Guest post by Chetan Parkyn

I can remember quite clearly a moment in my life when I realized nothing made sense to me, that everything I had done and was doing seemed out of tune, even meaningless. I was sitting alone at a campfire in the shelter of a small group of pine trees in the highlands of Kenya, enjoying the first opportunity to be by myself in over a year. My father had died eighteen months before, and I knew I had not come to terms with his passing, especially considering how I had busied myself in all kinds of intense activities to avoid acknowledging my thoughts and feelings. In the light of his passing and reflection on the life he had lived, I had not stopped to reconsider what was important to me and what I really wanted to achieve in my own life.

In such a state of feeling lost, I was very fortunate soon afterward to be guided to someone, in India, who could look deeply into my life and tell me about it from a purely objective point of view. Do you know those times when you hear something that resonates deeply within you and yet you cannot altogether explain how or why it does? And how, after receiving such insight, it is impossible to go back to an old way of doing things because your perspective has completely changed?

Well, that is what happened in the reading I received from a savant living in India who was working with an ancient system of divination. In that reading I reconnected with the ongoing stream of my life. I recognized once more an innate sense of purpose within me that had become blurred and unsure. And one of the issues that came up in the reading was that I had a gift and I was going to start using that gift, giving readings to others, to help them find their way through life more clearly. I was informed that a system was going to come into my life that I would work with, write books about, and introduce to people all over the world, and that what came through me would change their lives forever. The savant suggested that I should get ready for this new system by immediately starting to practice reading for people — I should find a system, any system, through which I could reflect people back to themselves and practice telling them what I saw, so that I would be ready when the “new” system showed up. I was introduced to hand reading, or palmistry, and went from there, exploring and practicing in every ancient wisdom tradition and system of divination I could find.

The “new” system that the savant foretold is Human Design, which came into being eight years after the reading I received and into my life six years later, in 1993. I immediately recognized it as the system the savant had predicted, and dove into its study. I discovered the essential value in Human Design and started the task of simplifying what could be seen as a complex system, rendering it into easy, everyday language. Over the years, it has become clear to me that people benefit greatly from being aware of the keys in their Human Design Life Chart. In fact, the system has served to bring huge transformation and empowerment to the thousands of people for whom I’ve read and taught worldwide.

So much has transpired since the reading I had in India all those years ago, because the clarification of my journey has resulted directly in my helping others to clarify theirs. My first book, Human Design: Discover the Person You Were Born to Be, is now out in 11 language versions and counting; the second book, The Book of Lines, is being embraced in many circles worldwide; and the third book, The Book of Destinies: Discover the Life You Were Born to Live, coauthored with my life partner, Carola Eastwood, contains descriptions of all 192 different Life Themes that are possible for our life on Earth.

We have to acknowledge that massive change is going on in the world and that we are being exposed to more and more information and challenges every minute of every day. New situations come into our lives, and we have to be clear in how we deal with them. We find that trying to follow old patterns of rules and beliefs we used in earlier times no longer works. If we can adapt to circumstances through our own authenticity, present to each moment, then we find that we are in balance with life. This is what is possible through the understanding of Human Design and the realignment with our Life Theme.

Human Design gives clear details on how to engage more successfully with life according to your own Human Design. Now The Book of Destinies takes you deep into the heart and soul of the meaning of your unique lifetime. It is as if you can peer into that moment when your Spirit got the vision for this lifetime and know exactly what is intended for this journey. In the kaleidoscope of human possibility, there are 192 Life Themes, and before birth each of us chooses one of them as our theme and purpose in this lifetime.

Understanding your Life Theme will bring you a profound recognition, similar to the one I had all those years ago, of the underlying premise to your life. You will come to appreciate the uniqueness of the particular path you tread, recognizing how you engage with some people and situations effortlessly but find yourself uninterested in, or even distracted by, others. You will be reminded how essential it is for you to be fulfilled in your own needs. And you will recognize how to achieve this while at the same time navigating comfortably within the lives and influences of others whose Life Themes you will also come to know and appreciate.

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 Chetan Parkyn is the author of Human Design, The Book of Lines, and most recently The Book of Destinies. He is the world’s most successful practitioner of Human Design and holds frequent workshops and seminars all over the globe. Visit him online at http://www.HumanDesignForUsAll.com.

Based on the book The Book of Destinies. Copyright © 2016 by Chetan Parkyn and Carola Eastwood.

By Andrew Bloomfield, author of Call of the Cats

Woody Allen once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” That certainly was my experience. Thinking I was destined for greatness in Hollywood I found my life purpose instead in caring for a colony of wild cats.

My life as a down-on-my-luck aspiring screenwriter in Hollywood seemed uncomfortably close to that of Joe Gillis, the failed screenwriter in the classic film Sunset Boulevard. I ended up homeless as did he, but instead of escaping into the arms of faded movie star Norma Desmond, I was welcomed by an old love and her sister who lived ten miles from downtown Los Angeles. In the security of their small bungalow I could finally catch my breath, and spent my precious time (unsure of when I might get kicked out!) pecking away on my laptop, trying to manufacture the visions and dreams and high-concept twenty-word pitches I prayed would interest mercurial studio executives, mercenary independent producers, and beautiful, narcissistic rising stars.

Though the setting stimulating creativity, I became distracted by the horrific sounds of predators decimating kittens from a large colony of feral cats that made their home out back. Our backyard was a mini-jungle, burgeoned from what perhaps began as a lush backyard into a micro Amazon forest, replete with nonindigenous fronds, old-growth trees and thick veils of ivy oozing white sap. Normal neighborhood sounds dissolved here, replaced with chirps, caws, screeches, and the constant rustling of critters that called it home, including the feral colony. Had monkeys one day appeared and begun swinging from branch to branch, or the occasional rhino passed by, I would have taken it in stride.

These cats were not strays—abandoned domesticated cats; these were wild animals—untamed and, for the most part, untamable. They displayed a myriad of colors, shapes, and sizes. They were stealthy and skittish, shadows at night, ghostlike flashes in the trees, peering under the high wooden fence that separated our yards. Occasionally I would spot a startled eye, a black nose, a wispy tail through the broken slats in the fence. The felines were as wary of human contact as any wild animal. Though most looked like domesticated house cats, they were unequivocally feral.

I came to learn that their predators, coyotes and raccoons, lived in the latticework of dried arroyos that ran down out of the San Gabriel Mountains. And they knew where to come for fresh meat. Newborn litters and young kittens were particularly vulnerable. Their numbers would grow and then diminish. We reasoned — albeit uneasily — that this was nature at work and none of our business. The cats had been there before the sisters moved in and would probably outlast them.

However, one day the colony sat in semi-circle around a dead kitten, holding my gaze, seemingly asking for my help. Feral cats do not approach humans, and they do not make eye contact. So I knew this was an important moment. It had all the familiar earmarks of the universe stepping in to supplant my personal plans. And I do believe in intervention when called.

So began the tumultuous saga of my relationship with this group of skittish, wild, and sometimes fierce felines. I began to name, nurse, feed, house, rescue, and neuter them. Sleep was a rare commodity; I rose from my bed countless times to fend off their attackers. I maxed out credit cards on vet bills, and emergency-room visits for myself when mauled by the very cats I was trying to help.

I made mistakes along the way certainly, and I’m sure feral cat caregivers will cringe when they read about certain choices and decisions I made in trying to keep the colony safe. But sometimes that’s how one learns. But trusting one’s intuition, jumping in and doing.

I had found my purpose. And it looked strangely different from how I imagined it might when I was younger —or for that matter even a week before moving into the house! While obviously not many will be called to care for feral cats, I do believe one key in discerning one’s true purpose is by simply doing the thing right in front of one’s face. The thing closest at hand.

Our civilization is skewed toward unease. An unease born of not looking like, having, or accomplishing whatever an advertiser deems indispensable at the time—or what the idol-of-the-day embodies. Thus many strive to look like, or be like, or have the things we’re told will bring us satisfaction. But what is lost in that search is authenticity. Authenticity is being true to oneself—being comfortable in our bodies and content with our skill sets. I’ve met parking garage attendants who take great pride in their work and are more fulfilled in their lives as a result, than some Fortune 50 CEOs.

By committing oneself to the task at hand one finds freedom. Even is that task may seem mundane or trivial. This is exemplified by a group of spiritual aspirants from ancient India called the 84 Mahasiddhas who lived over a thousand years ago. They became accomplished masters in a single lifetime, and attained high levels of mastery through their vocational pursuits. That was the medium through which they became perfected. And surprisingly many of them worked at very mundane jobs. Some were beggars, gamblers, prostitutes, rice thrashers, washer men, cow herders and even thieves. The deeper meaning of their life stories still has relevance today: that one’s job or calling in life contains the potentiality for perfect contentment and satisfaction.  No matter what the outer appearance.

Andrew Bloomfield is the author of Call of the Cats: What I Learned about Life and Love from a Feral Colony. After running his own bookstore in Seattle, Washington, where he hosted spiritual teachers from all over the world, he caught the film bug and moved to Hollywood. It was there he found his true calling — caring for a colony of feral cats. He lives in Southern California.

Based on the book Call of the Cats. Copyright © 2016 by Andrew Bloomfield. Printed with permission from New World Library — www.NewWorldLibrary.com

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a “Bead for Life” party at a friend’s house.  BeadForLife is a Foundation committed to social responsibility and sustainable international development.  Basically this is a group of North American women who have joined together to support families in need in Uganda.  While these women were traveling in Africa, they fell in love with some beautiful beaded jewelry.  It turns out that the women living in the area around Kampala actually make these beads themselves and turn them into colorful necklaces, bracelets, anklets and chokers.  A heartfelt bridge was formed between these two groups of women, and now the jewelry is available for sale and all of the proceeds go to help needy families in Uganda.  To see the jewelry store, and find out how you can host a beadwear party or bring beads to your event, go to: www.beadforlife.com

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Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)