Neale Donald Walsch describes asking God what he was missing after decades of self-centered living. God's answer: your life is not about you. Real fulfillment comes from enriching others, not chasing goals for yourself alone.
Chapters
For the first 50 years of my life, Vishen I thought that my life was about me. I had the attitude of a 10 year old or a 9 year old or a 6 year old, but I had that attitude when I was 29 or 39. I just, you know, I thought I wasn't a bad person. I'm not trying to paint myself as this horrible individual, but I was fairly self centered. I was looking at my own career, my own goals, my own objectives, my own needs, my own wants, my own desires. I tried to be even handed about it if somebody helped me out, I tried to give back if I could and all those things that we're taught to do. But basically my life was focused on me. Fascinatingly, even though my life was focused on me virtually all the time, my life wasn't working. I mean at some point in my life I really got gosh, I can't seem to find happiness that lasts more than a little while. I can't seem to find success that lasts more than a little while. Everything is so ephemeral. It just comes in and goes out. Comes in and goes out. I never seem to get anywhere to the top of the mountain. When is the struggle over? That's what I was experiencing when I had my first conversation with God. So that's the context, that's the background why I was given that wisdom. Because I asked God, okay, obviously there's something here I don't understand. I, I've listened to what my daddy told me. I listened to what my mommy told me, I listened to what my religion told me, I listened to what my culture told me. But there's some missing data. I felt that there was just some information that was missing. So I said to God, what is it? What is it that I don't understand here? The understanding of which would change everything. And God said to me, Neil, it's really very simple. And then she said what? You just said here, Neil, your life is not about you. Your life is about everyone else whose life you touch and the way in which you touch it. And I said, well, I don't understand. I'm supposed to give up everything that I ever wanted or desired or hoped for, give up all of my goals, all of my objectives. And she said no, no, no, I didn't say that. I didn't say that. You don't have to set aside all of your goals, set aside all of your objectives, set aside all of the things that all of your desires, no, I didn't say that. But it's about achieving them. Working toward them, moving toward them in a whole different way for a whole different reason. If you're doing those things to enrich the lives of everyone whose life you touch, watch the world fall in on you with wonder and joy and celebration. But if you're doing those things together to gather, gather, gather, get, get, get, have more, have more, have more that you just like, you know, you just want to get as much as you can for yourself, if that's your prime motivation, you're going to be struggling every day for the rest of your life. So just, you know, but you're. So I said, but I have to. I have to, you know, I got a family to take care of. I've got a life to live. I got to, you know, I got to put a roof over my head. I've got to solve all these problems. And, you know, God said to me, neil, don't go around asking, what are we to eat? What are we to drink? Wherewithal will we clothe ourselves? Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. And the kingdom of God that you're seeking is the experience of your oneness, your singularity, your unity, your melding with every other person and every other thing in life. That's heaven. Heaven is the experience of never feeling separate from anyone or anything ever again. So when I say your life is about everyone whose life you touch, I'm really saying your life is about you. But big you, universal you. Not this little package that you call you over here. Not local you and your little, excuse me, little puny wants and little puny desires. You know, I mean, play in the sandbox of life if you want to, but your life is about big you, the you that encompasses everyone and everything. And in that sense, your life is about everyone and everything you touch and the way in which you touch it. Because the way in which you touch everyone else is the way in which life will touch you. What goes around comes around. Or someone said very clearly, do unto others as you would have it done unto you, because it will be done unto you. I promise what you send out will come back to you. Life has no choice. That's simply the way it works. What about moments when we are feeling down or depressed? What can we do to get in that state of understanding that our life is about others? Find someone else who's down and depressed and give them what you want for yourself if you want to get out of being down and depressed. Take someone else out of their depression if you want to have more abundance provide more abundance for someone else Whatever you want in your life cause someone else to have in theirs be the source. The magic formula to get out of any bad space is to help someone else who's in the same kind of space get out of it. What God said to me was Neil this is really very simple. The formula is ridiculously simple. Whatever you want to experience in your life the end of a bad mood or whatever it is you want to experience cause someone else who is having the same experience you're having and trying to figure out how to end it be the cause of their ending their bad experience. So whatever you want more of in your life cause someone else to have more of. If you want more people to be more patient with you, be more patient with others. If you want more humor in your life bring more humor into the life of others. If you want more joy in your life bring more joy into the life of others.
