"The last twenty years or so, spiritual/new age authors have sent this message
to readers: "You have something broken about you and I can fix it."

Now a newer, truer message must be heard: "You are here to deliver a beautiful gift to
the world - and it's a gift that benefits everyone. Remember it, and get on with it."

WHEN I FIRST started researching these principles, I would invite people to come to my home and give them a one-on-one "soul contract" reading. We would talk in detail about each of the principles and how they were at work in the clients' lives. The reading would sometimes last two hours. Usually, by about the third or fourth principle (of twelve), I noticed people's eyelids getting heavy. This material is, on first hearing, sometimes overwhelming, and it requires the awakening of one's unconscious (or cellular) intelligence to really understand it. The cognitive brain seemed to want to sleep through the readings.

However, one principle always opened the eyes quickly: Service. I noticed early-on that when I told people they had the principle of Service in their contract, they snapped to attention - and not in a good way. Most of the responses were something like, "I'm exhausted from serving everyone. I don't want to be a servant." I realized very quickly that understanding the difference between Service and servitude is the most important aspect of wearing this principle.

Too many of us (especially women) live within a belief system that says something like this: "In order to be a good person, I must meet everyone else's needs and expectations before I take care of myself." It almost always falls on the wife/mommy in a marriage, for example, to be in charge of the household - keeping everyone fed, clothes clean, house clean, children nurtured, children schooled, children chauffeured, spouse coddled, budget managed, domicile maintained, volunteer work done, sometimes working a full-time - all while remaining skinny, sexy, healthy and perky. UGH. If that's what one thinks of service, no wonder it brought such dramatic responses.

From The Invisible Garment:

You may confuse your training to take care of everyone else before you take care of yourself with "service." You may tend to burn out emotionally and not really understand why. The best possible relationship between your emotions and the principle of Service comes when you understand that your feelings are your give-away. How you FEEL is your gift to life. By living in integrity with your soul, your feelings become the most authentic gift you have. You need not be afraid that your feelings are selfish little narcissistic acts of a bratty ego. NO, your feelings are your service. Learning to trust your feelings and act appropriately according to them I a big part of your life commitment.

Of course, these words don't apply to everyone. Indeed some people's feelings are "selfish little narcissistic acts of a bratty ego." But people who have their emotional body in the principle of Service have quite a beautiful gift, because at the foundation of their emotions is the knowledge that life is a gift and that indeed each human is a part of that gift. That philosophy, being the basis of your feelings, gives you an all-pervading benevolent perception of life.

Although my message is usually about "being" rather than "doing," I have noticed over the years that people who truly understand Service have a tendency to choose careers that allow them to be of service to the community. Many police people, fire fighters, and civil service employees do actually wear the principle of Service in their invisible garment.

Recently I attended a morning in small claims court with a friend. She was suing an attorney who had employed her to decorate his home, and then refused to pay her. She was totally in the right, but she was terribly nervous because he was, after all, an attorney! I went strictly for moral support.

As we sat in the extremely ugly and uncomfortable courtroom waiting for the judge, I thought, "Ugh! What a horrible job - judging whiners in small claims court in a cold ugly room all day every day." Well, as the morning unfolded, I watched Judge Mina choreograph a sweet day for everyone involved. She showed stunning compassion for the man whose English was so bad that he had to bring an interpreter. Earlier in the month he had been caught between his fear that missing a day at work might end his job, and a court date. He was the plaintiff in a case, and yet he had missed his court date because his boss had gone back on his word to let him off from work. On this day he appeared, asking for a new court date. The judge looked at him long and carefully, and said, "I see that you're telling me the truth. Here's what I'm going to do for you..." She didn't punish him for missing his earlier court date, and she gave him more time.

The next person who came up was suing her insurance company. She was so frightened and so fluttery that she could not produce the basic documents the judge needed to see to consider the case. (She had them, but couldn't find them in her many file folders, blinded by her fear.) The judge asked her to stop and take a breath. Then she gently said, "Sit down, please. Take some breaths. Find the documents. Do the math. I'll call you back up in a few minutes." The young girl was so embarrassed and almost in tears when she sat down, but as promised, after hearing the next case the judge asked her if she were ready to present her evidence. The judge's sweetness about the whole thing shifted the plaintiff's energy and she presented briefly and clearly. The judge told her how much she appreciated such a concise and logical argument.

At the same time, there were definitely cases in which one of the people involved was trying to "pull something." For example, one man was accusing a female customer of giving him a "hot" check, when in reality it was a "stop payment" because the product she had purchased from him was faulty and he refused to correct the error. Judge Mina did not put up with that intentional mis-wording for one second.

When my friend went forward, having witnessed the judge's compassion and desire for brevity, she presented her case simply, clearly, concisely. She had documented (with BEAUTIFUL photographs) the work she had done in the attorney's home. The judge took one look at the huge notebook of pictures, fabrics, wall color samples, and invoices. It was clear from the look on the judge's face that she saw what was happening here - a ruthless and unethical strong-arming on the attorney's part.

Of course, I don't know Judge Mina's birth information, so I can't say for sure that she wears the principle of Service. But I can say for sure that she understands it. She didn't enter the courtroom with a sense of "Oh, lordy, another day of whiners." But instead she entered with an attitude of, "How may I serve you?" It was her courtroom, no question. She was in charge and would suffer no fools. AND she was there to serve.

Service doesn't have to look like servitude. Service is about recognizing that we are all in this amazing experiment called humanity together. Service is about remembering that life is a gift. Service is about remembering that we are also here to deliver a gift to life. Service and compassion are inextricable.

If you have Service in your garment, take some time to look at whether your actions and feelings are in alignment with each other. If you have the doormat syndrome, then you must realign. Your acts of service must feel like acts of loving kindness, which feed you rather than deplete you.

Interestingly, the principle of Service is relatively rare in people's charts. I don't know if there is a mathematical reason for that (that the 19th degree doesn't often appear,) but it has been true in my research. Here are some people who had Service in their charts: Martin Luther King, Jr., Princess Grace, Princess Diana, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou. If you take time to research their lives, you'll see the thread. I remember once in an interview, Charlie Rose, after reading one of her poems about the wonder of life, asked Maya Angelou what was the most amazing thing she had ever experienced. Her response was, "That I am a child of God, and that you are, too." This woman knows that life is a gift, and she is most certainly giving back!

The principle of Service may be your most important influence, no matter where it sits in your soul contract. It constantly reminds you that that you are here to GIVE YOUR GIFT to life. Every action you authentically take toward that end will ricochet and become wealth and happiness for you.

© Connie Kaplan, 2006