Lenny Kravitz on Life Purpose & the Calling of The Soul

Imagine living your life knowing exactly what you were born to do?   And not only that, but having the courage to live it

I caught part of an interview with Lenny Kravitz on the Oprah Master Class series.  He was talking about discovering your life purpose, your passion, and the gift that you bring into and share with the world.

He said: “When I saw the Jackson 5 on TV at 5 years old I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

From then on, it was more a case of going through school and getting it over with so that I could move on and do what he really wanted to do.  Everything he did gravitated towards music such that it became his whole life focus.  When formal schooling was over ‘grace’ stepped in and highlighted the way.

He said: “When people say that they have no idea what they want to do with their life, what their passion is, I can intellectually hear that and get it, but I don’t really know what that feels like because I’ve always known.”

I remember at University I shared a house with a friend called Andy.  Andy knew, like Lenny, from childhood that he wanted to be an RAF Pilot, and sure enough, his University education was sponsored by the RAF.  On a weekend, while I was commuting from Coventry back to Kensington, London to my part-time job, and others were holed up in the library, or out partying like it was 1999, Andy was either off on flying practice, or running round a field with a rucksack full of rocks (to keep his fitness levels, strength, and stamina up).

How wonderful to live your whole life with such certainty and clarity.  That certainty and clarity that Lenny had however started off with the risk of being stifled, but one of those fortuitous meetings changed all of that.

Lenny said: “When I was on stage I was so critical; I didn’t do this right, I didn’t do that right,  I could have done this better.  When I saw Robert Plant from Led Zepplin he called me out for being too controlling and not having fun with it, with this gift I’d been given.  It taught me to let go.”

He touches on a good point.  I see in life that so many people don’t go for what they really want.  They don’t let go.  Sometimes it is the fear and worry of what others might think or do or say.  At other times, that holding back and not letting go comes from boundaries and limitations that have been created from within.  That inner critic that Lenny speaks of.  In PhotoReading™ terms we talk about them as ‘gremlins’ which come up to sabotage your progress and sap your confidence in yourself and your abilities.  They cause you to second guess yourself, to beat yourself up, to push toward perfectionist tendencies, which then can take the fun and life out of things just as Lenny Kravitz describes.

The really scary, and sad thing that I have come to realise about these gremlins and silent saboteurs is that they are often not even real, they are illusions partly of our own making which when reinforced often enough almost take on and get played out in physical form.

Those barriers can also come from our ancestral programming as Lenny shared in the interview and as outlined later in this Blog post.

Lenny said: “People ask why I talk so much about love.  Love, love, love. But we are here to love.  Whether we accept it or not, we all want to feel love, to give love.”

Some might say that is the greatest underlying purpose of all, and the true reason for our being.  It is also important to know who you are.  What you want.  How you translate that underlying energy into form in this world.

Define yourself.  He said: “I was told my whole life you’re too this you’re too that you’re too black you’re too white, that I was told by all these people that couldn’t be what I wanted be because there was no neat little box that they could put me in.

I was extremely blessed to understand my calling. I knew from the time I was a baby that I wanted to make music, it started with playing pots and pans and then when I was the Jackson 5 I knew, I was done.  It was great to know that so early on because I had something to focus on. You could be 60 and all of a sudden hit something and that just means it took the time that it took.

Artists were just so colourful. I was just sitting on some guys lap while he was playing he piano; I was 5, I didn’t know that guy was Duke Ellington, he was just some guy, but I got to grow up with all that.  Being around all of these incredible artists was really a gift.”

Of course not everyone is lucky to grow up in an environment that supports their dreams.  What Lenny’s description also shows however is the power of being surrounded by the right people, people who are in your flow, people who are already  doing what you want to do, people who have achieved what you want to achieve.  In day to day non celebrity terms, that equates to Coaching, and Mentoring, MasterMinding, and your chosen peer group.  All of these things, even if not born into them, you can choose to find and create and be part of.

And you might just sit around and let it take as long as it takes to discover ‘your thing’ and wait until you near the end of your lifetime.  For those however who have received what I call in Archetypal Journey terms, ‘The Call’, and you know that there is ‘something’ in this lifetime that you are being called to do, there are powerful things that you can do to unravel and understand and step into your talents and gifts.  For me, the Archetypal Journey work and Soul Plan Readings have been particularly powerful tools and I have also outlined them below.

Being open to receiving help

He said: (The late) “Tina Marie realised that I didn’t really have anywhere to live and that I was living all over the place so she took me in and invited me to live with her.  She took me all over the place.  She took me to concerts, let me sit in at the recording studio so I could see how things are done, fed me, took care of me, encouraged me, and she made a huge difference in my life.  She nurtured me and helped me to become who I am.  I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Tina. I have had so many people that have helped me in my life.  We all need help at some point.”

Note that I didn’t say ‘Asking’ for help, but ‘receiving’ help.  They 2 are entirely different propositions, and we live in a world of givers, where to receive sometimes seems wrong or not the done thing, shameful even.

For those that know they are living a life which is out of alignment with how they want to be that sense of inner turmoil can be immense, and as the example shared above shows, it can rip families apart and devastate lives, both of the sufferer, and those upon whom their conflict is then perpetrated and played out.  Of course you can sit with it, especially if you were on the receiving end, or you can use the experience as a springboard for moving on.

Lenny said: “My own marriage and divorce and then learning to be friends again so that we could bring up our daughter taught me you gotta keep moving forwards and upwards.” 

“Your purpose and soul calling will find you if you let it.”

My ‘Lenny Kravitz’ moment of clarity came through emotional trauma when I was 32 years of age.  I wasn’t expecting it or even asking for it because I had decided my life path: To become a Chartered Accountant, and I had already embarked upon my ACCA studies.

The universe, as it turned out had other ideas, and because I wasn’t listening to, or should I say hearing and acknowledging that inner call, and wasn’t willing to face and explore the constant sense of inner turmoil that I was living almost every day, it resorted to more dramatic means.

My life purpose ignited with The Samaritans

At the time I wouldn’t have wished that set of circumstances upon anyone, particularly when I found myself ringing The Samaritan’s suicide hotline.  I knew then that something wasn’t right and that things had to change, although I still didn’t have the ‘how.’

Am I grateful for all of that now, with hindsight?  Hell yeah!  And I was lucky in a way, because when everything, my relationship, his affair, being gazumped and left without a home, my health deteriorating, hating my career choices and being out of work all came to a head it coincided almost perfectly (give or take a couple of weeks) with discovering personal development.

That discovery not only led me on my own personal journey of discovery, it also transformed my life so dramatically that within a very short space of time I’d given up the Accountancy studies and become a Hypnotherapist and Breakthrough Coach instead because I was so excited to help people experience the kind of transformation that I’d been through.

As I watched Lenny Kravitz I had what I call in PhotoReading™ one of those ‘aha’ or ‘light bulb’ moments when I suddenly realised that what he was speaking about is exactly what I do for many of my clients who have drifted or possibly even found the thing they think they should be doing but they haven’t quite nailed it or gotten it to flow and work for them as yet.

That sense where you know there is something more, or you are destined to do ‘something’, you just don’t know exactly what that something is.

The weight and power of those ancestral demons

Lenny said: “When my father left after my mother finally couldn’t take any more (of his being with other women) his final words to me were: “You’ll do it too”.  I found out his father had done the same thing. I know my father fell victim to things that were in his lineage. Words are extremely powerful, extremely powerful.  First of all I had to learn how not to fall victim to those words that were put on me (by my father) and how to not be that person and that took a lot because my father was that example of not doing the right thing, because we all have both of our parents within us. 

I remember when my father was in the hospital dying and he was going through this sickness and started to have this spiritual awakening and I think he realised while sitting there in that hospital bed’ what is this front I am trying to keep up, life is almost over and I’m still sitting here trying to keep this front up.  I asked him: Why?  And he told me he felt this was this monkey on his back.  That is exactly how he put it, and he did not manage to get it off and he knew he was acting contrary to the spirit that was inside of him.  He wanted to be someone else but this thing still kept grinding him, riding him so he couldn’t be the person that he wanted to be inside.”  

Lenny said it took him a long time to take on board and digest those parting words that his father left him with that day as he walked out of the family home and that he is still working on them to this day.

So how can you get in touch with and know and explore that person that you want to be inside if you are aware there is a sense of discomfort or inner turmoil?

Exploring the Archetypal or Hero’s Journey and hearing ‘The Call’

My work in this area of helping people to uncover ‘their thing’ began in a structured way some 9 or so years ago, where I started taking clients through their Archetypal or what is more commonly known as The Hero’s Journey, getting clarity on ‘The Call’ and that inner yearning about what you are being spiritually, physically, or intellectually called to do.  For those that are brave and cross ‘The Threshold’ the journey of challenge, resolution, transformation, and finally satisfaction and bringing your gifts and talents to the world begins.

The Archetypal Journey, for those that aren’t familiar with it is summarised below:

 

In more recent times I have added the Soul Plan Readings into that mix and blend, and it has proven to be an incredible and accurate way to show people their individual soul path, gifts, talents, the challenges to be overcome, and reveal to them their Soul Purpose.  And as deep and complex as it is and might seem, that whole process takes just 1 – 2 hours.

My personal Soul Plan spoke of having Worldly Goals and Talents for being intuitive, articulate, creative, spiritually open, assertive, pioneering, and a visionary.  My Spiritual Goals and Talents were about being expressive, a communicator, being adaptable with people, and carrying a teaching vibration.  My Soul Destiny was about a great desire to learn and a desire to share with people.

Not exactly the profile of someone who, up until the age of 32 was very quiet, shy, lacking in confidence, had very low self esteem, and Hated (with a capital H) being around people!

I didn’t come across the Soul Plan work until a good 13 years after I embarked upon this journey, so reading my Soul Plan Report was like seeing my entire life laid out in front of me on a few sheets of paper, and, more excitingly, seeing what the future potentially now also has in store, should I choose to pursue it!

So how does one move from being painfully quiet and shy to regularly appearing on live TV and radio and loving it?

Part of the work is clearing away the blocks, fears, worries, anxieties, doubts, and insecurities, that stand in the way of you fully stepping into, embracing, and living those gifts, talents, goals, and some might say destiny.

Even with something as simple as the Angel Tarot Card Readings, even though I don’t use them for divination purposes, they ALWAYS seem to throw up the perfect cards which confirm and clarify what sits deep within you, even if you had not yet consciously become aware of it.

One of my clients, the lovely Lisa Howells summed it up perfectly:

“Having worked with Marilyn before, I know she is highly perceptive and intuitive, so trusted that the reading would be interesting to say the least! It isn’t a case of the cards ‘telling your fortune’ it’s all about them reflecting your current situation back at you, so you can clearly see what areas need to e worked on.   Marilyn’s interpretation of the cards is clear, concise and understandable, and she is adept at picking up the subtleties of your individual circumstances. I was reminded, as I often am, that when the angels want you to know something they create paths to it. Having the reading solidified my existing thoughts towards what I needed to be addressing and has given me the impetus I need to get back to it. Intuitive, charismatic and non judgmental, Marilyn made the experience wholly creditable and intelligent. Fabulous”

Getting Started

You can start by simply pondering the following questions:

1. What do I absolutely love to do?  (If ‘love’ is too strong, and not an emotion that your life purpose has been attached to for a while, start with like or enjoy).
2. What is something that you do, that you enjoy, have a knack for, find easy, and don’t value it much because you think: Well surely everybody can do that?
3. What experiences have you overcome which when you look back reveal a pattern or a thread?
4. What is the topic or subject area that you are always keen to research, hear about, or discuss and have the sense that you would really like to do something about or that you can contribute to in some way?
5. What do you most resist?  (I resisted speaking, sharing, and anything to do with spiritual stuff, yet that is what I now do for a living).

You might also choose to write the answers to these questions down.  What you will probably notice is a pattern or theme emerging that somehow links them all together.  I find that when I’m working with clients that within that ‘golden thread’ reveals the specifics of their unique calling.

When you are on path, it is as though some kind of vortex opens up.  As one of the clients on my TranceFormation™ Programme put it:

“Every single session whatever we have talked about has been linked to something that happens afterwards, it’s like creating roots.  I am opening up to so many more things than I would ever have done.  Everything I ask for, it’s just there, thank you.  Oh wow, it’s fantastic.”

The signals and signs come fast and furious.  At one point, at the start of the journey the same client exclaimed:

“I speak to you Marilyn and you’re like the obia woman because everything you say comes true within a couple of days or a week!  I’m continually having to say: Are you kidding me?  You’re not gonna believe this!  Trust me, over the past few weeks that we’ve been working together I’m like: Really????”

Are you hearing and answering, or ignoring The Call?

For those that hear the call, take those first steps, and continue to face and step over those initial seeming challenges and thresholds, what awaits is a far more fulfilling and ‘on purpose’ life.  For those that hear the call but choose not to answer, their purpose in this life might well be to live with the nagging discomfort, that sense of having a void, of not being fulfilled, feeling out of alignment, and that neverending internal battle or sense that something is off or missing, the inner turmoil of that being that thing that they need to face or evolve through.

And for those who are not as lucky as Lenny Kravitz, and who go through almost their early adult life having no clue what they are here on this earth to do, he reminds us that it is never too late, and that the realisation could come in your 30’s, your 40’s, even your 60’s, or 70’s.  I would say that the key thing is just deciding how much life you want to have on either side.  I chose to give in and go on the journey at 32.  Some might say ‘what a waste of those first 20 or so years.’  My perspective is that I am grateful that I didn’t wait until 42, or 52, or 72, because it means that every year beyond those 32 years is a life to be lived and explored from a completely different premise, place, and emotional space.

Part of it really does come down to releasing those fears, judgements, and limitations.

Lenny closed the interview with the words: “The lesson should be to love at all times, even when we don’t feel like it. We all judge about how we think people should be but we’re all different, but when you let go and just let people be who they are, it’s a choice and a very freeing experience.” 

So if the moment and inner call of your soul does come, whether you know it is seek it out like my clients do, or whether it comes and finds you, embrace it, savour it, step into it, and enjoy it because it really does open up a whole new world.

Marilyn Devonish

 

ABOUT MARILYN DEVONISH

Previously fearful of self expression of any kind, and terrified of public speaking right up until the age of 32, Marilyn Devonish is now a Keynote Speaker, Workshop Facilitator, Spiritual Development Coach, and Freelance Magazine Writer on emotional health and wellbeing.

Marilyn is a Certified Trainer of NLP, Certified Trainer of Hypnosis, a Certified Trainer of Time Line Therapy, Soul Plan Reader, Certified PhotoReading & Intuitive Learning Instructor, and Life and Executive Coach.  She is also a Practitioner of a number of change and transformation modalities including Hawaiian Huna, EFT, DNA Theta Healing, EmoTrance, Positive EFT, Energetic NLP, Access Consciousness, Access Bars,  Reiki, Archetypal Journey Profiling, and Management Consultant and Change Manager.

Passionate about helping others to identify and clear away the blocks and barriers that stand in the way of people living a more satisfying and fulfilling life, Marilyn has been working with both corporations and individuals for the past 14 years designing and delivering bespoke training interventions and time permitting, doing private Breakthrough Coaching Sessions .

Further Information

For more information about some of the modalities and approaches mentioned here you can visit the following links:

Website: www.tranceformationsTM.com

E-mail: marilyn@tranceformationsTM.com

Free downloads and resources: www.tranceformationsTM.com/resources

For Soul Plan Readings & Archetypal: www.tranceformationsTM.com/archetypal

For Angel Tarot Card Readings: www.tranceformationsTM.com/angeltarotcardreadings

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Thank You!

ADDITION TO THE ORIGINAL POST

I came across these 2 quotes after posting the original Blog, the first was from Rumi:

I sort of kind of agree.  I would say that from my perspective it isn’t always about ‘speed’ per se, because there might be things that you go through which with hindsight have built character or resolve.  I would say that quickness comes from how much disharmony and mental suffering you want to go through after you receive that soul direction.  If the answer is ‘not much’  or along the lines of ‘enough already’ then get to it!

The other post came from Eleanor Brownn and talked about ‘the perfect age’ to begin:

My sentiments exactly.  If you have come to the realisation that there is more that you can be, do, or have in life, then whatever age you are, if you start now, you will never have to clock up another year of regret, wondering ‘what if’, or wishing for things to miraculously change or be different.  Lenny Kravitz began at 5.  Even if you are beyond that, let your moment of realisation be now.