Unfold Your Wings and Watch Life Take Off

Part 1 - Your Calling

Your Calling Speaks In Different Ways

Our calling is the optimum response. Guided actions seek out what we need to grow and are an inner response to changes within and to a changing environment. Therefore we need to be constantly on the lookout, ready to hear at any moment. Communications received may range from the soft and subtle, to the direct and overwhelming.

We need to be alert and ready to hear inner prompting because inner guidance usually communicates in soft and delicate ways. For example I was recently contemplating selling my house and moving to an apartment close by. This apartment was slightly farther upriver from my house and had almost exactly the same attractive river views. When I visited the apartment I felt that this could be my home. I was attracted by its tidy, clean appearance.

There would be many advantages in moving to the apartment. It would need less maintenance than my old terrace house and would be more secure, an advantage when I am away on long trips to Dublin. My mind was convinced of the benefits of the move, so I waited to see if my heart would engage and I would receive the call to move. I sensed that it was right for me to smarten up my existing home with a view to selling it. So I started to paint the outside of my house. This was an activity I was definitely being called to pursue.

I worked for eight weeks painting my house and throwing out a lot of rubbish that had collected over the years. However as I did this I was still unsure what my calling was saying. After two months work I had a clean, fresh home, but I still hesitated to place it on the open market and was not being drawn to place a bid for the apartment. Then I heard that the apartment had been let and I had missed my opportunity. However I was delighted. I felt that I was making a new start in my fresh, tidy house.

A few weeks later I discovered that the prices for apartments were at an all time high and that a number of large new developments of apartments were coming on the market. As a consequence the prices people were asking for apartments were now somewhat inflated. I discovered it was wise to wait because prices would almost certainly fall. This was unknown to me when I was considering buying the apartment.

Using my insight I came to the conclusion that I was really being called to tidy up my life and make a clean, fresh start. This did not necessarily mean I had to move house. I continued to tidy up my life now that it was clear what I was being called to do.

Although our calling usually speaks in subtle ways, it can on occasion speak with loud unmistakable authority. This has happened to me a few times in my life. I have found definite, strong communication to be significant and life changing. I have received this type of communication after periods of quiet withdrawal. That is how I received the inspiration to write this book and create A Life Discovered.org, the book's supporting website. I was similarly inspired to contact Peter Shepherd and suggest the Heart to Heart Coaching service on this site.

	UNFOLDING YOUR WINGS
If you would like to gain inspiration for the way forward in your life, consider a period of quiet withdrawal, meditation and contemplation. You could rent a cottage in the country for a week or two and take time to be alone. Do not be tempted to fill this retreat space with busy-ness. Instead open up to your solitude. If you wish, engage in simple tasks, like gardening, for part of the day. Do not work at finding answers. Instead live with the questions that interest you and simply trust that insight, understanding and inspiration will emerge in their own time.

For example I was on retreat some months ago. Before I felt called to withdraw I was struggling with how to write the last chapter of this book. I did not know how to communicate the rewards of living by your calling. I had already written the last chapter twice and scrapped it. Towards the end of my retreat I received powerful inspiration to write the last chapter as a myth set in ancient Celtic Ireland. Once I could see how to approach the final chapter, writing it was easy. When I asked a few friends to read the last chapter, they loved it.

I have had other powerful visions to do with my life while on retreat which are deeply meaningful, however at this point in time it feels right to keep them private. However you do not need to be on retreat to experience a powerful calling. Mother Teresa received her calling to live and work among the world's poor while sitting on a train. If you nurture communication with the most elevated part of yourself and endeavour to refine your heart you can receive such life changing inspiration at any time.

Envoi

I long to know my life's purpose.
By being still,
By listening within,
By learning to communicate with
The most elevated part of myself,
By developing my character,
By aligning my thoughts, words and deeds,
I am Being Prepared.

Then from nowhere I receive powerful inspiration.
I have discovered my life's purpose,
It is more than I could ever have hoped
And I am deeply grateful.

With you as my guide I can journey in harmony and in love.

You cost nothing and yet you bring great wealth.
You demand nothing and yet you attract my co-operation.
You need nothing and yet you give so much.