Think Outside The Box.
I was thinking last night about how seldom I read or hear about "vocations" I was raised with that term. In Catholic school, it was stated that we had a choice, we could join a convent, get married or stay single.
A vocation as defined in a religious environment is an occupation for which a person is suited, trained or qualified.
As I grow older, the questions changed from "What do you want to do when you grow up?" To "You had better start thinking about what you want to do with your life. How will you make a living?" There is no longer time for dreaming; we must now "face reality" and think about how to survive in the big, bad old world. The inner sense of specialness fades before the numbing evidence of high unemployment figures, stiff competition for every job application, and economic swings and downturns which make us feel we are fortunate to get any kind of work at all. And if we find ourselves discontented in that work, or we lose our jobs, we feel demeaned, devalued, and unable to trust our deepest dreams and aspirations, because there might not be any other work. And even if there were, we have probably long since lost that inner connection which could tell us what makes our heart sing and restores the sense of having a very special thing to do in life.
Perhaps a vocation is about our inner Being, and the question is "What have I come here to Be, what is my spiritual purpose?"
How I earn an income and what I'm here to Become may not always be the same. If it works out that I can earn money doing what my Spiritual Purpose is...great! And I need to put things in perspective...I am NOT what my job is, I am what my Purpose is...Being all that I can Be as I uncover all that I Am.
In any job/career...perhaps if I live my purpose then what I do, becomes part of the way my Inner Purpose...is lived in the world.
Here is a story you may have read it before, and it is a good example of doing our best...
So I can be ALL that I can Be ..come.

A carpenter decided to change careers. He had two children and his wife was expecting twins. They needed a larger house, and he needed a job that made more money. He went to his boss to explain. The boss was reluctant to see him go, as he was a very fine carpenter. But the carpenter was determined. Finally the boss asked if he would build just one more house. The carpenter agreed. And he did build the house. But preoccupied and distracted with his family and his future, he just went through the motions. He worked on autopilot and the house was not up to his usual standards.
Finally the day came when the house was done. The boss came to inspect. As the two stood at the doorway, the boss handed the carpenter the key. “This is my gift to you for all the fine work you’ve done over the years.” The carpenter was in shock. If only he had known this was to be his own house he would have paid better attention to what he was doing.
In many ways, we all live our lives like this carpenter on his last house. On automatic pilot. We go through the motions of our day without paying attention to what we’re doing and end up living a less-than-stellar existence. Scientists tell us that 90 percent of our daily lives are spent in routine. Depending on what our habits are, they can become prisons of misery. Habits of negative thinking, of self-destructive behavior, of patterns of inertia that are very hard to overcome. We’ve practiced those things over and over so they’ve become automatic. And so now we are living in the shoddy house of our own making.
That’s why when we want to create new habits or change old ones, our most important ally is intention–making a commitment to what we want. And the first step is to truly see your life as the precious, limited-time opportunity it actually is. You can make it a beautiful mansion.
Each of us holds the potential for our unique form of greatness. Whenever we bring something positive in ourselves into being, we come closer to living that greatness in all its dimensions. No matter what new habit or dream we choose to cultivate, we’re also growing our souls. For the process of change itself teaches patience, humor, resolve, gratefulness, tenacity, and compassion for ourselves. These precious soul qualities alone are worth the effort.
You can achieve what you set out to. As Christopher Reeve, one of my heroes of greatness, reminds us: “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” In one of the last interviews he gave, he exhorted all of us to “Go forward.” May his example inspire you as you begin this month-long journey to finding and fulfilling your intention.

To try: What are the soul qualities you want to grow in yourself this year? Write them down.