When I asked a young woman, who I saw for the first time recently, what motivated the significant changes she had made in her life over the last year she said she had decided, “To live the best life I can”.

I found her words to be inspirational as she had the wisdom to speak in the present and the present is the only place we can change any aspect of ourselves.

We hear a lot about ways to success these days. Often it’s about setting and achieving goals and/or finding our purpose. These can be useful for taking the steps on our journey but often fail to provide a deeper contentment and meaning. It is this deep sense of meaning that I believe is fundamental to our humanness.

Imagine an old sailing ship navigating it’s way on its journey. As it proceeds along the coastline it has goals of recognising and passing each lighthouse and it has the purpose of delivering the goods it carries to its destination. But its navigation is actually being achieved by following the direction given by the stars. This navigation is a calling – the ship is being guided and knows that it is heading in the right direction.

A calling is completely different; it comes from a deeper awareness of something beyond us

Goals are the work of the mind and purpose adds a little heart to the mind’s business. A calling is completely different; it comes from a deeper awareness of something beyond us (like the stars that guided the old ships). It is not necessary (or perhaps even possible) to describe a calling in words, it’s a deep knowing. It is the soul’s business.

The core focus of a calling is always present and in the present. It will always drive you, regardless of how you choose to act on it. You may find there are many actions which are congruent with your calling. But inspiring change is always present with a calling. Callings are about contributing to the world through your words, actions, presence and creations. Your views, experiences, voice and ideas are meant to be shared and your calling will align itself with some way to express these things. This is why they matter.

Callings are about contributing to the world through your words, actions, presence and creations.

Callings draw you towards them. They may start as a tiny nagging thought or feeling. Callings involve listening to your intuitions, they start deep inside us when we realise that we are not separate from the universe. (See my previous article “The Truth is in the Body”.) They call you to align yourself with wisdom and they are always present. Once recognised for what they are, they will always drive and guide you. This was the very message that impressed me during the conversation I mentioned at the beginning of this article. My young client expressed wisdom beyond her years and was enjoying the benefits of a changed focus in her life.

Your calling is as unique as you are; and yet has a universal quality that is wise, compassionate and healing.