Pattern Interrupt » purpose

Are You Really Good Enough?

Lira — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:54:07 +0000

Some days you can just feel the stickiness around you. It holds you like a butterfly in honey… stuck in your rut, trapped in your box, the walls of a life, a job, or a career, that you don’t want, but can’t seem to get out of. You can see a million ways to change, but how do you know which option is the right one.

So instead of taking action, you hesitate. You hesitate because you’re not sure that whatever you do will actually change things enough to make a difference. So why put in all that hard work? How can you know if you are strong enough, smart enough, or fast enough to make a lasting change?

And the truth is, you’re probably not really “doing enough”….. But this isn’t actually a bad thing. Before you curse me in 100 languages, let me explain.

Right now, you know you’re not “enough.” And in many areas of your life you may never be “enough”. Because the moment you are strong enough, smart enough, or fast enough you’ll probably stop trying to grow. You won’t need to transform or improve that area of your life anymore because you’ll already be “enough.”

Life, Without Change, is Death

You already know that your Spirit, Body, and Mind are complete (and if you didn’t know, now you do). Although you are absolutely whole exactly as you are, you can never completely fill the available space to grow. You probably feel the need to BE MORE every single day and define this as “not enough.” But the need to be more is the urge to expand our knowledge, our ability to love, and our freedom to explore the unknown reaches of reality.

All you have to do is purge the fear of not being enough without removing the opportunity to grow. Then you’ll discover you CAN BE stronger, smarter, and faster in whatever passionate goals you define. It’s the fear that is sticky. It’s the fear that inhibits your transformation into a better career, a stronger relationship, and a more enjoyable life. Take this moment to let go of your fear.

Take Another Look

You may not always be strong enough, but that doesn’t mean you are not strong. Your actions may not make enough of the changes you want, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot act or that you cannot change. We are not meant to do everything today, but we are meant to grow everyday. So the only true failure is to allow your fears to stop your transformation.

Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes. ~Oscar Wilde

Stop fighting “failure” and start examining your mistakes. But be discerning, be choosy with your energy. Don’t worry about every mistake, focus on those mistakes that connect directly with your true Life Purpose. Whenever you recognize that you have not done enough passionate, successful work, then you have discovered a new opportunity to grow. It is much easier to solve a problem when you know it’s root, otherwise it’ll just keep growing back.

Transform Into Good Enough

Step #1: Stop asking “What Should I be doing about this?” and start paying attention to where your mistakes and your passions align.

Whenever a mistake upsets you, write it down. Use your journal as a powerful tool to document where you fell short and why it upset you. How does this mistake effect your life purpose? What have you learned by making this mistake? What goal was effected?

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. ~James Joyce

By examining both your passions and your mistakes you are led toward the areas in your life that have the greatest, most rewarding transformations. Harness this knowledge. Be aware of it! And then let your internal Voice, your Heart, your Creative Muse, and your Logical Daemon work together to solve it.

Step #2: Now ask “What is inhibiting me from reaching my goal?” and “What can I do to overcome or sidestep this mistake?”

Make a list. By making a mistake, you’ve learned exactly where you didn’t have enough knowledge, enough strength, or applied enough passion. How can you respond to this mistake with actionable steps that will directly effect the outcome? If you want a new job but blew your last interview, learn and PRACTICE your interview skills. If you want to change your career but haven’t transitioned from your current job to a better one, CONTACT a mentor or a career change coach for some practical help.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. ~George Bernard Shaw

Once you’ve defined a list, you’ll realize how much control you have over your life and your goals. The world will start to feel less like a box and more life a corridor of doors. But, just creating a new ToDo list probably won’t be enough. You have to break the sticky cycle of small actions, or you’ll end up doing nothing at all.

Step #3: Change the Rules of your Environment

Pick one area of your life and change it to provide encouragement around your passion filled goals in a way that addresses your mistakes directly.

Do you want to be a better leader but still can’t get a leadership role at you company? –> Consider how often you are reminding yourself of that goal… Have you posted your goal on your office wall? Do you read and learn about leadership skills every day? Do you reach out to leaders in your local community, online, or through a leadership organization and ask them for help?

You need to build a new reality that supports the improvements you are trying to make. Remember, this is YOUR transformation. You want to create your daily schedule, your surroundings, and your relationships so that it’s EASIER to reach your goals… EASIER to overcome your mistakes…. EASIER to align with your passions and your life purpose.

If you do each of these three steps, you will make significant strides in overcoming your mistakes, expanding your knowledge, reaching your goals, and achieving your Life purpose. But there is one more thing that can give you the most phenomenal Power boost to everything else you do.

Bonus Step: Believe

It’s so simply to write it. So simple to say it. But not so simple to do it. You have to Believe. Believe that what you are doing will work, even when you make mistakes. Believe that your goals are worthwhile, even when your peers say they are not. Believe that living a life of passion is better than toiling away in apathy, even though everyone else seems to have already given up. Just don’t give up. And you’ll already be closer to achievement than most of the people around you.

Your mistake does not define who you are…you are your possibilities. ~Oprah Winfrey

The life you want is waiting for you. Your mistakes are just the guiding lights along the path. “Not Good Enough” is a direct invitation from your New Reality to fly with Freedom.

Follow your Purpose, follow your Passion, Believe… and you will Achieve.

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What mistakes have been holding you back from your dreams? How have you used your mistakes to change your life? Share your ideas in the comment section!

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How The Matrix Can Help You Discover Your Life Purpose

Lira — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:17:54 +0000

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re wasting your life? Running in circles, forever busy, but never getting anything of consequence done? You know that if you could just figure out what you SHOULD be doing with your life, you would finally feel the passion and motivation that’s been missing.

“You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.” -Morpheus from The Matrix

What you’re looking for is your purpose. And its not missing. Its there, waiting in the shadows for you to discover it.

What Is the Matrix

The Princeton dictionary defines purpose as “an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions.” But your life purpose isn’t just a goal. It’s a goal that ignites endless passion, motivation, and emotion. And it doesn’t just guide your actions, it builds your life into the Hero’s Journey. The human story of overcoming difficulty where we discover that the internal rewards far outweigh the external ones.

Purpose can also be described as simply “what something is used for.” And for many people, this is where the lack of clarity arises. However, your purpose is NOT what someone or something uses you for, because no one but you can define your purpose. Nor is your purpose the same things as your life’s Meaning. The meaning of your life defines the context of your purpose, but not the actual goal. For a better understanding of this, read Create a Meaningful Life.

The Red Pill

So what is your life purpose? Just as is the case with so many Koans, or riddles of life, the answer is short and easy to understand.

Your life purpose is to share you inner self with others.

But not necessarily simple to act upon.

“Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. ” -Morpheus from The Matrix

For many people, this easy answer fills them with fear. Fear that they don’t really know their true inner self. Fear of exposing themselves to others and being rejected. Fear of failing or not being good enough. Fear of succeeding but ending up alone at the top. And each of these fears MUST be faced…. in time.

Although the short answer is hard to face, the good news is that the hard answer arises from a simple Q&A session.

Down The Rabbit Hole

Here’s how you find the hard answer.

1. Ask yourself “Am I ready to know my purpose?” and listen to your internal Voice. Remember, your internal Voice doesn’t sound like your parents, your boss, your coworkers, or anyone else. Your Voice, whether it’s soft or loud, sounds like you and only you. You’ll always know it, because it will always sound like the truth. And, the answer to this first question will be YES. That’s why you’re still reading.

Now that you’ve opened up to your Voice, you’re ready to…

2. Ask yourself “Am I frightened of my purpose, even a little?” and accept whatever response you receive. Many people will also answer this second question with YES. This is a huge step. You’ve accepted that you want to know your purpose and that you have fears associated with that purpose.

If you answered this second question with NO, then you may need to dig deeper or you may not be listening to your true Voice. Perhaps your Daemon, your analytical side, is blocking your feelings with too much logic. For example, the Daemon may respond “Of course I’m not afraid of my purpose. I just haven’t figured out what it is. That’s why I haven’t done it yet.” Don’t fight with the Daemon but don’t believe it’s BS either. Fighting only gives it more power. Instead, ask a more literal question such as “Am I afraid of acting on my purpose?”

Its important to recognize that you have fears linked to your life’s purpose. If you didn’t have any fears, you would already be doing exactly what you need to do. This acceptance is critical when you…

3. Ask yourself “What do I NEED to share with others that I haven’t shared yet?” and “What do I NEED to do that I haven’t done yet?” Write every answer down in your journal. Do you need to write your life story? Do you need to quit your corporate job and become a teacher? Do you need to guide and inspire others? Everything. Even if it’s “I don’t know” over and over again. Write it down until you reach past your inhibitions and you begin to feel deep seated emotions. Write until you feel something, whether its anger, sadness, happiness, or fear. Then, each time you feel emotions begin to well up, mark that entry, and continue writing.

Give this process at least 30 minutes to an hour. Some bloggers say you can find your answer in 20 minutes, but I think it takes a little longer. You need to give yourself some time to peel back the protective layers and let your Voice speak from the deepest part of your soul. Whether your list has 8 marked items or 80, these are the keys to your life’s purpose.

After you have marked as many entries as you want and you feel that nothing new is coming up then you…

4. Sift through the marked answers to find the critical ones. Compare each marked answer and cross off or combine similar thoughts. Prioritize your marked answers according to which ones have the most meaning, the most passion, the most emotional content for you. These 5 to 10 answers are your Life Purpose.

The One

Taken together, the answers to your Life Purpose are absolutely unique to you. They don’t signify the same ideas to anyone else and more importantly, they can’t be done by anyone else. Their uniqueness defines you as the One to achieve them. It also defines you as the One who must face the associated fears.

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Being the One is like being love. No one can tell you you’re in love, you just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones.” -Oracle in The Matrix

Happily, the act of confronting your fears is also an act of creation. Facing your fears creates a deeper understanding of your inner self. It indicates you have hope, faith, and belief that your inner self can overcome this obstacle and transform into something greater. You already know you can be and do so much more. Accept your belief, accept your Life Purpose, and turn to face one fear.

To begin, simply choose one piece of your Life Purpose and act. Perhaps you need to take a Leap of Faith or perhaps you need more insight into the fear itself, but you must act. To face your fears is to walk the Path of Purpose and live openly from you inner self. I know you can do this and so do you.

“I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin.

I’m going to hang up this phone, and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you. “ -Neo from The Matrix

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What is your Life Purpose? How are you working toward your Life Purpose? Share your ideas in the comment section!

If you enjoyed the article, please subscribe to LiraVaughan.com and share it with your friends using the Share & Enjoy social bookmarking sites. Thank you for your support!