in touch.
My life is my message.
My message is of healing, of positivity, of love, of happiness and I walk my talk. This blog is just one beautiful extension to that message. More beautiful surprises in the form of books, handbooks, workbooks are being created in the background. While I live my message in my daily life, by extending a helping hand where its needed, by loving, by caring, by being an active agent of all that is my message….I want YOU to Live your message too. The bliss of living your message and watching that message bloom can’t be described in words. I might not have the fancy chops or the spending power, but what I have is heart and passion. I Live only to heal, if that means healing one soul at a time…so be it.
What do you live for? What is Your message? How are you planning to share it with the world? Take a chance on that BIG dream. Share your thoughts, your message in the comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Is there a message, a dream I could help you with? Let me know, so that I can be there for you.
♥♥”Thank you SO much for reading! Please, Share this article on your favorite social networks. Every share, like or tweet makes me reach more people who need a positive healing nudge in their lives. I appreciate you!”♥♥
With Immense Love & Gratitude,
~Zeenat~
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Filed under: Mind, Heart& Soul-Motivation&Inspiration, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection Tagged: gandhi, happiness, healing, Heart& Soul-Motivation&Inspiration, inspiration, lessons, life, love, Mental health, mind, Mind-Mental Health, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, mother teresa, personal development, positive provocations, psychology, Self-Help, Spirituality, Thich Nhat Hanh, What are you going to be remembered for? What is your life's message?, What is your message, wisdom