Obey your inner voice and follow your destiny
"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."
-- William Shakespeare
You have a destiny.
You may not have connected with it yet, but destiny has been with you all your life. And it speaks as an inner voice.
If you're looking for happiness that arises from connecting with your destiny, look no further than yourself.
For those who wonder exactly what destiny is or how it relates to all of us, I explored a bit of its history.
The On-line Etymology Dictionary traces destiny to the Latin word destine which means to "make firm" or "establish" as if by fate. Not surprisingly, the same dictionary invites us to check out the word destination -- suggesting we have a path to chart before arriving at that destiny.
It's no accident that William Shakespeare penned the above words concerning the source and outworking of our destiny. Shakespeare was more than a brilliant writer and poet; he was a genius who understood the human experience.
Several experts and a professor I met who teaches Shakespeare in England share the belief that Shakespeare was, indeed, enlightened. Many centuries after his passing, Shakespeare's otherwise archaic works continue to engage, entertain and compel us to think. He speaks to our soul.
Not long ago, I asked my husband to film this video of me in front of the Valamar Dubrovnik President hotel in Croatia. I wanted to memorialize for myself and others how destiny -- and its inner voice -- calls us in many ways. Listen in:
Two things are not referenced in this video, both of which were important to me as a child.
The first is that I longed to travel by plane and meet "friends" in far away lands. The second is that I envisioned myself as an ambassador of good will. Though formal experience brought me into business circles and other pursuits, an underlying destiny was still present and at work within me. In ways subtle and quiet, destiny was finding a way to emerge.
It felt both natural and surreal when I addressed several foreign universities and an international business conference recently on topics of Influence, Leadership and Living Happy -- Inside Out. Mostly, it felt like joy.
On July 17th I'll be speaking anew, this time at the inaugural Nelson Mandela Day celebrations sponsored by the UNESCO Center for Peace. When UNESCO's executive director Guy Djoken invited me to share the stage, I felt another wave of destiny. An inner voice reminded me that I'd been preparing for this event all my life.
If speaking on happiness and world peace were not enough to raise my spirit, I learned that UNESCO's Center for Peace affixed a destiny-driven title to my name: Maura Sweeney -- Ambassador of Happiness.
How does my story relate to you, your destiny and your personal happiness?
We are all are born with destiny; it's something we wish to explore, expand and exhibit. Connecting with destiny makes us feel satisfied, happy and complete within ourselves.
Yet destiny gets obscured by our day-to-day lives. Worldly experience causes us to conform, contain or limit our purpose and we end up dismissing or disconnecting from our genuine self. But when we deny destiny -- and the inner voice that speaks for it -- we lose out on greater personal happiness.
Denying our destiny weakens both us and our world. Losing touch with destiny means missing illuminating "sparks"or remembrances that would inspire us to advance personally -- and encourage others to do the same.
"If the human race knew where it was going, wouldn't we be there by now?"
Without expressions of our destiny, we deny our better self and remain on society's collective wheel. We expend lots of energy but are often traveling nowhere.
Will you follow your inward leanings, listen to that inner voice and connect with your destiny, too?
A Few Tips
1) Go back in time to remember things you've forgotten. What did you love, think about or imagine as a child?
2) Remind yourself of what was important to you when you were young, simple and less influenced by the world around you.
3) Inquire within about your personal destiny and listen closely to what your soul speaks in response. That inner voice is waiting to remind you of your destiny.
4) Once you reconnect with destiny, choose to "make firm" what's already been established. By working out that inward voice in a purpose-driven way, you'll ultimately see destiny emerge -- as if by fate.
Remember that destiny carries the idea of traveling to and reaching a destination. This implies an inward and outward path you will need to travel in order to arrive at your destiny. While blazing your trail to destiny, expect several things to happen.
Expect to overturn rocks of embedded beliefs. Expect to upend roots of conformity that were squelching your true identity. And expect to machete through jungles of ideas that were obscuring your inward vision.
The path to destiny may not be easy to forge, but what was previously obscured will eventually come into view. And that view will bring you greater happiness because it's yours to possess. As an added bonus, fulfilling your destiny helps brighten the way for others who are on their own path.
Remember Shakespeare's enlightened words:
"It's not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."
Follow that inner voice and expect some pretty happy outcomes as you come face-to-face with your own destiny!
