Day Shift — Stepping Into Life

"Look for what brings you alive."

“I have spent many days stringing and unstringing my instrument while the song I came to sing remains unsung.”

–Rabindranath Tagore

I was told a story from ancient times about a prince who is out hunting with his retinue, and he wounds a stag and follows this deer deep into the woods and becomes separated from his people.

And when he realizes that he is separated from his people, it's already turning dark.

He's deep in the woods, but he doesn't know which way is home.

So he stops. And waits to try to figure it out. But he's so deep in the woods that he can't see where the sun is setting. He can't find his bearings, and now it’s becoming more and more fully dark.

And he's beginning to hear the animals of the forest and see their eyes looking at him. And he's imagining them seeing him as their meal for the evening. And finally he realizes that he has to move, he has to strike out for home. And he takes a step, and as he takes his step, a pathway is lighted in front of him.

And it's so astonishing that he stops and of course, the pathway disappears. So then he takes another step, and the pathway becomes lighted, and he takes another step and it becomes more lighted, and as he keeps walking forward, the pathway continues to show itself to him. And in this way he finds his way home.

The point being, of course, we have to move.

We have to be alive. We have to have our lives.

Days and nights are irresistibly passing. There's no more time to wait until it's right. Wait until we're ready. Wait until we're worthy of stepping forward. Wait until we know it's going to be a good experience. We have to move. And what direction do we move in? We have to ask the question, not “What do I need from life,” but, “What does life need from me?”

The truth is that each of us has been perfectly designed to bring something unique to the equation, to bring something true and real that can only be brought from this being, from this expression of life. How do we find out what that is? By offering what it is we think we have to offer, by moving in the direction of what feels right.

It's a version of Joseph Campbell's Follow Your Bliss. That doesn't mean look for some kind of goofy happiness, but look for what brings you alive. Look for what causes you to come more alive than you were the moment before you started doing it. Look for those things that cause you to lose track of time, to lose track of your needs, that bring you into alignment with timelessness. Do what comes naturally. Do what feels right. If nothing feels right, then just take a step and see what happens. Because one step will lead to another step. And if I am doing the work to get in touch spiritually, nature will always show me one step to take that is more in the direction of evolution than any other step.

And that's all I need — is one step — because that one step will put me in a new experience of life, and then one more step will be offered to me.

We're here to enjoy our lives. We enjoy our lives by offering to the equation, to the world, to consciousness itself, to each other, that deepest truth of what we are.

Today I will ask of something other than myself, what I have to offer. I will ask God, or love, or consciousness, or the tree outside my window: What can I offer?

And I will look for a place to offer it.

Thanks for listening. Have a beautiful day.

---

Jeff Kober is an accomplished actor, photographer and vedic meditation teacher. He has had regular roles in notable series like The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, and NCIS: Los Angeles, and has appeared in numerous films including Sully and Beauty Mark. Kober is also a writer and artist, and has previously penned screenplays and co-authored the book Art That Pays.