The Philosophers Zone

One of my favorite comedy sitcoms I love to watch these days is called "Everybody Loves Raymond". This show strikes a cord with me due to the fact I can relate. Raymond is always getting himself in hot water. He has a wife who stays home and looks after the house and kids. He is still stuck in the old ways of thinking he is the king of his castle and his wife is just there to serve him. But true to form and the attitude of the women of 2005, his wife Debra always knows how to put him in his place. Another show I love like this one, is Home Improvement. Same kind of idea with the man as the main bread winner who is also a male chauvinist and is always stepping out of line and having to be knocked back down to reality by the ever patient wife.
The one thing I enjoy about these shows are the realism as well as the comedy. All these people live fulfilling lives with meaning, loving families, and lots of friends and interests.
Can you say the same thing? Do you know who you are? Do you know where you're going? It may seem like a stupid concept since you are no longer a teenager, but it isn't. We all need to stay focused and remain true to who we are. We need to fill our lives with activities and people who keep us in a positive frame of mind and attitude. We can't always have control over outside events in our life but it doesn't mean we can't control the way we intrepret it.
The following article will help you to centre in on your true purpose so you can complete your mission in life successfully.

Discovering Your Life Purpose - An Overview
Copyright 2005 So-lu'shunz Management Services

When you look in the mirror, do you see a purposeful,
productive, satisfied human being looking back at you, or
do you see someone who’s caught in the grind, moving on
autopilot, and not having much fun in the process?

How long has it been since you opened your eyes in the
morning with a sense of anticipation, yes and even
excitement? If you haven’t felt that sense of wonder and
expectancy since you were a child, you’re not alone, read
on!

If this sounds familiar, you’re probably also wondering why
you’re here, whether there is a purpose or if you’re an
accident? Is there something you should be doing with your
life that you’re missing? How will you know? And how in
heaven’s name should you go about it?

Life with a plan is the answer. You’re may be thinking,
“Oh, no, not that, not another plan!” Ah, but this is a
grand plan, one you can truly live by, a freeing plan, not
another system to be bound to. This plan works for you not
on you!

Today we’re introducing the concepts of PURPOSE, MISSION,
VISIONS & GOALS. These terms are often confused and
mistakenly used interchangeably, when in reality they’re
very different, though definitely linked. An understanding
of their meanings and the part they play in moving us
forward is vital to getting us back to that place of
excitement and anticipation we knew as children.

PURPOSE & MISSION

These two terms are often used interchangeably, but what
appears to be a subtle difference is significant to your
success. The simple difference is that purpose is what
you’re made for and mission is what you’re meant to do
about it.

Each of us has a purpose, a reason we were created.
Discovering what that is unlocks our greatest potential and
catapults us forward into our destiny.

Mission, from the Latin mittere to send, is the beginning
of the adventure. Once we know our purpose for existing in
the first place, we can begin the process of discerning our
destiny, what we’re meant to do about it.

No one is here without purpose and each of us has a mission
we are meant to live out. Everyone has sensed at some time
that they were meant to be or do something bigger than
themselves, a reason for living beyond just getting by. No
one is a mistake. Whether you know it or are even able to
grasp it, you’re here right now, at this particular point
in history, for a reason.

No one on earth, from one end of time to another can fill
your spot exactly the way you can. You are unique. Even
the marks of your fingertips are unlike any that ever were
or ever will be again; you’re “fearfully and wonderfully
made” according to the Book of Psalms. If your very
fingerprints bespeak such uniqueness, how much more your
purpose for existing!

Once you are certain of your purpose, discovering your
mission is an adventure in itself, a journey into the realm
of your gifts and talents, a look at what excites you and
where your passions lie. It’s uncovering and examining
those markers that have been there all along pointing the
way to the answer to the major questions of your life.

VISIONS

Webster defines vision as the act or power of imagination;
mode of seeing or conceiving. It is engaging the mind in
conceptualizing. And it’s a great activity for the porch
swing, walking through the forest preserves, or floating in
a boat, loosely attached to a fishing pole.

Visions are the pictures of what you will do about your
discovered mission, your reason for being here. If mission
is the hub of the wheel, then visions are the spokes.
Visions are a lot like oil paintings, colorful, detailed,
diverse and they come in all sizes and styles.

They all have in common that they begin as a dream in the
mind of an artist and they only appear on canvas when they
have become life size on the inside of the visionary and
they simply must manifest! When the vision is so real on
the inside that you find you can almost operate from within
it, it’s time to make a path for it into the physical world
(see the author’s article, Birthing Your Dream).

GOALS

It’s at this point that goals come into the plan.
According to Webster, one of the synonyms for goal is
design, which implies a carefully calculated plan. Goals
are where the rubber meets the road.

You may be thinking “oh no, not more goals. I get goals at
work, goals at home, on the school board, from the Chamber
of Commerce… No more goals!” But this is where the artist
begins preparation to bring the dream to life on canvas;
building the frame, stretching the canvas, applying the
gesso, choosing and mixing the paints, drawing preliminary
sketches. Each step in the process is necessary; each step
pointedly bringing him closer to the realization, in living
color, of what until now has been alive and vibrant only in
his mind’s eye.

It’s at this point that she begins the visible work. The
rest has been an inner exercise, a function of the mind and
heart. Designing goals involves doing the research,
getting out the slide rule, making the Gantt chart, doing
the sketches, calculating the cost. But by this time the
vision is so real and the visionary is so ready to burst
with it, that the goals are no chore, but a welcome means
by which to deliver the dream.

It’s only when we confuse the process, mixing up the terms,
trying to do them out of order that life becomes a chore.
Discover your purpose and your mission, begin to create
your visions and design well-crafted goals to support them
and bring them to pass and before long you’ll be the
enthusiastic kid in the mirror again, eager to get out and
make a giant splash in the world!

----------------------------------------------------
Karin Syren is a certified coach specializing in the
EffectivenessCoaching process. She has helped leaders at
all levels to increase their personal and professional
effectiveness by guiding them through the process of
learning to do less and be more. Gain, regain and maintain
control of your life direction and sign up for the FREE
introductory DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
teleclass, http://www.solushunz.com/pages/3/index.htm

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