Dharma means purpose in Sanskrit, and it’s so frequently mistaken as ‘something spiritual as your work’. Especially in the modern Western world, it’s interpreted as ‘leave corporate job to become yoga teacher’. It actually means your life purpose, and this could be creating koi ponds, or being an accountant or parenting your children. Jeff Kober described it over the weekend as ‘the thing that you were born to do, that fills you up and where you give yourself totally”.
It’s the thing that lights you up like the brightest lantern. It doesn’t have to be a career either. Simply because we adore something so deeply, doesn’t mean we have to throw in the towel on everything else and dedicate ourselves singularly to one thing, and that one thing becomes our funding mechanism for life.
Many people say ‘oh I have no idea what my dharma is’, and my recommendation is to start experimenting. To be utterly consumed by something, to be so passionate and so alive when doing it is an experience everyone deserves to have. But sitting around waiting for that ‘special thing’ to come find us is futile. We must show up, and show our enthusiasm to the universe, to allow it to find it’s channel through us and to be willing to experiment.
As one of our friends once said to me, “I couldn’t care if someone was passionate about tadpoles, but be passionate about something!”.
Sent with love,
Jac x