Being Utterly Fulfilled

"Are you utterly fulfilled, right Now?"

David Deida

There are times in our life when we can find ourselves doing things that we really don't want to do. Whether out of guilt or self-imposed pressure, we can hear ourselves saying 'yes' when what we really want to say is 'no '. Our whole life can become an endless stream of doing things that, not only don't fulfill us, but actually end up causing us stress, and hurting us in one way or another. For instance, one of our friends may ask us to spend our weekend helping them move, and while we may not really wish to help them because we really need to rest, we end up going over and helping anyway. Then the whole time we are there we might feel resistance, and perhaps even hurt our back in the process, while wishing that we were relaxing and taking time for ourself instead.

Listening to our heart, and taking care of ourselves, can sometimes take great courage (see last weeks blog to read about courage), especially if we tend to want to constantly 'please' other people and win their approval. Of course, this approval usually lasts as long as we continue to say yes to every request made upon us! When we act from this motivation, we often end up feeling frustrated and used by the people we are trying to help. When we live in integrity with ourself however, we can always depend on the wisdom of our own heart to let us know when to say 'yes', and when to say 'no'. As we learn to listen to this wisdom, we find ourselves making choices that actually uplift and serve our own joy, rather than running around trying, in vain, to make others happy.

This is the way to living with 'utter fulfillment' in every aspect of our lives. In this way we can trust the inner voice that directs us to do what we know is beneficial for our well-being, and let go of the guilt and pressure we feel to do things that bring us unhappiness. As we begin to live our lives out of following the wisdom within, we can learn that a high quality 'no' is just as important as saying yes all the time to every demand and request that is made upon us. In this way we come into integrity with ourselves, and find a greater peace and joy arising out of the choices that we do make, or don't make. We learn that, while we can't please everyone all of the time, we can please ourselves by simply doing what we most wish to do.