here.

I recently quit my full time job without the promise or immediate arrangement of a new one. I enjoyed the quality of and valued the work that I was doing, but (like many millennials) in just 7 months' time I felt that I reached my learning curve and grew as much as I would in that position. I no longer believed in the fragmented system surrounding the job itself and frankly, I'm increasingly exhausted with slaving working for a vision that is only the size of the state of Texas and is not my own. I know firsthand the dissatisfaction associated with my involvement in anything inconsistent with my core values as a human or that has distanced me from my true self, marked by an increase in stress and desensitization that I started to feel with very sensitive situations. All of which could only hurt the families that I worked with. Despite several emails and conversations with the program director and supervisors, on “good terms” in the form of a two-week resignation letter, I left. I made this kind of move only once before in 2012 when I moved back to New York from North Carolina. That time was a bit different because I had the cushion of family in New York. This time, I'm in Texas, “alone.”

Initially, quitting left me very anxious.  What eased that anxiety was faith and trust in the fact that although there were overwhelming questions in my mind about what happens moving forward, I had the support of my friends and the courage within to allow more purposeful opportunities to surface by freeing myself of or saying no to opportunities that were not purposeful. Positioning. Our lives began at the exact time that our purpose on this earth was assigned to us, yet it often takes us many years to discover that purpose, let alone fulfill that which has already been assigned. And some of us will leave here never discovering that purpose at all. 

Our stories already have an end. We are already healed from any hurt, conquerors of every challenge, owners of our own.  In my eyes, living is a lot easier than living in the moment and on purpose because the moment and purpose requires much of you- being uncomfortable, staying put, moving, the highs and lows, transparency, sacrifice, letting go, saying yes, saying no, being told no, humility, boundaries, ending friendships and relationships, creativity, and risks.  Be brave, live in the moment, live on purpose.

To me, the most important part of any day is the moment that we are in right now, right here.  By definition, "here" is the adverb for a spot, locality or point. By life, here is a place in time, a position, the present. It's one of my favorite words.  I am learning, quickly, the power of presence, positioning, and being, the power of here.  Countless times come to mind of missing out on growth as a result of being too hasty in movement or too sidetracked to be still.

There is purposeful power in this moment, so long as you position yourself here. Here can be today, here can be five years from now, here can be twenty years from now. Eckhart Tolle wrote in his book, The Power of Now: “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”

I could not think of truer words. Here is right where you are and where you allow yourself to be. What are you doing HERE?