Tag: service

What drives me, what drives you?

Ever wonder what it is that drives you? What you yearn to bring forth?

It turns out, purpose is always about something bigger than ourselves that we are asked to stretch into.

IshLeave a comment

What is your yes to in life? That’s the elemental question of purpose.

I get asked this often, and I’ve been thinking a lot about what drove me to end a decade long career as an architect and start Come to Center — a holistic transformational consultancy, that constantly has me walking the edge of discomfort, asking me to face my demons every step of the way.

And the answer is L O V E!
Big love.

A love of life itself, a love of something bigger than me, love of those in search of light, of truth, of something bigger than themselves.

So often in our world we go looking for fulfillment outside of us- marketing is great at perpetuating a paradigm of lack- get the new outfit, the perfect job, the perfect partner and then you’ll be happy! And we believe them, until we actually ‘get it all.’

We can have the perfect job, the perfect house, a helluva lot of money and still feel empty, disconnected and meaningless. We can have three PhDs and a lineup of accolades and still know nothing about our own nature- who we are, why we came to be, how to live a joyful life!

We can go through a whole lifetime in unconsciousness, driven by compulsive consumption- without ever honoring our deepest yearning, without ever knowing the exquisite privilege it is to be alive!

Seven years ago I saw through the illusion I’d been living in a way I could no longer deny. I had always suspected there was more to reality than met the eye.

And this seeing shattered everything I thought I was, I wasn’t, everything I thought I knew and my whole worldview itself.

It gave me absolute response ability. It silenced the yearning in all my questions. It plunged me into a bottomless hole that grew so big, it swallowed everything up and left a Wholeness that has never since left me, even in the darkest of times, even as I’m still falling through the hole! It’s the wildest, most fun ride I’ve ever been on!

So fun that it had to be shared- you know, like when you find the most incredible secret, so simple and profound, you want to TELL EVERYONE? Like that! So I listened to my heart and let my spirit drive.

I now live and share a simpler, more authentic and fulfilling way of life. I know what I am, I know why I’m here:

I’m here to know myself ever more deeply in relationship- with life, with all of creation, with you.

To be unapologetically me.

To heal inner division.

And I’m here to embody and teach a new way of being- one that lets us love ourselves fully and deeply.

To provide an alternative to existing in stress and turmoil.

To empower conscious evolution.

To bridge the wisdom of the East with the gifts of the West.

And holy shit, is it scary!

It turns out, purpose is always about something bigger than ourselves that we are asked to stretch into.

You will be tested along your hero’s journey. Every day I face some flavor of my shadow- my shyness, my reticence to really be vulnerable, shame in asking for my needs, to allow myself to be seen in my power, to let you know I know what I’m talking about and a hundred other defense strategies I’ve perfected over lifetimes…

But beneath all of that, there’s the love. It permeates everything. It shines from behind the fear and guides me through and to the light. There is much to learn and be and do and share!

So, what are you driven by in your life?

What is your yes to? Can you let your deepest love be your guide?

Come to Center is an invitation to join me on the ride. To turn suffering into growth. To return home to yourself. To live from the center of your being- to align with your truth, your beauty and your power- and bring it through in how you meet life, in this moment. And this one. And this one…

Come with me. Collective transformation starts with us!

Mantra

A mantra pointing to life purpose…the part and the whole.

IshLeave a comment

Mantra is a Sanskrit word: Man + Tra. 

The simplicity of Sanskrit’s structure can be deceiving. For within the construction of its words lies a fundamental correlation of sound and form, bound in the frequency of the utterance.

Man translates to mind and Tra translates to vehicle or instrument. Thus, a mantra is an instrument to move the mind. Where? Where the sound points.

Over the years I have been enchanted by the Sanskrit I have inherited in my lineage. I lose myself in the beauty of a word just tracing its lines with my fingers, or its sound with my tongue or feel its vibration moving through my being.

Sanskrit shlokas and mantras surface often in my consciousness with joyous reverence. But sometimes, a sentence or a phrase arises in plain English that resounds so true and beautiful that it reverberates for days within.

This most recent one surfaced in my evening routine and points to purpose and calling:

May the highest and best in each serve the highest and best for all.  

There is much and many in a state of transition…as we find ourselves confronted by the limitations of old ways of thinking and living, many sense a new world of possibilities may lie just beyond. Big questions emerge in uncomfortable confrontations…there are quarter-life, mid-life and end-of-life crises: What is the purpose of my life? we ask.

Big questions often have humble answers. Life is to be lived. Existence has no purpose but to exist. So, live! Be here, be now. What more?

To be here and now may not sound like a worthy life purpose if the belief system is looking for a mission to fulfill, a destiny to carve or a goal to achieve. Perhaps because we have forgotten how to live in presence and the expansion it brings.

But perhaps, by intending to use the best of that which is us, to serve the best for all (no exclusions!), we can remember how to live here and now and maybe just for a minute, transcend the ego and silence the mind and open up to a greater possibility…for the best for the whole is the best for the part, and the best for the part is the best for the whole.