What Makes You Come Alive?

Hint. It’s by being yourself.

“Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive… then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” —Howard Thurman

This is one of those quotes that sounds lovely, and we may agree with it, but then we have to step back and ask, “And how do I come alive?”

One way to come alive is to serve others—not as servants, but as the obvious outcome of being our authentic selves, and this, in turn, makes us feel more and more alive.

However, which comes first?

Other than the newborns, who are absolutely themselves and then forget, this may be a chicken and egg question. For the sake of a place to start on this circle, let’s begin with the idea of serving others as our authentic selves as a way to come alive, or, more correctly, experience aliveness.

To explain what I mean by serving as our “authentic selves,” here are a few examples.

Take the color blue.

It is absolutely itself. It doesn’t have to work at being blue. It just is.

When we use it, it serves us. It doesn’t have to work at serving us, either. It does so because it is being what it is—blue.

On the other hand, suppose the color blue forgot that it was blue and instead tried to serve as yellow.

This takes work on its part, and if we were painting a picture, expecting to use the color blue for the sky, and instead got yellow, it would not serve us at all.

I planted bleeding hearts in my garden. I anticipate the day they would grow and bloom, lighting up the garden bed with their beauty.

They will serve everyone by being exactly what they are.

In fact, flowers are a perfect example of serving by being themselves and, at the same time, meeting their own needs.

Flowers are designed to entice specific insects or birds to visit in order to propagate, and in turn, they serve by feeding the insect or bird.

Of course, serving as ourselves means we also have to be aware of who we are so that we can choose where we grow best, which keeps that circle rolling of being ourselves, serving others as ourselves, and experiencing more aliveness.

The arborvitae trees we had planted were tilted. As I lifted one to straighten it, my foot sank deep into the mud surrounding it. With all the snow and rain, the ground it was planted in was beyond soaked.

Arborvitae trees dislike standing in water, so it's no wonder they were tilted and sad-looking. The solution was to lift them up, put better drainage under them, and replant higher with a trench around them to absorb the water better. If that doesn’t work, plant them somewhere else entirely.

On the other hand, the willow trees and bushes I planted were in a puddle of water, and they were happily getting ready to bloom.

The arborvitae trees and the willows were serving others by being themselves, but one had an easier time with it.

It is interesting to note that the only way a plant can end up in a place they don’t grow well is if we plant them there. When they plant themselves naturally, it is only within an environment that supports their growth.

Understanding that we serve others but only from our authentic selves can sometimes be confusing.

This is probably because, unlike my trees, we have so many choices and can wear so many masks that we often forget which one is our authentic self.

Trying to be yellow when we are blue or trying to be a willow when we are an arborvitae is uncomfortable, not productive, and inconsistent with our heart's desires.

It leads to slightly unhappy or deeply unhappy lives, surely not what is intended for us, nor does it result in “coming alive.”

Being our authentic selves can be hard to do when we feel like we are in survival mode of any kind, like not having enough money, time, love, happiness, patience, etc. All these states of mind can leave us withholding from others and not feeling alive.

“To be nobody but myself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.” —e.e. cummings

e.e. cummings was correct. It is a hard battle as a human, and the worldview training is to suppress the authentic self.

It is much easier to “be nobody but ourselves” when we step away from human beliefs and worldview training and into a spiritual perception of the world and ourselves.

One way to practice this is to observe the qualities that you represent. If you only see negative ones, reverse them and reveal your true essence.

Pause often to experience how you are serving others by being your authentic self.

Notice that you don’t have to work at it—it simply is.

Like the color blue, the arborvitae trees, the willows, and the bleeding hearts, we serve others as the by-product of being ourselves. In this way, we are supply itself.

As we practice spiritual perception, we discover that we already are Life living itself, as each individual is a unique expression of what divine Life is doing.

We exist in one lovely, expanding circle of serving each other and ourselves by being ourselves. Come alive. The world is waiting for you.