Your Calling – Negotiate Your ContractWritten by Jean Slatter

“What is my purpose?” has to do with your “calling” or how you came to serve mankind during your lifetime. This is what we traditionally think of as a job or profession. Whether you are a CEO of a multi-million dollar company or a destitute artist, an organizer of a homeless shelter, an engineer, or a housewife, in some way you serve mankind. Numerous books have been written on the subject of how to match aptitudes with a profession and, of the four aspects of your purpose, this is the one that young people in their 20’s and 30’s are most concerned with. The immediate pressure of finding a job that provides an income is a driving force. Sooner or later though, they become aware of a “calling” within that urges them to find fulfillment that feeds their soul. Whether they consciously know it or not, this fulfillment comes from expressing their Light and knowing that it matters. I have certainly felt “called” to write these Journal Pages and it fulfills an inner sense of purpose.  This is one of the ways I shine my Light. The purpose of this article is not to examine your aptitudes and find a profession that matches it – there are plenty of resources on the market to accomplish that. The purpose of this article is to bring something to your attention that I have never seen in print.

God needs you

You see, your Light is unique and there is no one else that can express that Light, therefore you are in a very strong bargaining position. God knows itself by experiencing life through us. What most of us don’t know (or don’t remember) is that God needs us as much as we need God. It’s a two-way street.  The universe needs you to express your Light and you feel it as an inner “calling”. Really understanding how you are needed by the universe may require letting go of some deeply conditioned thinking about your role in the cosmos. Popular traditions promote the idea that we must submit ourselves to God’s will. It is not uncommon for people to say they felt “called” to a profession or service and they feel intuitively they are fulfilling the will of a higher power. Unfortunately surrendering to this will often gets translated into “I must obey the will of God to the exclusion of my own”. I have seen the result of this thinking when I have met people that are fulfilling their inner calling by, for example, starting a business or moving to another location or some such endeavor and then have tried to answer that call with a devotion that is beyond reasonable. They have run themselves ragged and gotten horribly out of balance even to the point that they can no longer continue.

Exhausted

I remember talking to one such friend that had felt called to a healing profession and was working from sun-up to sun-down trying to accommodate her clients. One day at a luncheon she told me how exhausted she was and yet she felt that if the phone rang, it was part of her God-given calling to serve that client no matter what. I told her, “Wait a minute!  You have something to say in this. Have you forgotten that you are a co-creator with God? As such it’s vitally important to express your own will and tell God what your needs are. Don’t you know what a powerful position you are in to co-create a life of fabulous fulfillment? But in order to do so, you must express your will.”

Negotiate Your Contract

If you were interviewing for a high-ranking position at a major corporation, you would never think of saying an off-hand “yes” to whatever they offered you. You would enter confidently and powerfully into negotiation to define your salary, responsibilities, vacation packages, hours, promotional opportunities, and much more. Your potential employer would do the same, evaluating your skills, background, and how valuable they believe you would be to their organization. Most of us don’t realize that the universe operates in much the same way. Just because you feel “called” to a certain task or opportunity doesn’t mean that you don’t also have the opportunity to engage your will and negotiate your contract.

My Heavenly Marketers

For example, when I first got the inner calling to write my book, “Hiring the Heavens” I knew that I wanted certain conditions met. The main one was that, as a busy mom, wife and natural health practitioner, I did not have the interest, time or energy to market the book. So I negotiated a contract with heaven that basically said, “OK. I agree to write the book if you agree to handle the marketing of the book, through word of mouth and other means, so it can successfully reach the people it’s meant to serve.” I can honestly say my negotiation was successful and the marketing is working beautifully beyond my highest expectations! I have been able to speak on stage with some of the biggest names in the industry – without a doubt, the workings of my invisible marketing specialists. Tammy Holmes (a stranger to me at the time) called one day to ask if I would speak at her Awakenings Conference along with Marianne Williamson, Don Miguel Ruiz, Joe Vitale, Dan Millman and many others.  I asked her how she got my name.  She replied, “Spirit told me to get the author of “Hiring the Heavens”.  I didn’t even know if it was a book but I was near Barnes and Noble so I stopped in to see if such a book existed. Sure enough!  And that’s how I got your name.” I just smiled and thanked my invisible helpers. I am confident in the knowledge that heaven needs me for my unique Light and is more than willing to accommodate my wishes.

Checking Your Contract

How do you know if your contract has been accepted? You’ll know because as you go along with your life and you’ll notice that things flow that way. The universe confirms that your terms have been accepted. If you don’t find yourself in flow then renegotiate your contract. Perhaps you wanted to work only 20 hours a week on a project and it’s requiring 30 hours. You could renegotiate to receive more monetary compensation for the extra hours, or maybe additional vacation time to make up for them. Be bold and ask for what you want. Remember that God needs you in order to know itself. You’re the most qualified for the job of being you which means you’re in a great position to negotiate and get what you want. Then write out exactly what your terms are for accepting the position; articulate all the things that you most want just as if you were walking into a corporate office to negotiate an executive employment contract. Co-creation is the ultimate win-win experience!