This blog was created to serve as an inspiration to all who read it..........to aspire, to love and to live a life of purpose.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Living a Purposeful Life

Happy Friday everyone! TGIF!

So, I’m a strong believer that everything happens for a reason. Every single thing. My birth. Yours. We are all put on earth for a purpose. I mean, it makes sense. God is too brilliant to put us all on here just to hang out, chill, and be lost. That would mean the earth was created as a sample site. We come here, randomly, we try out different things and poof! one day, we’re gone. Into thin air. I don't mean to be so so dramatic...But yea, you get the point.

It’s way more bottomless than that. We are here for a reason, for a purpose, to be or do something.  It’s exceptionally important that we seek that purpose. This mandate has become especially important to me, considering the year we, as young people, have had. Gone are the days when “death” was associated with old people, who have presumably lived and fulfilled the purpose for which they were born.  This year especially, young people have been dropping like flies. Every other day, I log into my Facebook or scroll through my BBM Updates list only to be bowled over by the amount of “RIPs” I come across- we are talking 19, 23, 25, 28 year olds. I mean, what is really happening?

This devastating trend first hit close to home for me in February when I lost a close family friend of mine, Jody. I was so hurt, I couldn’t stop crying. But when I looked up, I was inspired. I wasn’t crying alone. The world was crying with me. Jody had touched so many lives in so many different ways.  Jody was not a celebrity, according to Hollywood standards. But he was a celebrity in the hearts of many. Every time I saw Jody, he was smiling, despite what he was going through.  Upon his passing, you could see the glaring impact Jody had on the lives he came across. For me, it became more so that a light had been lit, not that it had been put out. Words can’t describe the far-reaching number of people, Jody brought together, at different levels, in different ways and at different times. If you hear the stories from people who knew him, you’d wonder how Jody did it so effortlessly, even while going through his ordeal. Yes, we must go on living after we have lost people that we love. But it is not enough to say “RIP” and “life is short”, be sad for a period of time and move on. It is imperative that we learn a thing or two from the lives that they lived…how to improve ours. Loosing Jody got me thinking, if I left this world tomorrow, what would my legacy be? What would people say about me? How have I lived? For what purpose, am I here? We all need to ask ourselves those questions.
I’m a wordhunter. I read books & articles just to steal and learn new words…Don’t judge my word-thieving ways! Well, until I tell you more about it in a later post. So… I was word hunting, when I came across a new word “Nihilistic”. So I “Wiki-ed” it to find out it was based on Nihilism, a doctrine that purports that life has no meaning, purpose or intrinsic value. In one word, inexcusable. In another, illogical.

What’s my mandate to you today? Don’t be Nihilistic. In the words of Steve Jobs (R.I.P), "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?.... You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever."

Take the time to find out what you’re here for. It’s not about the amount of money you have or make, your striking looks, or the amount of followers you have on twitter. It’s more cavernous than that.  Ask yourself, “what am I here for?, what do I feel the most alive doing? what are my deepest values and beliefs?” Keep it with you on a daily basis and slowly but steadily work on yourself to the point where you become that purpose. We are all Works in Progress. The important part is making sure the “Progress” stays with the “Work”. Then, watch the advent of greater focus and clarity in your life.

A few mini suggestions?…do something that’s been tugging at your heart. Start that business, go back to school, apply for that dream job, write a book, join a mentorship program, call your friend from high school, take the time to talk with someone who’s having a hard time, call your family more often, gently smile at someone random or send a text or FB message just to say hi. You never know whose life you'll touch. 

Have a great weekend people. Don’t forget…a life with meaning is a life better lived.  

Stay Inspired....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Inspired. Wonderful Post~