Wisdom Strategy Research Institute

As you might be aware of, toward the end of 2007 there were
some articles that surfaced in Time, Newsweek, and other
publications about some journals that Mother Teresa kept covering
a large portion of her amazing life.

Before we go any further I want to go on the record and say that I
only have the deepest, and highest respect, admiration, and
appreciation for Mother Teresa. She was truly one of the great
people that lived during our time.

The shocking thing that came to light in her journals was that for
nearly half a century she felt unfulfilled and disconnected from
God.

Now, here is a wonderful and powerful lady who consistently helped
people by the thousands, and yet she felt disconnected from God.
That seems sad and unfair.

How can this be? Did God abandon her? Was her belief wrong?

From her life's work and everything I know of her, it's probably a
fair bet that she had a very deep conviction that "Service leads to
a deep connection with God." or Perhaps, she would have said it as
"Helping our fellow man creates a sense of fulfillment and connection
with God." Or something along those lines.

If we were to make a diagram of her belief it might look like this:

Service / Helping => God / Fulfillment.

It was sort of her formula for living.

She certainly held up her end of the bargain, more than almost anyone
even when we compare her to the greatest of people down through
history. So, how could she have served so many, helped so many,
and still been unfulfilled?

Isn't that interesting? Why was it that she could have gone through
so many years of unfulfillment.

A major lesson here for us all is that EVERYONE faces the similar
challenges. After all, isn't that something that we all struggle
with - how to live our lives in a way that is truly meaningful?

Well, her belief was one of the most powerful motivating factors
in her psychology. So, in many ways it shaped her, and all the
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people's lives whom she
touched either directly or indirectly.

At the same time, in a subtle way, it actually kept her from being
able to fully access in herself those feelings of fulfillment, and
spiritual connection on a regular basis.

The deeper she believed that service was the way to experiencing
those emotions she wanted the most, the more she was unable to feel
them.

Her belief said it was service that caused those things. Therefore,
she likely was on the positive side of the same pattern that we find
in addiction. What happens with drug-addicts? They soon have to
more and more of the drug to get the same high.

From what I can tell Mother Teresa's drug of choice was service.
I'm referring to service as a drug to make the point that she was
relying on something external to her as a route to feeling the
feelings that she wanted. This is a very common trap.

Another lesson is that if you want to change the world, set it up
so that at the deepest level of conviction you connect
taking the actions necessary to do so to your deepest values. That
is one of the things that causes people to take that kind of massive
action.

The unfortunate thing is that Mother Teresa could have had those very
deep and profound levels of fulfillment and connection, in any moment.

What prevented her from accessing this unlimited supply of the
infinite bounty of God's Love? Her belief in Service as a
prerequisite. In other words, that she had to do Service to feel
the connection and fulfillment.

In fact, isn't it possible to access those states of Connection to
God, and Fulfillment in any moment? If you are wavering on this
one - the answer is absolutely YES.

How you might ask? Are you like me, and Mother Teresa, and would
like to feel more fulfillment, and more connection to God?

Here's a couple of ways:

1) You could review each day, week, month and year, and ask "
What did I do that was of service to other people? How did I help
people today?" - Note little things count. Maybe you gave someone
smile, or said "Hello" to a stranger.

Another great one is to do the same review and ask
"What were all the successes I experienced today?" - Again, count
the little things as well as the big ones.

Then ask yourself for each one -
"What is great about that? What about that am I really happy about?"
"How wonderful does that make me feel?"

2) What was most fulfilling to me about (today, this week,
this month, this year)? What made it fulfilling?
How does that make you feel?

3) With the day happening exactly as it did,
What are some of the ways that perhaps I haven't fully appreciated
yet that that I was actually deeply Connected to God today? (little
things count)

If was one little way, that you were connected, what might that
have been?

Notice what this connection is like and how it feels?

4) Without changing anything, how am I connected to God in this
moment?

And most of all, let's learn from the incredible example that
Mother Teresa set about how to live a life of service.

All the very best,

Robert