You're NOT Finished!

"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if you're still alive, it isn't."

That quote is from a book called "Illusions" by Richard Bach, same guy who wrote the small, simple, and amazing "Jonathan Livingston Seagull."

I was having coffee with a friend earlier (okay, technically steamed soy milk with half a shot of sugar-free raspberry syrup--try it! yum!), and we got onto the topic of mediocrity, and how easy it is to slip into a life stupor, accepting mediocrity as something to feel lucky for. E.g., "Well, I've got a great house and an okay job and someone to come home to at night, and my job has great benefits, so yeah, I should feel lucky. Most people in the world don't even have half of all that..."

Okay, so in part I agree. We should all be conscious about what we have in life, and be grateful. AND, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY DO NOT AGREE WITH ACCEPTING MEDIOCRITY AS A TERMINAL LIFE PATH. So many of us have been raised with this guilt thing hanging over our heads, and with a scarcity mentality. ("I'd better 'get mine' in life before someone else does!" or "This is really all I deserve.") But guess what? That is SO not the way it has to be! You, being fully expressed in the world, eeking out every last drop of who you are, is what the world craves from you!

I, and the world, much, much prefer an abundance mentality. Abundance thinking says, "Yes, that's possible, AND...!" instead of, "Well, that would be nice, but..." Julia Cameron does a great job of busting open self-limiting beliefs about scarcity vs. abundance in her book "The Artist's Way." In it, she basically says, "Why would God [meaning "good orderly direction" for anyone not into the big "G"] want you to have anything less than abundance in your life? Why would God make up rules that say work can't be fun and creative and fulfilling? Who says the two have to be mutually exclusive?"

But at some point, so many of us find our way into a spot where we may feel overwhelmed by obligation, either to family or friends or even a company we've been with a while. We get caught up in a wave we happened to catch at one point, and over the years, we start saying "yes" to what everyone else thinks we should do and be, and we loose track of the things that fill us with so much joy it feels like we almost can't stand it. Do you remember that feeling? That feeling of joy? Lightness? Almost-bursting happiness?

It must be quote night tonight because I'm going to round out this entry with Marianne Williamson's famous quote, used by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural speech:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

C'mon. According to Richard Bach, you're still alive, so your mission's not finished. It's time to shift into abundance mode...after all, everything is waiting!