what does life want from me?

"instead of asking, “what do I want from life?,” a more powerful question is, “what does life want from me?”

― Eckhart Tolle

so often we ask ourselves, “what do I want from life?”. we spend years thinking, constructing, and dissembling our pursuits.

but the real question we should be contemplating is, “what does life want from me?”

or even better: “what does life need from me?”

one of the most selfish things that we could do in this life is to not be who we were destined to be.

we are all uniquely made. we all are created and wired with intention and purpose.

the worst thing we could do is rewire ourselves to fit someone else’s mold.

let’s play pretend for a minute.

imagine if a tree decided he didn't like being a tree anymore. each day he looked over at the flowers and noticed their beautiful, wide range of colors dancing in the wind.

the tree was discontent with his boring old roots. so he decided to become a flower.

he cut himself short, and painted his stump with some nearby paint. he was now small, and colorful, just like the flowers.

by abandoning the trees true nature, he not only turned into a pathetic version of a flower. he then could no longer perform the task that he was literally hardwired for : giving oxygen to those around him.

by simply being himself, the tree gave life to the people around him. he didn't have to strive to be something great. just his presence gave life.

by abandoning himself, the tree betrayed not only himself, but also the collective whole. all the people around him in desperate need of clean air that only he could give because of the way he was uniquely wired.

so: what does life want from you. more importantly, what does life need from you?

are you letting insecurities like "i don't have beautiful petals like the flowers" get in the way of embracing, and using your beautiful branches designed for giving life to the world around you?

If you’ve cut your branches off and painted yourself to try to fit in and be like those around you, that’s okay. You can always grow your branches back.

It takes time and a lot of unlearning to rid yourself of inherited ambitions, and step into your authentic power. It’s a life time pursuit.

But let’s try to reframe our question.

Instead of “what do I want from life?”

let’s align with the divine orchestration.

let’s contribute to the whole, and ask “what does life need from me?”