Thank you, generous Universe, for bringing my "What is my core purpose?" to a natural full-circle close! One of my earliest blog postings (#24!) pondered the inspiring Senior Project at our local high school.
Fifteen months ago, I wrote, "Gulp. Guess that leaves it in my wheel-house. YIKES! Me? Take Cory's Senior Project on a different tack? Double gulp. But then, I have to ask... If not me, who? If not now, when?
Of all the schemes whirling around in my brain, THIS one, dearest to my heart, tops of my elder care anarchist TO DO list. Not a soft-focus "Wouldn't it be nice if some one some day did this?" whisp of pleasant thought, but a hard-edged, heart-infused GOAL."
Except that I did leave it soft-focused, NOT a hard-edged, heart-infused GOAL. Maybe there was great purpose in that delay - my view of it now is richer, deeper, more resonant. The inspiration I got from Nita & Cory & Amy & others working on the Senior Project has been drawn into a full circle by Carol & Angela & Paul & Martin & Christopher & Dayle (Dayle?).
The Universe isn't sweetly smiling on me. It's saying, straight up - "So start already! I can give opportunities, but only YOU can seize them, work them, forge them into something. You asked for missing infrastructure - you built it. You asked for a concept of process - you have it. Stop lollygagging around & BE."
In my 60s, the recurring surprise has been that my life turns out to be about discovering & rediscovering the importance of developing character, of fostering a growth mind-set, of celebrating grit & guts.
Back in the mid-1990s, when my life opened up reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, was smacked between the eyes by Stephen Covey's comment about the addictive rush we get from making a commitment, followed too often by a lack of interest in undertaking the grunt work necessary to take that commitment, that promise, to completion.
Twenty years, that's been percolating in my brain, steeping all that time because it's IMPORTANT to me. I just lacked the awareness & aptitude to do more than write it on a giant mental Post-It pad.
Today - Friday, July 25, 2015 - was an amazing day. Will it turn out to be the first day of an astonishing string of wonders, or just another Friday? Totally up to me.
In 1997, Mom's life transformed hearing Stephen Covey share his tweak of a Viktor Frankl quote, "Between stimulus & response is a space where we choose our response."
It always gave me goosebumps, knowing one sentence changed my mother's life, but my involvement ended with mere interest. Basically, it remained just one of seven habits. Almost 20 years later, things look different. Maybe it's being older & wiser. Now, I realize that sentence is the very backbone of whether or not I choose to be proactive. That sentence is why the Hogwart's headmaster to a student spoke so loudly to me...
So many - too many - of my older friends feel left without any but a few simplistic choices. Many have been, but that only makes us powerless if we let it. Because we always have choices. And who we are has always been determined more by the choices we make than the circumstances we're in. Helping them see the choices in their life, embrace them, find the grit & guts to do the grunt work to fulfill them. Now, there's the work of a fabulous lifetime!
How sly of the Universe, to make my truest true north purpose, my most resonant calling depend on my own ability to infuse my own life with grit, guts & grunt work. Then pass it along.
Sly Universe - rock on!
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