Boost The Meaning In Your Life

The yoga tradition teaches about four aims of life, which guide us toward our potential for wholeness—vibrancy in body, mind, emotions and relationships).
• Sensual pleasure (a challenging one to manage responsibly)
• Financial wealth to fulfill our basic needs and support our dharma
• Dharma—the inner drive to offer our god given gifts to the world through work
• Lastly, the inherent desire to attain freedom from worldly suffering.

I recently witnessed a friend completely in his element, expressing his god given Dharma with passion and purpose. This friend happens to be my older brother, Jonathan. As far as big brothers go, he’s pretty darn great. As we explored the grounds in his backyard, he stopped to show me a tree that had recently fallen in a storm.

In the middle of his explanation he grabbed my wrist with a sparkle in his eyes and whispered “SHHH! Do you hear that? It’s a barred Owl!” After a hauntingly similar imitation, he quickly became passionately engrossed again in his subject.

There is something totally infectious about being around a person living his/her Dharma, and each one of us has a unique gift that contributes positively to society. It is said that following our Dharma (that desire which is seeking expression through your heart) relieves our suffering by giving us purpose and passion. This is what work was designed to be, an outlet for our passions that inevitably uplift both the giver and the receiver.

Through our examination that day, I learned that a tree dies from the inside out, which in forestry terms is called heart rot. This title so poignantly describes us as well. When we are not impassioned by sharing our life’s purpose, we run the risk of rotting from the inside out too.

Jonathan’s love of the natural world led him to his current role as Director of Forestry for NS. Take some time this week to inquire into your own passion; you never know where it might take you!