Subtle Blocks to Right Livelihood
Many of us are feeling a deeper call to find more purpose and meaning in our lives. We feel an invitation to walk more fully into who we truly are and allow this to become what we do and how we are seen in the world.
This is the journey of Right Livelihood. Yet the path, at times, can offer subtle blocks. We get stuck, we mire in the muck, and even question whether we’ll ever reach the Right Livelihood destination.
I’ve got a secret to share with you; the path is the destination.
Right Livelihood isn’t something you achieve one day, and then you’re done. It is the journey in which we are here to walk. How we negotiate the subtle blocks in the path has everything to do with where the path will take us.
In my work with the Mystics, I see several similar themes top the subtle blocks that arise.
Aligning to Your Soul Purpose and Path
“I’m not getting it. I should be doing more. I can’t see my purpose.”
The first step can often be the hardest one we take. What blocks are you setting up that hide your true path? I worked with a client who was having trouble seeing her true purpose. She’d done plenty of different things and taken courses from an assortment of teachers. When I asked her to put it all on her wheel, we found a subtle block.
“There are things I’ve done that I don’t want on my wheel,” she said. “They don’t feel like where I want to be heading.”
Sometimes there are shadows we want to avoid, things we may have done in the past that didn’t feel fulfilling or perhaps were even embarrassing. However, when we look at our purpose as a path instead of a destination, we begin to see how every experience we’ve had has contributed to who we are. When you find things that you don’t want to look at or are painful, put them on your wheel. What did you learn from them? What doorways opened up because of that experience?
That deep emotional charge means something. Start accepting all the pieces of yourself and your story as the compost that leads to new growth.
Sacred Commerce
“How is it that I have money, a family, a career, and I’m miserable?”
It’s time we release the old framework we’ve been taught of what success looks like. The old notion of success often looks like somebody else’s success, which can create a subtle block.
How do we avoid the disconnect between success and Right Livelihood?
In the old framework, we weren’t used to creating spaciousness and flow around ourselves. Our work-life was often separate from our home life. Our career was separate from what brought us joy and fulfillment.
Invite in the magic that happens when we allow these things to be connected. Draw a circle and put everything on the circle. Move things around. Maybe one day you put four things that are important to you on the circle. The next day, you may put six different things on the circle. Watch over time to see patterns. What is always in your circle? What doesn’t seem to fit in your circle? How are all of the pieces of your life connected? What is missing?
If there is not worth in what you create, is your own worthiness in place?
Step into gratitude. Am I grateful for who I am now? Being grateful for who you are takes you away from being grateful for this thing or that thing and brings you into the holistic experience. You start to think, wonder, and ask different questions.
Now, it all comes together.
“I am successful and that allows me the freedom to explore other possibilities.”
“My family is stable now and I have more energy to devote to my true passions.”
“I’ve reached my career goals. Now, I can begin a new endeavor.”
New Paradigm Leadership
“I’m too far along my path to start over.”
Metaphor is important and your language can be a subtle block.
New Paradigm Leadership opens us to explore the archetype of teacher. Are we so focused on learning that we forget to pass the baton? Part of the sacred path is being mentored, and coming full circle to being the mentor.
“But, I’m not old enough to teach yet.”
Mentors come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. Think of what you could learn from a five-year-old. You’re never too young, or too old, to mentor someone else.
Taking a new and more fulfilling step in life may not mean learning something new. It may mean passing on to others what you’ve learned. We’ve all thought, “If I had only known then what I know now.”
Step into gratitude for what you know, what you’ve experienced, and open to sharing with others so they can “know what you know now.”
The key to maneuvering through subtle blocks is realizing, you don’t have to get it all at once. Right Livelihood is a journey. The time will come when you suddenly realize it all came together. Your wheel is turning and propelling you forward to your true destiny, one step at a time.
If this conversation appeals to you, consider being a part of our community of new paradigm entrepreneurs, creatives, and emerging leaders in the Mystic's Society and learn more about our signature program Journey to Right Livelihood Here.