Do you feel useful?

I happened to catch this article by Paul Coelho's twitter feed this morning.

Thirty second read to answer the question, "Do you feel useful?"

A flower and a river were the protagonist's in the article and neither the flower or the river questioned their purpose, their reason for being.  A flower was simply trying to be a flower and the river was trying to be a river.   They were being what they are.

I think so many of us try to answer that question and find the purpose in our being and then we simply forget to "be".

When my friend Cassie was running for the Woman of the year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society last year a local artist, Laurie Maeves made a painting to donate to Cassie's campaign.  Laurie is completely sure that her purpose is to either make your painting and if not to possibly deconstruct your painting.  Is she doesn't do that, who will?

So if I posed this question to Laurie if she felt useful, I am sure she would reply as the river did.  I am not trying to be useful, I am trying to be an artist.

Are you trying to be useful?    What if you simply tried being who you are?  As Paul Cohello teaches,

"Don’t try to be useful. Try to be yourself: that is enough, and that makes all the difference."

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