Simply being On-Purpose® begins by asking the two simple questions of Purpose: Who am I? Why am I here? These pivotal questions engage our move away from self-centeredness toward a life of purpose. Seeking meaningful answers to these two questions will alter your life for the better forever.
Through my first three plus decades I hacked away to find answers to these questions. In the 1980s a series of life changing events cut a tiny pass into the wilds of my heart and I experienced a moment in Eden. I knew Joy for the first time – and it wasn’t about me. But being me by abandoning me didn’t make sense. I couldn’t trust that concept so I kissed bliss goodbye and retreated to the “security” of my old neighborhood – life on the Avenue.
But my old way of life had been rocked. Before I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now I knew there was a better place but it appeared risky. Treading on the new path felt so foreign. Once I realized I was living in the moment, the moment was gone. I longed to live in this new place, but I slid back into habits.
I had become a hypocrite! Regularly my default into my old life was even without the honesty of the woman at the Publix grocery store. Torn between who I am and whom I’m becoming I end up hiding my “IT’S ABOUT ME” T-shirt under my polo shirt as I pose between my image and my reality. I’m discontentedly divided between wanting to live one way, yet actually being another way. It is the gap between the ideal and the real. As The Very Reverend Robert Giannini says, “When you discover you’re a hypocrite you need to thank God! A hypocrite is a person with high ideals who fails. Give thanks that your ideals have been elevated.” Thankfully I’d begun commuting between my world and Eden. Previously, I had been the sole resident of one world – mine – where life on the Avenue, even acts of service, are still about me. Looking out for #1 is the simple life, but not necessarily the meaningful one. “Who am I?” I ask, as I commute between two worlds.
Initially, I stumbled into an opening to Eden and retreated back to the Avenue. Once there, however, I found my way back. With each return visit it became easier to find the way and stay a little longer. Eventually I began to guide others. Since 1990, I’ve had the privilege to person-to-person coach with thousands of people and hundreds of organizations as I help them arrive at and articulate their purpose and to devise strategies for living and working in the new adventure. It’s rewarding work and has even led to training others to do as I do.
Here’s your invitation to rock your world and reap the rewards in the world of a new life. Chances are you already know something has to be different in the way you’re doing life and work, yet life is not all that bad, so why shake things up? Take heart, there’s tremendous hope, joy, and encouragement within these posts. Breathe in each Simply On-Purpose® entry and its stories. Our purpose leads us to our true home in and through the heart so the new life becomes our life on the crossroad.
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