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Why?
This may be the most compelling word of all. "Why?" The answer to it gives
meaning to whatever preceded it. Children ask "why" of everything. Parents
pretend to truly know the answers. Both of them are piqued to find out why.
The reason "why" is so important in human thought is that thought revolves
around meaning. If something has no meaning to us, we ignore it. When it takes on meaning,
we fix our attention on it.
Without meaning, depression sets in. Without meaning, we don’t feel alive.
That’s why it is so valuable to set goals for yourself, especially goals that involve
doing things that serve others. When we have a goal on which to focus, our life tends to
reorganize itself around making it happen. The resources, solutions and answers start to
appear.
Down deep, somewhere inside you . . . you know what you are designed to do. There is a
voice, a feeling, a sixth sense that tells you. Ever since you were a child you have had a
sense of destiny. The feeling that things would unfold in a particular direction.
I believe that all of us "know" our calling. We just fail to NOTICE. Marsha
Sinetar wrote a book titled Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow. In my
experience that’s true. Things may not turn out as we originally hoped or expected,
but the path is worth following.
Our interests and impulses are messages we ought to listen to. The potentials within you
are naturally drawn to that which will fulfill them. As Emerson said, "Desire
is possibility seeking expression." So, if something fascinates or fulfills you, you
really ought to take notice. Your natural path may be calling you. There is fulfillment in
ordinary living.
"Dymaxion™" Thinking
R. Buckminster Fuller, called by some the Leonardo Da Vinci of the 20th Century, was an
inventor, engineer, architect, poet, philosopher, scientist, and more. He coined the term dymaxion.
It means, simply, maximum performance with minimum materials doing more with less.
We are drawn toward that for which we are well suited. "Desire is possibility seeking
fulfillment."
The key to tapping this growth potential is beginning the process. Take the first steps;
act on your impulses. Find ways to enhance the world through your actions. Don’t
start by looking at yourself, start by looking around you. What are you concerned about?
How would you change the world if you could?
Growth doesn’t occur without reaching out. Reaching out to help stimulates a
simultaneous outreach for resources branches and roots. As you need them, somehow the
resources seem to happily appear. Not always where you suspected they would be, but there
nonetheless.
Your job is not to fully understand the world, but simply to enhance it. Make it better
because you were here. Whether that be through an entertaining performance, a beautiful
sculpture, a simpler solution, a kind gesture or a global movement. Grow where you are
planted and branch out to connect with and serve the world.
Where Do You Look--Inside or Outside?
Goals that involve getting can be very powerful. In many ways, you have done the same over
the years. Notice it.
Goals that involve giving can be even more powerful. When we connect with a cause outside
of ourselves, we have more of an influence on others. Think of the best known businesses
that did this. Apple computer was founded with the goal of making technology work for
everyone. Ford Motor Company built cars that the average person could afford and use.
Disneyland was created to become "the happiest place on earth." The New York
Times informs us daily with "all the news that’s fit to print." The
great insurance companies began as a way for people to share the expense and reduce the
impact of loss or disaster.
Look around you again, what do you care about? What would you change? Look wider. Examine
your daily life, your community, your family, your business. What are you concerned about?
What would you change?
Maybe you can change things for the better. Maybe the seeds of a greater contribution
already live within you. Write down your thoughts. Notice what excites or bothers you.
Think about it. Think beyond it to a better condition. How could you initiate some actions
that would grow new possibilities for those affected?
Grow where you are planted. Then branch out toward even more . . . toward meaning.
Meaning and Fulfillment
"What’s nice," Walt Disney said to his friend and coworker, Mike Vance,
"is to be grown-ups like we are . . . and to remember the kids we were back
then." Then he asked Mike, "Do you know what’s even nicer than that? It is
to be grown-ups like we are, remember the kids we once were, and to know that we have
become the person that, as a child, we hoped and dreamed, someday we might become."
"That’s called fulfillment and it’s something every human being
dreams to achieve."
Fulfillment is what happens when an acorn becomes an oak, a nurturer becomes a nurse, an
explorer pursues a quest, or when a message finds its medium. You and I experience
fulfillment whenever we are making a difference. If we are doing something that matters in
some way, we tend to smile inside. And this shows up in the quality of our work.
We need to know that what we do counts. We need work that fits our values and talents,
something for which we are suited. If we don’t find meaning in the job itself, we
must bring meaning to it through the way we approach it.
Exercise:
What do you find fulfilling?
Here is a quick questionnaire to help you isolate the elements that lie along your natural
path to fulfillment.
¨ When
was the last time you got caught up in your actions or thoughts and loss track of time?
¨ What do you
like to do for people?
¨ What
has been the work you’ve most enjoyed over the years?
¨ When
was a time you felt fully alive?
¨ Describe
your idea of the perfect job/career/business.
¨ Who do
you admire and why?
Take a little time and really write out your answers to these questions. Do it now if you
can. Just scribble some quick notes to capture your answers.
Then look over your answers for patterns. Search for common themes or traits which seem to
stand out. Most likely, there will be a strong similarity within your responses.
Fulfillment comes when we spend our energies on what we care about, believe in and have
talent for. Psychologist William Glasser said, "If a job utilizes talents, appeals to
interests and relates to values, it will be fulfilling." The wonderful diversity
within people allows for endless combinations of pursuits, each of which, satisfies
someone.
People need purpose. When we’re not planning towards something, their life starts to
diminish, it starts to shrink. There are many examples of the fact that the more purpose
we have in our life, the longer we live.
We need a purpose, some reason to get out of bed in the morning. Something to challenge
us. Brain research has shown that if we keep ourselves intellectually challenged and
stimulate the mind we may actually cause brain cells, called neurons, to branch wildly and
establish new connections. We create more dendritic tissue. So stimulate your brain with a
purpose and challenge your thinking!
We have to have a purpose, because it’s the source of the life energy that makes our
lives meaningful. Setting goals is so important because it gives us a purpose to live.
That’s why people say you’ve got to have a dream, or you’ve got to have a
vision.
But interestingly, purpose doesn’t come from outside us, it always comes from inside
and it goes out toward others as some form of service or self-expression.
Are you living the life you were meant to live?
When you identify the big purpose that you want to go after for a certain portion of your
life, all of a sudden the life energy you need starts coming in to you to fulfill that
purpose.
And you can do this at any age! How much you have lived doesn’t have
anything to do with this. Look at examples of people who started when they were young with
a clear purpose, or people who started much later in life like Grandma Moses, who’s
famous for being a painter starting at age 78 and painting well into her nineties.
We often need a cause larger than our skills in order to grow. Thinking big is allowed
and, in fact, encouraged!
Remember that the last time you felt really alive, a time when you were doing something
that stretched your abilities and sharpened your skills, your mind and body were very
active. Your purpose or goal no doubt tested you and made you greater than you had been
before. Only then did you feel fully alive. When there is a reason to grow, there is room
to grow and a natural path to follow.
· For
further understanding of the role of meaning in your life I recommend reading Man’s
Search for Meaning by Victor Franklin.
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