Is there such a thing as destiny, and if so, what use is learning how to make the right choices and putting so much effort into making something worthwhile out of our lives, if everything has already been predisposed?
Do we have free will, and if we do, why do we so often feel trapped in the circumstances of our days?
A hidden trait
As we move through life, we’ll find ourselves at crossroads where we assess whether the path we’re on is worth the effort or if we’re being delusional about the prospect of our goals, ambitions, or even needs. We might start to question our ways and whether there is such a thing as creating your own life, or we should rather surrender and let the stream of the collective take us wherever it flows.
Something that I’ve come to realise during the last decade of my life, and shifting from a mindset of a person who deeply believed there isn’t a trait of creativity stored within her, into becoming fully immersed in this world of expressive words and art, is that I’ve learned how there is a trait of genius hidden within every single individual. Something they’re not just merely good at, but they enjoy doing so much that it feels as essential as any other vital human function.
What that taught me was that, while there are many incredible aspirations and goals we can commit ourselves to, and numerous highly stimulating directions we can take, there isn’t a greater and more rewarding adventure than discovering and uncovering one’s quirk of genius.
Touched by destiny
Observing the people around me and the changes that happen in their spirit as years pass by has shown me that the ones who stay young – not externally, but internally – the ones whose love and appreciation for life doesn’t weave under the tides that come their way, rather grow with each day; the ones whose eyes never age, are the same ones who came closer in touch with their destiny.
What I mean by destiny is the innate gifts, talents, and predispositions that we carry within, or as earlier mentioned, the traits of genius we possess.
Those traits are the things that keep calling us from within – quietly, but persistently. They are the things that always linger on the edge of our peripheral vision, despite how blind we can get.
On the other hand, the ones whose eyes seem to grow more distant as each year passes by, the ones whose soul gets contaminated with grudge and bitterness, and for whom a single calendar year adds ten years of exhaustion to their face, are the ones who ignored the inner call and walked away from their destiny.
Whispers from within
Looking back on those years spent believing I had nothing of value to offer to the world, other than what I was told to do, I can recognise the subtle signs that were all around me, trying to get my attention and redirect me towards what was meant for me.
No matter how far I derailed, those whispers were always there with me. I might have mastered ignoring them, and developed systems for reasoning why they are just the product of my childish imagination, but they proved to be more real than all the grown-up logic and facts I acquired in those days.
Those calls from within, the silent agents of our destiny, are nothing more than simple pulls we feel towards certain things.
It’s the things that bring back curiosity into your eyes.
It’s the things that fill your world with intrigue and thirst to explore.
It’s those things that keep reappearing in your world, and each time the invitation stands open, filling you with joy and excitement for life.
Freedom to choose
Where things start to get complicated is when our young minds are being shaped by the environment that teaches us how it knows the ultimate truth of what’s meant for us.
We become adults with an already programmed internal operating system whose sole purpose is to distort those inner calls. A design that serves as a continual reminder of where we belong – and must never deviate.
Then we spend the rest of our days trying to mould and bend ourselves so that we fit the frame we were given.
We stay loyal to the borders of the known and praise one another in our service to the convenient image of human potential.
We use the power of our mind to create an infrastructure of reasoning that will, whenever the whispers become slightly audible, remind us why we don’t have the capacity to know what’s best for us, or wonder if there could be something more.
Or worse, that we don’t even have the right to do so.
Where free will steps in
You might argue now that the presence of our destiny, those traits of genius we were born with, negates the existence of our free will. After all, if we can’t choose in which directions we are being pulled, if we can’t decide what we are like, and we can’t select what our best is about, what freedom do we have?
But free will is not something to be viewed as the ultimate freedom to be whoever and whatever we would like.
Free will is the choice to be nobody else but who you are.
Free will is the ability to recognise that the responsibility for getting in touch with your genius and letting it loose lies in your own hands.
Free will is the accountability to align your mind with your soul, your words with your actions, and to carry yourself in a manner that does justice to the best that you carry within.
Free will is not the ultimate freedom to bend the world whichever way it pleases you, but the choice to serve and master what was given to you.
Immersed in the awe
Ultimate freedom is not something that offers superior life, because it does not matter what your potential is.
It’s not about the way it shows on the outside, but the degree to which you’ve managed to access and employ it.
When you see a musician, a writer, a farmer, an actor, a healer, a dancer, a potter, or anyone else who has managed to utilise their gifts and talents, you don’t feel the tendency to compare them with someone else. You don’t think one is more worth than the other. You just stand there, fully immersed and in awe of their vibrant inner world.
So while you may not be able to choose your gifts and talents and everything that comes with them; while you might have even been told that those best things you carry are weaknesses that need to be corrected – you have the full freedom to take your will in your own hands, and redirect it towards becoming the person you were destined to be – rooted, supported, and nurtured in all your quirks and magic.
New levels
The best thing about embracing and surrendering to your destiny is that the depth of your world reaches new levels.
Life doesn’t seem anymore like it’s out of your hands, and you’re just a mere spectator to whatever is happening around you.
Instead, you feel like you are contributing to the world.
You become a part of the dialogue.
You aren’t trapped in the circumstances of your days.
You are continually changing, altering, and creating, by willingly responding to that which resonates with you.
What if those things that keep calling you are the map to your most vibrant life?
I wish we’d remind ourselves more often how we’re not meant to just measure our days, but live them as well.
I wish we’d tell each other more often that the only thing we should fear is a life spent in fear of being yourself.
I wish we’d remind one another how the only real judge that exists is our own conscience.
I wish we’d tell each other that we’re not only worthy of shallow breathing of this air, but of expanding our lungs to the point where time and worries no longer remain.
I wish we’d remind one another how the furthest away from selfishness we can be is where we care for those softest parts that we’re made of.
Mostly, I wish we’d realise that all the threads we try to tie and knot and weave lead into the longed embrace of our mother and father, and a forgotten, but indispensable, tenderness towards ourselves.
