You are here for a reason- machines don’t come with extra parts!

Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, MN (CMG original)

We watched the movie “Hugo” the other night.  I had watched it on the big screen and thoroughly enjoyed it so when we were looking for a film to add to our collection, we decided on “Hugo”.  Since I had viewed it before, I decided to multi-task and enter in some data on my computer while I watched.  There were moments in the film though that made me stop, pause and listen.  The words that were being spoken were profound and came from a higher source.

Hugo (an orphan who is abandoned by his only living relative, a drunk uncle, who’s job it was to keep the clock in the train station running) is standing on top of the clock he repairs at the train station.  He is looking out over Paris with the girl he has befriended, his only friend and states:

“I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.”

WOW!  That is it!  Our lives have meaning.  You have a purpose! 

Sometimes, it is difficult to know or see what that purpose is.  You may be in a unfulling job or a less than perfect relationship.  You feel underappreciated and overworked.  Your children may not have turned out like you expected.   All lifes little and big rocks and pits have you wondering...”why am I here?”

I have a mentor in my life and I remember saying to her in my late twenties, “I don’t know what my purpose is, what am I suppose to do with my life?”  She responded, “You ARE doing it.”  I didn’t get it.  I didn’t get it for years and still I struggle with where I am right now, wondering if I am in the place I should be.  I have plans, dreams, I want to move forward!  I realize that these are all ego-based projections.  What I need to work on is being in the present moment.   Because, whether you know it or not, what you are doing right now IS your purpose. 

The 6th limb of yoga is dharana- learning to focus the mind.  In yoga, we do this through meditation and in hatha yoga, through postures and breathing.  If we can practice staying in the present moment, letting go of time, we can then,  let go of fear which says “you don’t have a purpose” or “what IS your purpose”. 

As you move down your spiritual path, you might discover that things just happen.  You meet who you are suppose to meet.  Things line up for you in just the right way.  They may come about this way out of hardship or difficulty but things happen.  Things happen because of your choices in the present moment.  Moment to moment we can choose.  And in this moment we can choose peace.  We can choose to remain patient.  We can choose to leave a situation that is not serving us.  We can choose to stay with our breath through a difficult posture.  We can choose to practice dharana and focus on the now knowing that you have a purpose and that the world is one big machine with no extra parts!