“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
Yesterday’s email about Internal Goals sparked some really good discussion.
(another big thanks to those who sent thoughtful replies — reading these is becoming one of my favorite parts of the workday)
One response in particular got my attention:
“I noticed your goals are more in the area of personal development, but I believe your knowledge could inspire some goals in the ‘spirit’ territory.”
Now of course, our list of Internal Goals is not my personal list — it’s a general list that I hope everyone will be able to pull inspiration from.
But my own goals are almost entirely in “spirit territory” — and have been for nearly a decade.
In fact, all of my “worldly” goals (money, relationships, personal growth, health and fitness, etc) have been systematically arranged around my spiritual path:
In my work life, I make my living teaching the inner development that leads to spiritual development.
In my relationships, I choose partners who challenge my ego and help me go beyond it.
In my private life, I apprentice in traditional plant medicine and work in hundreds of healing ceremonies all over the world — which has given me a direct gateway into true spiritual development, and a very extensive set of tools for helping others heal and awaken.
Even my training, diet, and health goals are aimed at building a strong, stable body that can channel spirit.
So this is not a casual hobby, for me:
This is my life’s work, and I’ve spent nearly a decade organizing the pieces of my life around the singular mission of Awakening.
That doesn’t mean I’m a monk; I don’t walk around in white robes blessing people or professing love and light all day.
(true spirituality is not about love and light, it’s about everything — nothing is not God)
And I’ve kept a strong footing in “normal” life — business, relationships, friendships, etc — because those things are no less spiritual than sitting around in a monastery.
(spirituality is not found in the things themselves, but in your perception of them)
In fact, spirituality has made me a lot more effective in business, relationships, and friendships.
Because the mission of the spiritual path is not to sit in the lotus position or memorize scriptures or please the guy upstairs.
It is to expand into the full capacity of who you really are.
White robes optional 🙂
- T
P.S. Until recently, I’ve been very hesitant to speak openly about spirituality.
But every time I do, I’m amazed at how much interest there is.
(it might be our most-requested topic so far — so if you want to go deeper, please let me know)
But what interests me most about our work is not spirituality, or business, or relationships, or personal development, any singular topic.
It’s the integration of all of those aspects of life into a unified whole that is far more profound than any of it’s individual parts.
That’s the real magic of what we’re doing here — and we’ve only just begun…