Living for Yourself

Metaphysical Mind Ezine #61

Dear Friend,

The focus for this issue of Metaphysical Mind is living for yourself. In this issue, I will discuss a key point about living a deep, meaningful life that most people completely miss out on. It is definitely not something you will expect...

This issue will be organized as follows:
1. Quotes on Living for Yourself
2. Living for Yourself article by Jason Randhawa
3. Short Poem on Living for Yourself by Jason Randhawa

In some ways this ezine issue can be thought of as a continuation of the previous ezine issue on knowing yourself. If you missed out on this last issue or you are new to the Metaphysical Mind Ezine list please read it first here: Knowing Yourself Ezine Issue

1. Quotes on Living for Yourself

The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.
-–Anais Nin

Nothing else matters much -- not wealth, nor learning, nor even health -- without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living. This is the creed of creeds, the final deposit and distillation of all important faiths: that you should be able to believe in life.
-- Harry Emerson Fosdick

We ache at the violence, pain, and hunger in our world, and inside us is a will to help. But 'help' only helps if it is an active expression of love. Otherwise our attempts to help, limited by narrow self-concern, become rigid and too easily discouraged.
--John Makransky

We are always getting ready to live but never living.
-– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whatever is at the center of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power.
-– Stephen Covey

Living for Yourself

In life, you have two choices as to whom you are living for. You can either live for yourself or you can live for others. These “others” that I will refer to in this article can be other people in your daily life; and they can even be ideas such as God. Most people I have seen go through most of their lives living for others. Compared to living for you, living for others is a selfish, unrewarding way of life. If you choose to live for others it is your choice and you can definitely live that way. Through this article, my goal is for you to honestly think about whom you are living for and then to use your conscious awareness to either keep doing what you are doing or to switch whom you are living for.

Living for others means you think and act in a way which you believe others want you to. This does not necessarily mean that you do what others truly want from you, instead it means you do what you think other people want from you. Others may even tell you this themselves. I am being completely honest with myself, when I tell you this is not what they truly want. They are also probably mistaken, and caught up in the dreadful existence of living for others, and not knowing what they truly want.

If you truly wish to be of service and support to others, you must choose to live completely and only for yourself. That is right…I am tell you that in order to live a truly helpful and spiritually-rewarding life you must be selfish! Living for yourself is the journey of self-discovery. By knowing yourself you will come to know a deep unconditional love for yourself. And, if you do not love yourself, how do you ever expect to truly love another?

It is only by truly loving yourself that you will ever be able to love others. When you live for yourself, you are continually showering yourself in a powerful, unconditional love. Only when you are radiating this powerful love to the others you come in contact with, can you be of real support and guidance to them. Living for yourself is both the honest way of existence and the most beneficial for all of humanity.

Let’s discuss this whole concept of living further. I believe the following two things are true for almost every person that you will encounter (including yourself):

1. Deep down, they want to love and support each other.
2. They do not know what love truly is (because they have never known the Divine power of self-love).

These two things make up a driving force in the human psyche that unconsciously pushes people to live for others. This approach to life will never have the result that is intended. The first thing you cannot really change, nor should you try to change it. The second thing is something that you can and definitely should change. If you do not know the power of self-love, than do not even try to imagine it or have any expectations because it is beyond your imagination. Instead just be completely open to yourself and let go of all the barriers that you have unconsciously built around yourself. There is no reason to doubt your own capacity for self-love. You were built for this. For more information on loving yourself, you may want to read my other article on Knowing Yourself. Currently, if you do not truly love yourself, when you actually begin to live for yourself you will not be able to contain your own self-love.

Live for yourself exclusively! You are a divine being and there is never a reason to sell yourself short over others. Give into your own impulses and desires. Not for where they will get you, but for what they will give you in the process of pursuing them. If deep down you feel that you do not need to hear these words. Then immediately stop reading. Always make a conscious decision for yourself as to what you choose to do with each and every moment of your life. This is what is means to truly live for yourself.

You do not need me and you do not need anyone else. All you need is you! You (whatever you truly are) is always there with “you”. By Its very nature, you cannot escape yourself.

How could you possibly escape from who you truly are? You cannot, but you can always choose to escape who you think you are (because it is not you). Living for yourself includes attempting to let go of anything that holds the Greatest in you back.

It is so simple; all you must do is live completely for you! Give in and surrender to your own true being. You can completely trust yourself. Only by living for others will you ever let yourself down.

If you still don’t “get it”, I am talking about a deep transformation in your way of existing. To put it into a bigger picture, this is another key step in the awakening process. Awakening is nothing more than the process of going from looking to the external world for your well-being (living for others) to looking within yourself to discover your true infinite source of well-being deep inside your own mind (living for yourself).

I hope I have made it clear how truly selfish and unproductive living for others is. When you stop living for others and begin to live for yourself, you come to truly know, love and support others in such an effective way that it should come as a shock to you at first. Life really is very paradoxical, which seems to make this journey all the more magical.

Start now! Give in to yourself and come to know your true nature. This inner journey of self-discovery is a very important way of being of service to humanity. You have the power to live for yourself regardless of how you may have been living in the past. Begin by applying yourself to realizing your heart’s desires, no matter how “unrealistic” they may seem. You have the power, as long as you give it to yourself (and not to others).

Do whatever your heart desires…even when you do not have the time.

You have the power,
Like an insight in the shower,
Hidden just beneath the surface,
Longing to be exposed to the human race.

Do what feels good for you,
This is all you must do.
You do not have to drown in misery,
Instead go within and feel infinity.

Live strong,
Sing your song.
Always for yourself and never for others,
Then only will you realize we are all brothers.

Jason