Many of us perhaps tend to view those aspects of our life in which we feel ourselves to be needy, incomplete, somehow lacking, as in opposition to our desire to be conscious.

What isn’t immediately apparent is that all of our wanting is the result of our inner grower, which seeks to draw us home to our true being.

Wanting, a feeling of emptiness, a sense of something missing in our life—these are our inner grower awakening us to a journey that will lead us into consciousness. Each of the dead end avenues we go down in search of this elusive “something” that will fulfill us serves a purpose. It’s like being in a maze, which after we have tried enough paths finally leads us home.

Once home, we begin to be ourselves for the first time since we lost touch with our essence as a result of the influences of family and society when we were children.

As we come home to ourselves and can relax into being who we really are, we at last move out of the “recovery” mode in which we have been unearthing who we are from the debris of a life lived unconsciously. No longer focused on dealing with wounds, no longer plagued by reactivity triggered by unintegrated emotions, we are in a restful state of inner stillness. Our mind and emotions are quiet.

In this peaceful mode, we are prepared for our inner grower to shift into high gear. In its own time, we find that it begins to spur us into what might be described as “effortless action.” This action is asset-based, in that it springs not from a search to fill our emptiness but from the feeling of completion and fullness that wells up within us.

Our essential being, at last experienced as our daily reality, seeks every-expanding expression. So now we find ourselves once again desiring. There is a fresh wanting.

This desire that arises has no neediness to it, no taint of lack. There’s no sense of emptiness, no void in our life that we are seeking to fill. The wanting we experience is in a whole new key—a shift akin to that in music of going from a minor key to a major key.

The universal Presence that is the essence of our being seeks to manifest itself in an ever-flowing creativity. But this creative impulse has our unique form impressed into it, as our inner grower spurs us into co-creation with the infinite Source from which all that is has arisen.

The desire we experience is to make a difference in the lives of our fellow travelers on this planet. Whether it be to enrich the life of someone close to us, someone we work with, or humanity in general, we discover that our particular gifts are harnessed by our inner grower in the service of others.

In a sense we have come full circle. Initially, in our needy state, we did nice things for people so they would love us. Now we find ourselves doing caring things for others purely as an expression of who we have discovered ourselves to be.

In other words, rather than drawing us into situations to awaken us, our inner grower now uses our awakened self to extend consciousness into those areas of life in which each of us is especially equipped to contribute.

The fundamental difference between the desire to express the consciousness we were born to be and the kind of desperate wanting we have all known as seekers is that our search is over. Instead of looking for love as we did most of our life, we find that we are love in process of discovering ways to express itself.  Instead of trying to get love, we are loving happening.

Our inner grower now walks us into situations in which our particular expression of Presence can make a difference. We find ourselves being connected with people and situations that call forth our skills. Just the right opportunities, along with anything we may need to accomplish what we are asked to do, come to us spontaneously. Doors of opportunity open synchronistically.

Having said this, it’s also true that while asset-based growth flows effortlessly from the infinite supply at our center, what we experience is nevertheless growth. And growth requires stretching, a topic we will discuss together next time. We invite you to share your personal experiences of how your inner grower is stretching you.

Opportunity for Self-Inquiry and Sharing:

A.  Have you experienced the shift from deficit-based to asset-based growth? How did this shift come about?

B.  Can you describe how different it feels to desire out of fullness, as opposed to wanting something in order to fill an emptiness?

C.  Are you finding yourself able to identify areas in which your particular gifts are being called upon in the service of your fellow humans, or do you find yourself in a state of quiet restfulness, awaiting this next development without any sense of anxiety?