Our professional life’s journey is very much focused on developing our abilities—the ability to play or sing, to read music, conduct, plan effective rehearsals, and understand the context of the music we teach. In time, we get really good at it, and even receive pieces of paper to demonstrate that we “made it” in our ability development (AKA degrees or licensures).
But there is a space, a sacred space, between exercising our abilities and expressing our gifts. Gifts include but go beyond our abilities or our skills and lead us on a path to our soul. It is a journey of the spirit, an excursion through the opportunities and situations of everyday life that looks, feels, and objectively “is” different when we understand that our abilities are servants to our gifts, our relationships, and our work in this world.
When we release into our giftedness, we get closer to understanding what yoga calls our dharma. A mission unique to us, at the center of who we are and why we are on this planet, in this place, at this time. Also defined as “sacred duty,” dharma is the thing we must do, rather than what we can do.
Churning out days riding on our abilities can leave us fatigued and unsatisfied, driving us to search for our mission, but knowing and living from the place of our giftedness reveals our mission. The searching is no longer “what,” but “how.” How do I live out my mission. What strategies, choices, or opportunities lead me to the best use of my gifts, to mastering my abilities so I can contribute to the world in the way that is most authentic to me?
Living from our place of giftedness starts with a pause. Time away each day to loosen the ties to the external world long enough to discover who we are, now what we are, as in job titles or descriptors. To visualize those moments when we are “in our element.” Where we know that, quirks and all, “this is the real me” that shows up when we let go to our gifts and engage in the most authentic way with our singers and the larger world. When we work hard but feel completed, satisfied, fed, or re-energized rather than just tired or bored or stuck or without a sense of purpose.
Stephen Cope describes these dharma experiences as “moments of effortless effort,” and calls them “sublime.” It is the difference between existing on autopilot and living an awareness-filled life that reveals us, to us. You don’t have to leave your job or sell your house and sail around the globe. In fact, Cope says most people are
“. . . already living very close to their dharma. Really. Within spitting range. What is the problem, then? These same people, close as they are to the deepest mystery of dharma, know very little about it. They don’t name it. They don’t own it. They don’t live it intentionally. Their own sacred calling is hiding in plain sight. They just keep missing it. And . . . when it comes to dharma, missing by an inch is as good as missing by a mile. Aim is everything.” (Cope, xxv.)
Realizing our dharma is not just about our own experience. It is about maximizing our influence as we express ourselves to the world—teaching, modeling, loving, and creating selflessly and trusting in the ripple effect of good. Abilities matter but when we understand and develop them within the joyous realization of our gifts, then our life really begins.
Dr. Ramona Wis is the Mimi Rolland Endowed Professor in the Fine Arts, Professor of Music, and Director of Choral Activities at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and the author of The Conductor as Leader: Principles of Leadership Applied to Life on the Podium. Dr. Wis is a 500-hour CYT (Certified Yoga Teacher) and a certified Brain Longevity® Specialist, a research-based certification on yoga and integrative medicine for brain health and healthy aging. Reach her at: or ramonawis.com.
Check out this amazing book—the title says it all:
The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling. https://a.co/d/9r9WRY7
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