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The more fulfilled we are, the more we inspire and fulfill the people around us. The more successful we are, the more we support other people in being successful.
In fact, how we live our life is our only tool to making the world a better place. Who we are and what we do makes a huge impact on others. When we make the world a better place, we enjoy being in it more.
Caring – as in really giving a damn – is essential to our fulfillment and success. The problem is that people often only care about meeting their own needs and having others meet their needs. They think that this is the only way to make themselves happy. While your needs are important, they are only part of the picture.
Once we learn to move out of apathy and start caring, we step into a whole new way of being in the world where:
We contribute and feel a healthy responsibility to the world around us.
We create a better world for everyone.
This kind of positive impact is at the heart of Right Livelihood.
People who feel fulfilled in their lives tend to be more generous, supportive, and available. They’re better able to give more to their partners, their children, and their community because they have the inner-resources from which to give.
A successful life makes everyone richer. When you on the path towards your Right Livelihood, you provide more for your family, those associated with your work, and those associated with them.
Every bit of Right Livelihood you create adds to the lives of others. It feeds, clothes, and houses other people as well as inspires them to create something for themselves.
When we focus on a path that leads to holistic, comprehensive success, we increase the general wealth in the world.
One of the first steps on your path to Right Livelihood is to find a representation of what you want to create. If you can see what you want then you can achieve it. When you can’t see it, you can’t actually have a relationship to what it is you want. When you imagine a bigger or more expanded life, you’re on your way to it. Did you catch that? If you can see it then you are on your way.
Take a moment to journal about who or what represents Right Livelihood to you. If you don’t know, spend a few moments researching it.
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How you answer these questions will reveal the impact your work has on you, your community, and your world.
2. As a result of my work, was anyone diminished?
3. To do my work, was anyone required to earn less than they ought to, expose themselves to negative work environments or unhealthy work conditions?
4. Through my work, are the contracts I make with others mutually respectful?
5. Is there an excessive/harmful gap between my earnings and those who help me earn them, or the reverse?
6. Does you work have a negative effect on your mind or heart?
7. Is my work perfectly aligned with who I am? Do I love what I do, am I good at it and does it fill me with a sense of meaning?
8. Does my work afford me the ability to work on other things that are important to me?
9. Do I do my work for free leaving myself uncared for?
10. Do I over or under-perform my work? Is my effort in balance?
Give yourself 1 point for every statement you responded “no” to:
8-12 Knocking it out of the park!
4-7 Figuring it out.
1-3 Feeling the Burn.
Want a step-by-step guide to find and live your life purpose? My Morning Mindset Life Purpose is an inspirational daily video series that delivers tips, insights and exercises straight to your inbox for three weeks. Morning Mindset will help you step-in your purpose and live your life to its fullest. Learn more here!
Right Livelihood is taken from the Buddhist teaching of the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment. The path of right livelihood means earning your living in a way that does not cause harm to yourself or others.
There is a difference between Life Purpose and Right Livelihood even though they are often understood as the same thing.
Right Livelihood has as much to do with the way you go about your work as it does the with your given profession.
The reason Right Livelihood is so important is that everything we do can either contributes to or detract from our overall wellbeing. The more conscious you are of yourself, the more you will feel the positive and negative effects of your choices.
If you want to help others in their transformation, whether through being a healer or acting as one, your work is limited or strengthened by a multitude of factors that fall under the umbrella of right livelihood.
In general, I look at spiritual concepts as information that help point the way towards riches that we most need to discover. There are many versions of Right Livelihood across religious and spiritual teachings. I make no claim to the correct ones.
Here are components of the path to Right Livelihood that I think might be useful to you as you move forward in your own pursuit.
Passion:
Growth:
Alignment:
Harmony:
Balance:
Positive Impact:
Take a moment to reflect on where you are on your path to creating Right Livelihood. What is something you can do to advance your growth in this area?
Want a step-by-step guide to find and live your life purpose? My Morning Mindset Life Purpose is an inspirational daily video series that delivers tips, insights and exercises straight to your inbox for three weeks. Morning Mindset will help you step-in your purpose and live your life to its fullest. Learn more here!
The Conscious Creative: Life Purpose, June 2016