Wanderlust Being of Service Can Be Your Salvation

Sah D’Simone is a spiritual leader, meditation teacher, international transformation speaker, best-selling author and creator of the Sah Method. See him on Wanderlust TV and present a series of courses based on the principles of his book Spiritually Sassy.

Why do we allow our minds to play painful episodes from our past over and over again? Reliving the memories of our mistakes and missteps in repetition is like whipping over and over again. It's a form of torture, my love! And the perpetrator is your inner critic – that inner voice that wants you to believe that you will never be enough.

In all fairness, we only need to review our past mistakes a few times to learn the lessons necessary to make changes and build the determination to move on. But your inner critic is not so sensible. It doesn't let go that quickly.

Would you like to lower the volume of your inner critic and gain clarity about his voice? Be of service, honey.

Let me tell you a story

Years ago I was in a very deep, dark depression. I was walking on the beach, stuck in my misery and lost in my head. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard my heart whisper: "Go and serve." It was a rare moment of clarity in my inner chaos, so it caught my attention in ways I couldn't shake off.

I drove past a park and saw a large group of people without residence. I approached them and asked if they had access to food. They said, "We do this a couple of times a week, but most of the time we rely on the community for help."

I knew what to do. I went to the market and made 25 sandwiches and put a small note on each of them. I handed them over to the park, dealt with the people there, and caught clarity again.

While I was delivering food with them and hearing their stories, my inner critic was silent. I had a newly discovered inner stability. It was a tremendous relief and a glimmer of hope.

So I made it a weekly habit. I got by with what was available to me, led by my intention to transform myself by helping others transform them. By offering food, a smile, an ear, and testimony to the marginalized people who badly needed someone to see them and affirm their humanity, my heart opened and my inner critic calmed down. This was an enormously powerful catalyst for the next step in my own awakening.

When your inner critic is in charge, you become stagnant and even paralyzed. It can be difficult to function, let alone transform, when you're locked into that voice in your head.

Service is the secret sauce that makes your spiritual experience delicious!

Service readiness brings you out of stagnation and into action. It moves you from self-loathing to self-love.

Out of your head and into your heart. From yesterday's you to tomorrow's you.

My dear, I invite you to be of service and find little ways to help your community, friends and family. That's the moment. Your moment of clarity in a world of chaos, your impetus towards transformation.

When on duty you can be a leader, a megaboss who supports people everywhere. It enables you to broaden your field of love and compassion, not only to the loved ones, the kind people … but also to the strangers, the unkind people who we cannot understand, who worry us, who have a different background or background have a different culture that look or live or love differently from us. In other words, the people who need it most but who are least getting it.

The bodhisattva prayer

In 2019 I had the opportunity to study with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, a living saint and Buddhist nun, who gave me the opportunity to take the bodhisattva vow, a commitment to serve people everywhere, without exception. It is an acknowledgment that any suffering is your own. That you can only be completely free until you help others be completely free. We strive to create space for all people everywhere.

Accepting this calling and effect of service is a fundamental element of spiritual transformation. It is another step on the ladder to self-actualization.

To get you on your own path to service, I would like to give you an excerpt from the Bodhisattva prayer written by Shantideva, a Buddhist sage from 700 AD. It is a prayer for humanity and the Dalai Lama's daily prayer.

Let this prayer anchor you in your intention to serve you. Make a note of it and repeat it often until it becomes incessant in you, awakens your heart and opens your mind to the possibility of changing yourself and others. Let it be the antidote to painful memories and it will bring you back to your natural essence. Allow this prayer to silence this inner critic and move you to a practice of action through service.

“May I be a guard for those in need of protection
A guide for those on the way
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who want to cross the tide
May I be a lamp in the dark
A resting place for the tired
A remedy for all sick people
A vase of abundance, a tree of wonder
And for the limitless amount of living things
May I bring food and awakening?
Lasting like the earth and the sky
Until all beings are freed from grief
And everyone is awake. "

A longer version of this prayer can be found here as meditation.

We need you honey The world needs you more than ever to improve and be of service to you. Offer support and witness the humanity of others everywhere. To bring your loving light into the darkest corners of the world and let your compassion heal everyone you touch. By doing this, not only will you calm your inner critic and step into the next phase of your own awakening, but you will also inspire others to do the same.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Get it, tiger.

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Sah D’Simone is a spiritual leader, meditation teacher, international transformation speaker, bestselling author, and creator of the Sah Method who has devoted his life to helping others live in harmony and reach their highest potential. He pioneered a spiritually cheeky, heart-based healing movement based on scientifically sound, proven techniques where joy and authenticity light the path to enlightenment.

His infectious enthusiasm for healing is based on a masterful and revolutionary synthesis of ancient tantric Buddhism, modern contemplative psychotherapy, meditation, breath work and integrative nutrition … all in his own radiant, accessible and playful style.

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