David’s Journal

I’m tired of working.

And I don’t mean “working at a job.”  I hardly consider most jobs “work.”  You basically just show up, do what you’re told, and clock out at the end of the day.  There’s time and effort involved, but it’s not real work.  Not in my definition.

Real work takes a different kind of effort.  Emotional, intellectual, spiritual.  Pushing past your limitations, facing your deepest fears, striving to grow into someone more than who you were yesterday … now that’s work.  Solving problems, seeking solutions, when the answers aren’t readily available or easy to find … that also requires real work.

Anyone can memorize an answer or learn a procedure … but what do you do when there is no answer, or at least, none that you can immediately find?  What do you do when you face a tough challenge, and must face it now, but have no idea how to even begin?

Henry Ford once said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is why so few people engage in it.”  Henry Ford wasn’t known for being the smartest man in town.  In fact, the local people at the time thought he was too stupid to be making so much money.

So one day he challenged them.  Got the press and local townspeople all together.  “Ask me anything you want, and I’ll give you the correct answer,” he said, just to prove just how intelligent he was.

So one man asked him a tough question.  Henry Ford listened, told the man to wait one moment, and then picked up the phone.  Mr. Ford called one of his advisers, asked the question, and got the correct answer.

“You can’t do that!” replied the man.  “That’s cheating!”

Is it?

Who says we all need to know everything there ever is to know, individually, independently, by ourselves?

Especially in today’s world … the knowledge, the things you can learn … are almost infinite.  You can specialize in a particular field, and then specialize in a sub niche within that specialized field, and still have trouble keeping up with the latest developments within your own field.

There’s a saying in business, when running your own company: “If you’re the smartest person on your team, your business is in trouble.”  The real wealthy, the real successful … they surround themselves with people smarter than them.  They surround themselves with people who specialize in different areas.  So no matter what question comes up, no matter what challenge or puzzle … an expert is just a phone call away.

Most of my life up to this point has been about trying to find what I want to specialize in.  I’ve been learning a lot.  Gaining skills and experience by traveling to other states across the country, trying one business after another, trying one job after another.  Meeting all kinds of people, from all walks of life.  I loved L.A. for that.  Such incredible diversity.  And tolerance for diversity.

I’ve studied religion, business, finance, investing, psychology, philosophy… heck, I even started getting into politics a bit recently.  But where do I want to specialize?  What do I want my life to be about?

If we don’t ask ourselves this question, we risk living a mediocre life, bouncing around wherever the currents and whims of life may take us … wherever the needs and directives of others may tell us to go.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Each life is your own.  Live is however you want.  That really is okay.

But I don’t want that for me.

I want my life to be about something.  I want to be known for something.  I want to make a difference, in my way, doing what matters to me, what means something to me, what I enjoy doing and sharing with others.

Sometimes, the answer is almost too easy.

Sometimes, it’s simply too obvious.

So we ignore it — or at least, I have — and keep “trying hard” to find the answer, to find the reason, to find the dream, to live the purpose.

My life purpose, it turns out, is pretty simple.

I am a Light.  My purpose is to bring and share love and light wherever I go, whomever I’m with, all the time, as much as I’m able.

Now, I’m also human.  Fears, doubts, insecurities, and all that wonderful stuff that comes with it.  I won’t always be loving.  I won’t always be sharing light.

But that’s okay.  Sharing light and love means also sharing it with myself.  Accepting that I’m not perfect, that I won’t always be perfect, and love myself anyway.  Give that light and unconditional love to myself.

So that I have more to share with others.

How I share that light and love is up to me.  I could do it through writing, or speaking, or making love, or building an entertainment company, or investing, or traveling and passing on a smile to strangers along the way…  There’s really no end to it, no limit on the number of ways I can fulfill my life purpose.

Don’t confuse the vehicle, the method, of fulfilling your purpose with the purpose itself.

My purpose is to share love and light with myself and others.

I do that by default, by just being me.

It’s who I am naturally.

But the ways I do that … that’s infinite.  And that’s entirely within my choosing.

I could share love and light as a world leader.  I could share love and light just by being a good father and husband and friend.  I can do it through a business, through a blog, or just on a phone call.

I think, for a while, I’m going to take a break from trying to build a business.  I’m going to take a little break from trying to figure out all the details — the hows, the wheres, the whens — of my big dreams in life.  Those will come in time.  I don’t need to have all that figured out or done to fulfill my purpose.  I can simply be me, living in some small apartment, working some minimum wage job, and still fulfill my life purpose.

Like I said, I’m tired of working.

Tired of trying to figure out what my entertainment company is going to look like, how it’s going to work, where it’s going to go, and how I’m going to do it on the funds and resources I have now.  I’m tired of trying to figure out what, if anything, I’m going to do with Spiritual Smarts.  Will I write another book, become a public speaker, create personal development audio programs?  All good ideas.  I just don’t have the energy for it right now.

I need to rest.

I’ve spent too long — years — trying to survive a high rent area on a low income.  By the way, all things considered, I did awesome. :)  I’m glad I got to learn that about myself.  I’m resourceful.  I’m creative.  I’m resiliant.  I’m capable.

It’s good to know what you’re made of.

Life will test you sometimes.  It’s not a test in the “pass or fail” sense, but a test to see what you’re made of, what you’re capable of, what’s really on the inside.  So you can learn who you truly area.  What you’re really made of.  How much strength and determination and commitment and power you really have.

Some of my life tests are over now.  I saw what I was made of.  I learned what I was capable of.

I discovered I was a lot stronger than I thought or felt I was.

Now life is suddenly taking me in a new direction.  Those lessons are over.  New ones, no doubt, are coming ahead soon.

In the meantime, I’m resting.

Resting my mind, from trying to figure out all the answers.  Resting my spirit, from pushing, pushing, pushing to figure things out or make them happen.  Resting my heart, from trying to be more worthy of receiving the good I want and will have.

I let myself simply be.

Accepting myself exactly as I am.  Loving myself as I am.  Sharing light, and love, for myself and with those around me.

My purpose doesn’t require me to be a multi-millionaire owner of a mega entertainment production company.  Although that’ll be fun, and I still hope and would like to be and do that some day … for today, this day, I relax and let go.  Not quit.  Not give up.  But let go.  Take a rest.  Letting it go.  Because it’s somewhere in the future … and I am living in the present.

And I can fulfill my life purpose in the present.

Sincerely, and with love my friends,
David Michaels

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!