Anamchara - Living a Meaningful Life


At some stage of living your life you will ask the question "What does it mean to be here?"

You may phrase the question in different ways but the essence of the question is the same. It represents your desire to know what it means to be alive on this earth. The search for meaning has gone on through all time. It has been a question for all the greatest minds and hearts that have graced this earth.

For many of you meaning is found in the work that you do. It is found in one or more of the roles you adopt. This can be the role of employee, mother, father, lover or friend. When these roles end there is a sense of loss. When work life ends for many the heart is broken and dies. Children grow up and leave home. Relationships end and friends come and go.

Placing meaning in activities you do and identify with will give you a false sense of security. Roles come and roles will go. However, without a meaning and purpose your life is only half lived, if at all. Too many people come to the end of their lives and regret that they missed a great opportunity to live to the full.

Each person is required to discover the meaning of his or her life. Meaning is not something that is waiting to be found in a book or from the teachings of another. It is more a flow of process than some fixed idea. It is a feeling moment-to-moment awareness of being present to your experience.

There is a paradox in seeking the meaning of life. The more courageous and focused you are the more illusive meaning becomes.

The search for meaning is told in many great fairy tales. The story of the search for meaning abound throughout the world's cultures. In the West the major story is the search for the Holy Grail. The answer to finding the grail is in asking the right question at the right time. This means entering deeply into the question. It is to become the quest-I-on.

The meaning of life is not fixed.

It is a free flowing experience of knowing who you are in each moment. Those who know who they are live in the eternal now. When you do this there comes a point when you and life are one. You become holy. Then in that moment you know. Your search will be over. You have come to the place of the Grail. You will not be so concerned about the meaning of YOUR life because you will have surrendered to the Beloved. You will have become one with it all. You who are part will become whole.

You will know the meaning of life is simply to be here now.

We can learn more about the meaning of life by watching small children at play. When you ask a child why it is playing a game you often find they get annoyed. They will think you are asking a foolish thing. You are enquiring of them what it means to be playful. They will look puzzled. They can only say they know. To try to explain is to lose the essence of play.

The question of the meaning of life is often approached with a great sense of seriousness. It is asked via the intellect when it can only be felt and known via the heart. The knowing of your life's purpose is an individual act of the highest courage. It is to become a child again. It is to become childlike without the intense separation anxiety you experience when you were little. You return to the garden and know that this is your home.

Allow yourself to play more and do less. Ask great questions and wait. When you do this then "the singing bird will come." This is a phrase I love. It comes from a Chinese proverb. The full proverb is

Keep a green bough
in your heart
and the singing bird
will come.

I leave you with this proverb. It focuses your direction toward meaning via the heart. Keep the sap of your heart knowledge flowing and you will come to know the meaning of your life. Whatever you discover know that you are enough now and forever more.

So be it.

Tony Cuckson is an Anam Cara. This Celtic term means "Soul Friend." He specializes in providing insight for the spiritual journey, Blessings for YOU, words of wisdom and finding inner peace. Visitors to Irish Blessings Matter website and Tony's Blog get the opportunity to develop a purpose driven life through articles, newsletters and other programs.

Get your free report called "7 ways to it's a wonderful life" at http://www.irishblessingsmatter.com/, or go to Tony`s Blog at http://www.irishblessingsmatter.info/ where you will find links to information related to spiritual parenting, spiritual coaching and spirit in business.

MORE RESOURCES:
RELATED ARTICLES
A Lesson From A Hum Of A Bamboo Clump
Have you heard a nature hymn? For example, a whir of ting-a-ling-a-ling sound yielded by bamboo leaves when wind blows to its clump? If you have an opportunity to visit a bamboo garden, try to listen to its hymn. The trees of a bamboo clump will sing along with the wind.
Playing with Matches
Matches are all about power; a new world opens up when you strike a match and see it burst into flames.Most all children go through a period of fascination with matches.
Tending the Fire
In old buildings there was a boiler room where men stood shoveling coal or wood into a furnace to keep the whole building warm. If they didn't tend to the fire, the place went cold.
No More Frustration: The Thorns of Opportunity - Part II
The quest for the ultimate victory.In part one I shared with you how not knowing what you don't know, much like the "thorny" gardener, can rob you of your time, and keep you from enjoying and living the life you want.
I.Q. You Q. He, She, or It Qs.
I have, in recent years, come to believe that IQ tests are a waste of time for most of us, and a waste of money for some of us. In fact, as a general rule of thumb, if you want to know how stupid you are, check to see if you're paying for an online IQ test.
Freudian Slip
Direct Answers - Column for the week of November 17, 2003My dilemma is this. I've been going out with my boyfriend for five months.
A Prison Cell?
Do you have a goal? A focus in life? Have you invested a great deal of time, effort, money to achieve and yet feel you haven't made it yet? For all your effort do you still feel that there is something missing in your life? It is obviously very important to set goals in your life. It gives you a focus a way forward a mechanism for making decisions when faced with a number of options.
Growing From Good To Great
I have never been fond of white-water rafting, probably because I don't like cold water. The sport consists of a raft, fast moving cold water, raft riders, and a raft leader/guide.
How You Can Change Your Destiny
The outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. ~James Allen, As A Man ThinkethThe world you live in arises from the world within.
Look Out Any Window
Over my extended Thanksgiving weekend I took some time to look through my telescope at the moon. I saw the full moon rising in the east- northeast and thought it would be a good night for a look, so I set up my Meade reflecting telescope in the kitchen and aimed it toward the window.
A Perspective on Life!
All of our lives we always seem to direct our concern toward attempting to conclude our life path or destiny in this lifetime without really knowing or understanding what this means to us. In reality the importance lies not in trying to determine our life path or destiny, but, in effect of how much growth we accomplish within one lifetime.
Rocking The Boat
I work in a factory, and we have supervisors who play favorites. They have about six girls who can do no wrong, and they have easier jobs than the rest of us.
Everyone Has Been Hurt ....Part 6
Continued..
The Interactive Holodeck is For Real
[Channelled]'Interact,' is a common word that most of you are familiar with these days and most all of you understand its meaning. It is a term that has come to popular awareness during the computer age.
Pattern of Ripples
The Emmaus Journal Pattern of RipplesPicture within your mind an imaginary pool of water. Visualize a stone thrown into the water and see the waves of concentric circles that emulate from its point of contact.
Who Is Wallace Wattles and Why Is He One of My Mentors and Heroes?
Who is Wallace Wattles? Wallace D. Wattles died over 90 years ago so how can he be one of my mentors and heroes?I had been studying the works of some of the most famous self-improvement 'gurus' of recent times and several of them mentioned the book 'The Science Of Getting Rich' as the starting point of their own success.
For Old Times Sake
Direct Answers - Column for the week of August 19, 2002I am currently going through a divorce, and we've been negotiating the terms of the settlement for a year and a half without agreement. I have started a relationship with another woman, but I'm in a saddening, irresponsible situation that was mischievously planned by the ex.
Vistas
The other day I found myself frustrated with the slow progress on my new project. Other people involved, subcontractors, just 'weren't getting it'.
Important Things to Know / Remember About Life
I love you not because who you are, but because who I am when I am with you There is no one in this world that worth your tears, and if they are, they will never make you cry. If someone loves you not in the way you would like to, it does not mean that they don not love you in their own way A good friend is the one that will hold your hand and will touch your heart.
Tranquility
It's all in the mind- your mind.It's not brought about in an instant by serene surroundings,nor by the sound of soulful music, nor the beauty of summer blooms.