Reflections of Life produces gorgeous short films that uplift the personal stories of ordinary people, with the goal of sharing ideas and inspiring change. We feel hugely blessed to feature video-stories that filmmakers Michael and Justine capture with exquisite expertise, and which so beautifully illustrate grateful living principles and practices.

Learn more about Reflections of Life (formerly Green Renaissance) through our Grateful Changemaker feature.

Questions for Reflection

  • When have you taken a courageous step in your life as a result of deep listening to your heart’s longing?
  • How do you make space in your daily life to remain tuned in to what you love, to listen to your true self?
  • What do you hear when you listen closely, and what might you be called to do differently?

We invite you to share your reflections below the video transcript that follows.

Video Transcript

Imagine that is Monday morning and your alarm is ringing. It’s like five in the morning and you have to wake up. The question for you at that time is, are you on the right place? Are you doing what you love?

We all want to find the thing that we love. What gives you true delight in the world, whatever it is that ignites a spark in your life.

To feed your son, you have to take responsibility of doing the right things. It’s like roots in a tree. A tree without roots cannot stand for long.

All I know is that I’ve had this deep, deep instinct inside me, and I’ve always known that I’ve got to follow it.

So the question is very simple. What you’re going to do with this time that you have? This is the time that was given to you. How would you like to live that life?

Well, any of us here, what is anybody’s purpose? We come to earth. We live and we die. What we make of that is up to each of us. I got to quite a low point in my life and my soul, my inner being, I had become numb in a way and I really needed to get to grips with really who I was and what was important to me.

I do remember when I had this insight, “I’m on the wrong place.” I could see from above that I was in a career that was not important to me. It was a way of me making money, and this is it. I realized this is not the place for me to be. And a seed was planted in my heart.

We all want to change and grow. And the older we get, the more difficult is to change anything. It all becomes a lot more daunting. Change is about growth, but also potential, the potential to be what you are destined to be. You can grow and develop into whatever you want to be. You create your own life.

You have a feeling about going somewhere and doing something. And that’s just a start. The whole thing’s a journey. The whole thing is a learning process.

(Singing).

Nothing comes easy. We’re all faced by mountains every day. So it’s either you climb or you remain in the foothill.

Leaving a solid career to jump into something that is not solid at all, I was terrified. I was absolutely scared. But the problem is, if you don’t make a move, nothing’s going to change. So you’re going to live in a constant state of fear.

It takes a lot of courage. But the only thing you need to be afraid of is not listening to yourself, not doing what you feel is right.

Society is so busy nowadays. Everything’s happening at the same time everywhere. I think it gives you this feeling of you cannot find a clear path. So taking some time for yourself, time for you to breathe in and out, because there is an inner voice maybe trying to speak to you and you don’t give it space.

Sometimes what you really love in life is something that is so unique and so yours, that nobody else on the planet will understand it. And once you bring it out, it becomes something so powerful and so beautiful.

Everyone else thinks you’re crazy. Something that appeals to you, that makes you smile and moves you, that doesn’t move anybody else, that’s the thing, that’s what’s speaking to you alone.

The only way you can take responsibility for what you do is to listen to you because there is absolutely nobody out there that is going to do it for you. And that’s the truth.

Purpose is something so deeply personal. And to me, it’s not about fitting in. It’s about finding your own path.

Trying to copy other people’s way of doing things, life is not like that. Anything you need to achieve in life is determined by what you feel inside your heart.

Just keep being true to oneself, keep doing what it is that you feel you need to do in this world, one day at a time.

I have a Brazilian motto on my wall and it says, [ Portuguese …]. So if I have to translate it to English, it says, “Go. And if you’re scared, go scared.”

To support Michael and Justine in their film-making journey, visit Reflections of Life.


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Reflections of Life

Reflections of Life

About the author

Justine and Michael are a creative couple living in South Africa.  Their project, Reflections of Life (formerly Green Renaissance), works to spread positive stories that reflect the wonder of the world. With the goal of sharing ideas and inspiring change, they produce gorgeous short films that are posted online and available for anyone, anywhere, to watch and share freely.

 

Through their films, they explore what it means to be human. They touch on topics that can often be difficult for people to discuss – from loss of a loved one to aging and retirement to friendship to love and courage – universal themes that we all deal with at some stage in our lives.

 

By sharing these stories, Justine and Michael hope to remind us of one simple truth – that we are all human – that inside our hearts and minds, we are all facing similar challenges.  We have so much to learn from each other, and our connections run so much deeper and stronger than we think. Learn more and support their work at reflectionsof.life.