What's Your Mission?
abracad, · Categories: self help, spiritualityDo you have a purpose or mission in life? Or rather, do you know your life's mission or purpose?
We all have a reason for being alive. In fact we choose our particular mission in the realm of Spirit before we are born. Unfortunately, once faced with life's many challenges and distractions we all too easily forget our raison d'etre.
Life is like a journey. If you don't know where you're trying to get, how do you expect to get there? How do you even know which direction to set off in? You wouldn't start your car's engine without knowing where you were going and having at least a vague idea of the route. So why live life without a similar plan?
Often life is just a struggle to survive. Can we make enough money to pay the mortgage and put food on the table? Can we play the games well enough to keep our jobs, or even get a raise?
Our needs form a hierarchy, with the necessities of food and shelter sitting at the bottom. We need to satisfy these before we can turn our attention to higher ideals. Unfortunately, society too is hierarchical, and unless you occupy a place near the top it's very difficult to rise above the satisfaction of basic needs.
But in the struggle to stay afloat we lose sight of our mission, our core values. But by spending a short time identifying your purpose you can become more effective at meeting the basics and have more time, energy and enthusiasm to spend on fulfilling that mission.
Identifying your purpose
Identifying your purpose is easier than it sounds because it already exists, as defined by ourselves. Set aside some quiet time and ask yourself what's really important to you. Just brainstorm. Jot down everything that comes into your head at first, without attempting to evaluate. Often the things we're naturally best at or instinctively drawn to give a clue to our purpose. But occasionally our mission might be to overcome the difficulties relating to the things we're not good at.
Only when the ideas stop flowing should you attempt to make sense of your thoughts. In a couple of hours or less you ought to come up with a list of a dozen or so points that from then on should take priority.
It's become fashionable for corporations to publish their "mission statements," a list defining their reasons for being and the values they observe in the process. You might want to write your own personal mission statement. Once written this will form the basis of all your thoughts, actions and decision-making. Every decision you make should be weighed against your mission. Sometimes you'll need to compromise, but at least your pragmatism will be guided by reason.
It's a good idea to review your personal mission once or twice a year. Even though your core mission and values will remain constant throughout life, there may in the light of experience be some subtle changes in the way these are expressed, or the identification of new goals as preceding ones are satisfied.
This article was inspired by The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.
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Filed in: self help, spirituality
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