What is your gift to the world? 💝

jump + pray | dispatch 0003

A friend sent me a meme yesterday. Not the funny kind, the thought provoking kind. It was one of those multi-slide ones on Instagram. A series of provoking statements and questions. 

It was about compassion and healing and our striving to create a better world. The last slide really got me. It read: 
 

There is no future where we all make it out alive. What is your work that must be done? 

I have a love/hate relationship with this question. Sometimes it inspires me, other times it sends me into a panic. Am I doing my work in the world? Am I using my gifts in the service of the common good? Am I working with what's in front of me, rather than striving for some idea of reality that actually doesn't exist? 

Ecclesiastes is a book in the Bible you may have heard of. It was written by a dude who had gone out into the world in pursuit of happiness/wisdom. He tries everything and in the end he comes back and says it's all meaningless.

The basic message is this: there are so many things in and about this world that don't make sense, “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all” (9:11) 

So what do you do?  

Enjoy your life. 

Enjoy your life. I think that's what this meme was saying, too. Happiness isn't found in the striving. It's found in doing the work you're here to do. So do it!
 

If you are local to Ojai and you haven't checked out The Vortex yet, what are you waiting for? I am interviewing a local 11-year-old musical prodigy for the next issue. Stay tuned, it will be the cutest thing you've ever read.

"Outsider artist", Carlo Zinelli, is featured in Turning the Art World Inside Out, an important documentary that every creative person should watch — especially the ones that feel like outsiders. Carlo suffered from schizophrenia and created most of his work from inside an mental asylum. Check it out.

Find your gift,
give it away.

— Joce Aucoin (@misslujo) October 18, 2021

Have a happy and safe Halloween, everyone. 

  <3 Joce