So I am pretty sure this book just changed my life.
That’s a weird statement to make, especially when I found most of the The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra to be kind of blah. In my experience, most books on spirituality teach the same basic things. Each book just takes a different tack or use different language to get the same point across. So while I was reading, I had that reaction of “yeah, uh huh, heard that before, read that before, don’t I know it” throughout.
And then I got to the last chapter: The Law of Dharma.
Dharma just means purpose of life. Chopra takes it a little further and says it’s also about serving others and not just yourself.
Quite a few things in the chapter stood out to me, but here’s the biggest:
Ask yourself, if money was no concern and you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do? If you would still do what you currently do, then you are in dharma, because you have passion for what you do–you are expressing your unique talents. Then ask yourself: How am I best suited to serve humanity? Answer that question, and put it into practice.
I am very, very blessed in that I am in dharma. I love my job. I LOVE IT. I love it, I’m good at it, and I know I’m serving humanity. Teaching makes me so happy. Which led me to thinking about other things in my life. Are they making me happy? Am I serving myself and/or humanity?
Probably not.
One of the things I want to work on is “should”ing on myself. That idea that I should be doing this or that, whether it makes me happy or not. So when I read this last chapter, everything just sort of clicked into place for me. I want to be in dharma in all areas of my life. I mean, yes, we all have obligations and I’m not knocking those, but I have to remember to take care of myself, and if I’m doing that, I am best suited to be in service to other people. Which leads to another quote from the chapter:
I am going to discover my unique talents, and finding my unique talents, I am going to enjoy myself, because the process of enjoyment occurs when I go into timeless awareness. That’s when I am in a state of bliss.
Again, teaching does that for me. I have often lost track of time while teaching (aka why I now set the timer on my phone with a five-minute warning), and I sometimes feel like I could do it all day. I love interacting with my students. I love prepping for classes, I love deciding on assignments, I love picking course materials.
Ah, bliss. I want it all the time. I want to get back to losing myself in things I love.
And that’s why this book has changed my life, even if I found quite a bit of it not to have an impact. Amazing how that works.
Off the Shelf: 4/30; POC Reading Challenge: 4/25
The Englishist 