The conundrum of life.
We want things.
Love. Money. A hot boyfriend. A wedding ring. A nice house. A TV Series. A great agent.
We think the things we want will fulfill for us the spaces in our heart that desire connection and fulfillment and joy and creation and love. And at one level they do, but at another level, nothing in the material world is sustainable. So the things we seek keep changing to keep satiating that ever-desiring part in us.
But I think that the real fulfillment that we’re all after ”“ the real sustenance through the things we do or the experiences we have ”“ comes from service.
We fall in love. It’s an act of service to another. We create. It’s ultimately an act of service to educate or entertain. We tell stories to serve and inspire and uplift.
It’s in our DNA. It’s the fabric of our very existence. The entire cosmos ”“ if you want to look at it that way ”“ is in service to sustaining life.
The inner part of who we all are is to serve. You are most in alignment with the benevolence of the universe when you are in service.
The question to be asking isn’t, “What can the world do for me?” The world is already doing things for you! So many things that we aren’t even consciously aware of, or we take for granted, or we ignore outright. Generally, we don’t think the world is working for us when we don’t get what we want, so most things that are happening for our own good happen in ways that go unnoticed.
If we could loosen our ego’s hold on how we think something should look, or stop strategizing our agenda, or having constant expectations about”¦well”¦everything, we’d find that the world is giving us something perhaps better than we realized.
So rather than thinking of your life goals in terms of achievement, or accolades or money or fame, what if you tried to shift the paradigm and instead, asked, “How can I serve?”
So acting becomes an opportunity to serve. How can I be an answer to their casting problem? How can I go into a casting office and best serve the story by doing it my way? How can I make a difference by serving others through the work I’m creating? How can I serve if I don’t believe I have anything to give? Maybe the first form of service is to realize you do.
When you start to ask those questions, you begin to see that your ability to positively alter the world, to make an impact, to reach people and heal people stretches far beyond the label you use to identify yourself as an actor.
You’re a citizen of the planet. And ultimately, we are all public servants. The moments you’ve probably felt most alive were when you served. You held the door open for someone. You assisted someone who fell down. You volunteered and served meals.
Big acts. Small acts. Let life show you where and how to be of service and make the most magic.
When you let your life flow from this place, counter-intuitively, the ego needs get fulfilled in ways you couldn’t imagine. But your heart will be so full of…well”¦fullness that everything else is just icing on the cake.