Navigating Your Calling

“Each person is a story that the Soul of the World wants to tell to itself.” 
— Michael Meade

It’s blatantly obvious to some, and then to others, like myself, it’s a discovery that shakes you to the very core.

Each individual has a calling. A purpose. A unique meaning and creative energy to bring to this life.

Some find it in their youth, and others stumble upon it after years of frustration. To hear your calling and move towards it is a miracle, but it’s also as natural as breathing. 

It’s the thing that saves us from nihilism, and it’s the thing that makes little children giggle.

A calling is life’s gift to us, just as it is our gift to the world.

Ancient cultures had this understanding of the individual. 

There would be plenty to say about why this knowledge isn’t common knowledge anymore. It’s not really so much of a conspiracy to acknowledge the plain truth that powerful people control ideas. It’s much easier to build empires off of people who spend their precious life force at a 9-5 and never realise that there’s another path. 

Every individual matters.

The idea of the birthday candle, as mythologist Michael Meade points out, is that it is a symbol of recognition and celebration of the unique flame that has entered into the world. No other flame exists nor has ever existed in this form before. 

All of the special talents, skills, perspectives, and even the wounds one accumulates over their life are useful and meaningful. Nothing and no one is a mistake. The weird and wonderful things that you are interested in are an indication towards where this calling wants to take you.

“To become nobody but your true self and to struggle against the tide of sameness and the false security of simply fitting in is a fight worth having. To become oneself by contributing one’s native gifts and talents to this troubled world: that is the job to keep applying for and a work worth spending an entire life doing.” 

― Michael Meade

There is corruption and confusion, yes. 

But there is never an extinguishing of the flame. It never goes out so long as the person lives. Culture is loud. The bright and shiny things that our friends are doing all around us seem convincing, but the calling, once it is recognised, is undeniable. 

You know deep down.

And perhaps it is not as rare as you might think to follow a calling, it’s just that culture doesn’t acknowledge its presence consciously. People are out there doing it, and we could take hope and heed from their examples. Just think of all the music we listen to every day – each one a gift from someone who followed their calling. Or the houses we pass by with their gardens so beautifully tended. 

A calling that calls us to the seemingly small or mundane things, like creating a beautiful garden bed, is still a calling. Not everyone needs to be a brave hero who goes marching into a righteous battle. 

The small and quiet things matter.

We glance over these instances that happen all around us because it is so natural. A calling is like breathing. We don’t think to thank the musician for creating their masterpiece, just like we wouldn’t think to thank someone for breathing. We just have a natural appreciation that emanates from a much deeper place than the words ‘thank you’. 

A calling often moves people to create and then give that creation out to others. It’s like two lovers coming together, an undeniable pull. There is enough reason to call it instinct. Sharing the gifts we have made with each other creeps as close to the entire point of life as we might get. 

A calling often shifts and changes throughout the course of a person’s life. 

It might lead you down one path in order to gain experiences and insights that are necessary to take into another part of life. 

Because there is no outer support from elders or mentors anymore, this might seem to someone that they are being wishy-washy. They might think that because they explore many different avenues that they lack commitment, or they’re giving up too much. 

A calling doesn’t play by the strict rules of culture, nor does it care what the common way is. 

It takes a sense of rebellion, but sometimes one may crumble into a million pieces, only to find in themselves a willingness to be rebuilt. A calling is there for you in your darkest hour, as well as in your brightest.

Your calling is with you every moment of your life.

Staring at the pages of a picture book filled with horses – yes, my calling was calling then. The disappointment of being denied access to horses for so many years, yes, my calling still existed in that developing wound that turned into my greatest gift. 

The great myths and fairytales that we have carried through us for centuries tell of the trials and trip hazards of a calling. It’s all there. Ancient law. It doesn’t only work out for some – it works out for all. Even the animals know. 

So, with all of that said and so much more left unsaid, what should I leave you with?

Follow your bliss. 

The still, small voice. 
The bright spark of interest.
An inner chord.
A glimmer of hope.
Your intuitive nudge. 
The faint remembering.
A familiar satisfaction. 

Remember, there’s no dissertation in a calling – it’s as natural as breathing. 

So, take a breath – and you’re already there.

“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” 

― Joseph Campbell