What Makes You Smile?

Last night, one of the regulars at my job came in and bought his regular pretzel, and in our normal conversation we talked about his job. Which he commented, "I'm sick of this, I have not had a day off since my three year old was born, I work 6 days a week...no vacation days, I get out at 7 or 8 pm every night.....all for what???? for some money......its not worth it." He questioned the purpose in life, he felt like he was working in vain. He lived a life with no big picture....Like so many of us, I am sure some of these comments have ran through his mind;

"I do not know what I want to do in life"
"I do not know what I am passionate about"
"I want to do more with my life but I am not sure what it is"

Hearing these comments does two things to me; 1) it breaks my heart ultimately because to watch someone go through life...meaningless, without purpose, with no end goal in mind...exposes the emptiness in their self worth. I strongly believe when people say comments like this, which is a majority of people, they experience in some shape, way or form an emptiness within. We are designed as a race to be purpose driven, to live life for a reason and with a reason. We are made with passion and a heart to feel and experience our highs and lowest moments. We are given talents and skills to guide us and direct us on this journey, so that we can grow and develop them not to shamefully store them away. We are given community to create this cloud of witnesses, to encourage us as we run through life....not to take away and discourage from our purpose in life. We have resources to educate and enlighten what the average individual could not comprehend hundreds of years back. What we are given in life evidently shows us there is more to it than just working the next job, or trying to make an extra 50 bucks. What we are given in life points directly to a life full of purpose and drive.

See I know that deep down inside there is a sense of emptiness when I hear these comments, because it is utterly impossible to be so uniquely created with such complexities in character and desires in your soul and live life with such vanity and lack of purpose. This is what breaks my heart; the potential I see in you simply because you were created, you do not see in yourself. Rather you let imperfection and insecurities drown you in their pool of lies. Fear becomes your teacher, doubt becomes your playground and regret becomes your closest friend.......which only leads to a life without passion and purpose.

And leads me to my second point. 2) Hearing these comments makes me want to help you discover what your purpose in life is. If you are willing to receive my help, I always start off the same way.

"What makes you smile?"
"What makes you happy?"
"What is it that when you do this or think about this thing, it almost ignites a small flame within?"

I know for a fact that the small things in life have the biggest impacts, therefore we have to start small. I cannot look at you and immediately discern what you are created to do, but you can look at yourself and make a better call. Consider everything about yourself, the things you love doing along with the things you hate doing, your upbringing, your family, your friends, your enemies....etc. Think about the smallest moments in life where you felt good about yourself. It could have been found in making someone a sandwich, or winning a championship, maybe its when a certain song comes on, or in your a lone time where you can breathe. What makes you smile? The things that makes you smile are always hints and signs of what you are passionate about. Start there but do not end there, there is a long history that comes attached to the things that makes you smile. Once you find out what makes you smile ask yourself why does it do that. Dig deep, and be completely honest with yourself.

I remember having this conversation with someone recently and they started to express how music makes them feel good. Well the further we dug into music, the wider I saw her eyes get. See this person wanted to go the military because it seemed like a financially secure plan for her future, but the problem was her voice shared absolutely no sense of excitement about this decision. But when we engaged in the conversation of music, I could not even get two words in. Her natural excitement for music penetrated through her heart. I had to stop her and say, "take a moment and observe, how much more excited you are about music than you are about the military. You do not talk about the military the same way you talk about music...." it was obvious to me, why would she ever consider going to the military if she was so passionate about music. But it was not that obvious to her, as it may not be that obvious to others. See, growing up, she was taught to go to school, get a good job and make sure you can live financially secure. So that was exactly what she was doing, she was going to the military to get educated and to get a good job to be financially secure. But I had to interrupt her plan, because I knew this plan was birthed from a place of insecurity and instability. I knew that the only reason she wanted to pursue the military was because her family suffered financially. If she would have gone to the military she would have never pursued music and what a tragedy that would have been. She probably would have said things like;

"I wish I would have pursued music instead"
"I could have done music while I was young and get into the military later"
"I wonder where would I'd be if I would have pursued music"

How many of us have similar regrets and thoughts? How many of us wish we could have been more brave or would have taken that risk. It is not easy to step forward and pursue you purpose, but it is worth every breath to know you are living life at its fullest potential. There is a quote that says, "You only live life once, but if you do it right, once is all you need." I think that is absolutely true. Do not let fear become you teacher and doubt your playground, rather let purpose guide you and passion drive you. You are never too old to start over and you are never too young to do something big. You are designed to live a life with purpose, not to live a life with money. Seek out what brings you joy and chase after it whole heartedly. The best advice I can give you is this, "Do what you love doing and do not do what you hate doing." As simple and obvious as that sounds the majority of people do the exact oposite. They live a life doing the thing they hate doing because it is 'secure' or 'safe' and they forget about what they love doing because fear removes it from their hearts. Like the regular that came in my work last night, a life without purpose seems worthless and done in vain, simply empty inside. I hope and pray that you do seek out your purpose and do not be just another regular in life.

If you have any questions or would like to talk about this more please call me, text me, message me get in contact somehow. Part of my passion in life is to help others seek out theirs!!! I hope this has doen you well. Till next time.

Jerry Rodriguez