You’re Here To Love + Share Your Gifts

I believe that we’re in the middle of a collective spiritual awakening. I feel it in my personal life and see it happening all around me at micro and macro levels. There’s not only a shift in people’s hearts, but there’s a shift in the collective response to those who take the leap of faith and begin living from their hearts.

Twenty and thirty year-olds are challenging taking what was once considered the safe and secure route and are venturing out on their own to create massive change in the world. Their work is being energized and magnetized such that full-on movements are being created.

In the past, people focused first on accumulating, then giving. They’d spend years in a state of accumulating before they began to experience an inner transformation where this state was questioned. However, today these purpose-driven questions are occurring at younger and younger ages.

The spiritual cycle of awakening is being moved up as part of the collective shift that is occurring. We’re no longer solely focused on insulating ourselves against the world through comfortable jobs and deep savings. Instead, we’re using the gifts we’ve been given to make a difference in the world.

The fear that surrounds the old way of doing things is no longer holding us in its grip. Instead, we’re taking action before we’ve attained security by stepping into the unknown with our hearts as our guide. This is something that only becomes possible when we begin living from our spiritual self…less fear, more love.

Adam Braun, founder of Pencils of Promise (read his book, The Promise of a Pencil!), started his non-profit by putting $25 into a bank account. He took one step into the direction of the unknown, trusting that he’d be guided. And he was. Not overnight, but with time. Now he’s built over 200 schools in the developing world! Oh, and he’s not even 30 yet!

At 25, my friend, Lindsey Parry, founder of Sowing Seeds of Love, moved to Panama by herself to begin her educational outreach programs. She left the security of her good-paying job, sold her condo, her car and most of her closet to begin funding her dream to make a difference in the lives of others.

Instead of using their education and talents for their own gain, people like Adam and Lindsey are leveraging their gifts to help others. And they’re not the only ones who are moving in the direction of this changing paradigm. Change-agents are emerging with each awakening that’s taking place.

One of the youngest and gutsiest is Malala Yousafzai, the girl from Pakistan who raised her voice for girl’s education despite the Taliban’s efforts to ban girl’s education (read I Am Malala, as well!). She began speaking out at age 11.

When asked by an interviewer why fear of the Taliban’s retribution hadn’t silenced her, she said allowing the Taliban to go on without speaking out would be saying no to what God was asking her to do. By the age of 15 she’d become such a threat to the Taliban that they attempted to silence her forever.

Fortunately, they were unsuccessful and now her campaign for girl’s education is stronger than ever with a global audience, political connections throughout the world, and financial backing by social activists like Angelina Jolie.

To me, it’s glaringly obvious that something miraculous is happening through Malala Yousafzai all because she responded to what her heart was guiding her to do. She is bold, fearless (even more now that she’s faced death), and completely committed to service. She is living from her spiritual self and she’s only 16.

For me, this trend of taking service-oriented action to help others points directly to the collective spiritual awakening that is taking place.

We each have a special function to play in the overall divine plan. Some are meant to be publicly recognized simply because it fosters the work that they’re doing. But not everyone is. And it must be noted that they’re not driven by public recognition; they’re driven by their purposeful mission.

Maybe you’re meant to be a leader in the way that those that I’ve highlighted here are. Great, get to it! If not, that’s okay, too. The spiritual awakening is really about the shift in the state of consciousness that you live from. It’s about shifting from a getting mentality to a giving mentality.

It’s about acknowledging that we are all connected and that we’re here to contribute our unique gifts to the whole…that they are no longer our gifts for our personal gain, but our gifts to support the overall healing of the world.

We each have something significant to contribute, whether it’s building hundreds of schools in the developing world, being the best mom or wife in the world, or simply interacting with others through kindness, love and compassion in your daily life. Every act of love matters, whether it’s attached to a defined mission or not. So don’t fret if you don’t feel lit on fire with a specific purpose or mission.

Instead, let your sole (or soul) mission be to act with love in all that you do. You’ll not only heal yourself but all who come into contact with you.

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To being a part of a new paradigm!

Shanna

P.S. for further inspiration, check out this short clip of Malala Yousafzai being interviewed by CNN a year before she was shot and the clip with Jon Stewart when she was doing her book tour last fall.

P.P.S for a super inspiring 27 minute interview, check out the video below of Adam Braun being interviewed by Marie Forleo about his new book, The Promise of a Pencil.