No one will ever see your most important work
When I used to operate my school as a physical entity, I would welcome people into the classroom and advise them that it was a space for “not knowing”. They would heave a sigh of relief and then ease into their chairs. They could finally relax.
If you are currently in a career transition, you might feel a tremendous amount of external pressure to know what’s next. Under the guise of caring, your parents, spouses, or friends may be bombarding you with questions… so, now what? What are you going to do? What are your options? What’s your plan? You can’t do ‘nothing’ forever. It’s like having to fend off a swarm of mosquitos. Little do your loved ones know that their pestering is actually contributing to your confusion because the “knowing” they are talking about comes from the mind, whereas the clarity you seek is from your soul.
Before you can know what is next for your work, you must first enter a place of “not knowing”. When we surrender the mind to not knowing is when our inner being shows us the way.
Over the course of our lives, we accumulate patterns that block us from being in clear communication with our inner being. These patterns take on the form of old stories, traumatic wounds, limiting beliefs, and false identities. They tend to take over our minds and fill them so utterly with clutter that they obstruct the subtle guidance that comes from our inner being. To release those blocks and reconnect with the truth of who we are is what I call the “inner work” of work. It happens internally, where no one else can see, and it is the most important work we will ever do.
The most important work you will ever do is to reclaim the truth of who you are.
To the outside world, it may appear as if you are “doing nothing”, but within yourself, something of the utmost significance is occurring – the remembrance of your true being. This requires courageous internal acts such as dismantling societal conditioning, breaking karmic agreements, and healing imprints from childhood traumas – this is most certainly not “nothing”. You are actually doing the most difficult work there is, which is to release that which has enshrouded who you really are.
The good news is that you don’t have to have “finished” your inner work to do your work in the world. In fact, your inspired work is that which allows you opportunity to do both your “inner” and “outer” work at the same time. To walk its path, you don’t have to “know” what’s next, you simply open to receive guidance from your soul.
So, the next time someone asks you what’s next, tell them this: “I am in the process of receiving clarity. To do so, I have to be in a space of ‘not knowing’ for a time. It is only by doing my ‘inner work’ that I can receive true knowing from my soul. With that wisdom, I will be able to bring my inspired work to life. Thank you for your care.”
