Each of us has a calling in life, however, for some reason it often gets dropped or disconnected.  Sometimes the calling gets dropped by the lure of power, prestige or money.  Sometimes the calling get’s rerouted due to outside influences from parents, friends, or seemingly well-meaning teachers and mentors.  For whatever the reason, if the calling has been disconnected, then the challenge becomes finding the calling again, answering it, and then acting.

Knowing When There’s a Calling

Before delving into how re-establish your calling, how do you know what a calling is?  What does it look and feel like?  The simplest definition I can offer, is that a calling is a strong urge toward a particular way of life or vocation…perhaps a profession, occupation or specific art.  I like to think of a calling as those acts undertaken that make us come alive fully, every moment of every day.

As an engineer and a military officer, I’m well-steeped in the concept of a calling being associated with a way of life or profession.  Both “engineer” and “military officer” are long-standing professions/ways of life requiring strong dedication, sacrifice, and trade-offs.  Other professions such as doctors, authors, musicians, teachers, etc., require the same levels of dedication, sacrifice, and trade-offs.  Professions are often thought of as “callings”, and for some they are a calling.  However, if you’re a professional and it’s not making you come fully alive every moment of every day, then you likely not answering your calling.

The bottomline is that you’ve answered your calling when you operate every moment in life with purpose, ease, and passion.  When operating in the realm of your calling, the dedication, sacrifice, and trade-offs don’t actually exist.  Because from your point of view, you’re simply doing what you were meant to do.

Reconnecting Your Calling

If your calling has been re-routed or dropped, how do you reconnect?  By defining what makes you come alive.  And the best way I know to divine this information is through self-inspection, thought, and time.  The good thing is that it’s not impossible if you simply start the process.  The following tips will get you going.

Notice What Fascinates/Attracts You.  Let’s say you’re an engineer, however, you’re fascinated with ancient antiquities and Asian art.  In fact, you spend every moment of free time time researching these subjects, you lose track of time when you do, and you become über-passionate when talking about the topic.  Serious hobby or a calling?  If you truly enjoy something, it might be your calling.  Take notice of where you spend your time when you’re fully engaged.

Take Stock of Your Skills and Values.  Make a list of 25 of your skills.  Then segregate these into three categories:  “Expert”, “Dabbler”, “Novice”.  Within your “Expert” category, rank order these 1 to N.  Now, does your current profession/career include these elements?  If not, what one would?  Similarly, write a list of your values, or those values you hold to be paramount.  Are you fulfilling these values in what you’re doing right now?  If not, what would you need to be doing to honor them?  This wil help illuminate your calling.

Journal About Your Calling.  Getting benefit from journaling takes time and writing…a lot of it.  If you’re not prone to writing daily then this may be a tough nut to crack.  But there’s no more certain way to unlock your inner thoughts than to put them on paper.  This exercise isn’t a daily re-hash of what happened in your life, it’s an opportunity to capture your musings about what you truly enjoy doing, what your ideal life looks like, and what you want to do, be, or have.  Given time, you’ll begin seeing recurring themes, and this will assist you in reconnecting to your calling.

Take Action.  You’re making lists, taking inventory of what generates excitement for you, and journaling.  You’ve been at this for six-to-twelve months and have some good ideas of what might reconnect you with your calling.  Time to take action.  Unless you do something to move yourself towards your calling, all of the lists, journaling and thought is worth nothing.

In the end, we each seek happiness. As professionals, we invest the majority of our waking hours engaged in work.  So it might as well be spent on something we love doing…it might as well be spent on our calling.  Putting your life’s work into someone else’s interpretation of your calling, or continuing onward in a profession you settled for isn’t the way to go through life.  Reconnecting to your own calling then answering it…that is the way.

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.”   Rumi

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