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"We cannot become ourselves by ourselves." - Arthur Clutton-Brock
It is impossible to discover, embody and activate one's purpose alone. I've never seen it happen. Nobody ever had an ah-ha, and then changed their life completely by themselves. Nobody ever picked up a book, did an exercise and instantly became purpose-activated. No matter how powerful the dispatch from your soul, it cannot be activated until there is a significant measure of reflection, sharing, and integration in the key areas of life, e.g., career, love, health, home, etc. This is because purpose not a piece of missing information or a problem to solve. It's not a journal exercise or a strategic plan or 5-day challenge or an app or a matter of pure will. The brain can't figure it out because it isn't a matter of the brain. It's a matter of the soul that needs witnessing, nature, movement, creativity, structure, reflection, spaciousness, feedback from trusted friends and family, and good questions. As such to fully activate your purpose, please explore the following approaches:
#1 Work 1:1 with a Purpose Coach The benefits of working with a trained Purpose Coach, is that they can get you through the process more effectively and quickly, by attuning to where you are in your journey, and structuring experiences that are tailored to your development. This is especially important with respect to transforming your inner voices, e.g., inner critic, protector, etc. who try to protect you by resisting and/or sabotaging your purpose. Coaches also frequently include a purpose integration component at the end of a program, where they empower you to activate your purpose in every area of your life. The better coaches will help you land in a soulful or purposeful community, so that you are supported ongoingly in fully activating your purpose. The best coaches offer a satisfaction guarantee, wherein they will keep working with you at no charge until you are completely satisfied. The investment is somewhere between $2-10,000 (2021 USD). Where to find trained Purpose Coaches / Soul Guides: #2 Work with a friend, colleague or mentor The benefits of working with friend, colleague or mentor who has completed the purpose journey is that they can provide inspiration, reflection, accountability and support and often won't charge you for it. The downside is that they typically aren't able to attune to your unique development, nor skillfully help you deal with the inner voices of resistance, nor integrate your purpose into each area of your life, nor help you find / craft a purposeful community so your purpose can grow roots. Where to find purpose discovery exercises for using with a friend, colleague or mentor:
#3 Group Purpose Program The benefits of engaging in a purpose program with a community of fellow participants is that you understand a great deal about how to activate your purpose by learning from the experiences of your peers. Also, your group holds you accountable to completing the exercises and sharing what you learned so the whole group can benefit. Groups can offer great support in overcoming resistance to taking purpose-aligned action. If the group is optimized for diversity, you'll also expand your understanding of people from different backgrounds and begin to touch the deeper threads of our shared humanity. After 25% of a community is purpose activated, purpose starts to become a cultural norm, wherein people are expected to fulfill their purpose, share their gifts with the community, and turn to it for guidance. The program fees that you or your organization will pay to join a group purpose program are in the $200-2,000 pp range (2021 USD). Where to find group purpose offerings:
Other purpose resources: Perspectives on purpose and soul:
Where to get support in activating your organization's purpose and values: Where to find a community of purpose-oriented professionals: Movies about purpose and soul:
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“This is our nation,” I said to myself as tears flooded my eyes.
It was a warm summer evening, the kind I fondly remember from my youth in the Midwest- a moment of liminal expanse, of kairos, of being briefly beyond normal time and part of eternity - a place in-between places, a place between playing tag and lightning bugs. Was their scotch and ice in my tumbler that night? Yes. Did I eat a couple mushrooms before I left the house? Youbetcha. The veil, as they say, was thin. My eyes softened and the sinews of my environs came to view - the diversity, goodwill, connection and creative self-expression. I felt connected and jubilant. I was witness to a nation’s promise - from many, one - all of us created equal - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Was this the mountaintop Dr. King foresaw? Was this what Maslow experienced among the Blackfoot people? ... Fireworks don’t do it for me. The Pledge of Allegiance doesn’t stir my soul. What stirs my soul and evokes national pride is our national parks, justice, equity and people from all walks showing up fully and treating each other with dignity and care. What stirs my soul is compassion, beauty, prosperity and fraternity. It’s creativity and service. It’s coming together around shared values and across differences. That is what seized me that night. I was at a local festival called “First Friday” in Oakland. On the first Friday of the month, Oakland’s art galleries are open and the street is filled with bands, vendors, fashion shows, stand up comedy, dance troops, drum circles, political movements, spiritual communities, non-profits and DJ booths. In a sense, First Friday is like any street fair in the United States - folks of all ages, pimples, flirting and summer dresses, laughter and sweat, fried things on sticks. And yet, it is like no other gathering in the nation. Because of Oakland’s diversity and culture of openness, friendships and romance flourished across lines of racial identity. Because of the Bay Area's thriving economy, it's natural beauty, public transportation, affordable healthcare and relatively inexpensive housing, Oakland had the fertile conditions for our nation’s soul to take form. As technology gained a stronghold in the Bay Area during the late 1990's, rents skyrocketed, sending San Francisco’s diverse artists, activists and intellectuals to the east. Because the East Bay was separated by water and perceived to be far more dangerous than San Francisco, white yuppies largely ignored it. So the East Bay became this little secret - incredible weather, food, music, hiking, culture, diversity, community, bike lanes, great public transit and relatively cheap rent. Perhaps due to the progressive influence of the University of California, Berkeley, we held this Golden Age / place lightly, mindful of the numerous injustices that made it possible, from the genocide of the Ohlone and Miwok to the "Three Strikes" that sent a generation of BIPOC folks to prison for nonviolent offenses. Of course, now the word is out that Oakland is cool and a relatively safe place for white folks. Rents have doubled since 2012, there are Google buses and startups, Victorians are being cleared for condos, and because of accelerating climate change, the annual fire season turns the Bay Area into an unbreatheable, post-apocalyptic hellscape. At the time I was there (2012-2018), however, it was magical. It seemed like everybody was up to something. Despite being poor, working or middle class, it felt like most folks had a commitment to something larger than themselves. Some were involved in racial, economic and environmental justice efforts, some were deepening their cultural traditions, some were developing their art, some were leading their Burning Man camps, some were experimenting with novel sexual endeavors and relationship statuses, some were devoted to personal and spiritual development, and some were launching community gardens, fashion brands, religions, maker spaces, intentional communities and political movements, and some folks were like me, who tried to experience all of it. ... I became present to all of this that night. The magic of human creativity, flourishing and connection, of purpose, empathy and inclusion, of freedom, interracial romance, and a sense that nothing stands in the way of our dreams. I was grabbed by two kinds of liberation. The first is the freedom from want and oppression, to be oneself wholly and completely, to claim one’s destiny and to dream impossible futures. Of course, BIPOC folks are still regularly terrorized by Oakland Police, however on that night, the police seemed to be nowhere in sight. This first freedom is one that arises when an economy and culture: A. values diversity, B. ensures that basic needs are secure and/or guaranteed as a right, e.g., affordable housing, healthy food, public transit, Obamacare / Covered California, and C. makes people from all backgrounds feel safe, wanted and empowers them to flourish. I was also grabbed by the freedom to - a freedom that comes with the power of purpose. This isn’t the freedom to be anything you want to be. It certain isn’t the freedom to ignite explosives at a gender-reveal party, or “murder out” your car, or move to Puerto Rico to avoid paying taxes. This kind of freedom is bound to your unique soul. This freedom is antithetical to the neck-up / eagle / Cartesian delusion of tabula rasa. It is the deep self-knowledge that you absolutely cannot and should not be anything you want. Rather it is the freedom to be you - TO be the fullest expression of your unique purpose. This freedom comes from connection - to your soul, your craft, your people, your earth, and the future for which you stand. It is a freedom arising from clarity about who you are, the commitment society has to you, and your commitment to others, to family, community, nation and planet. It is being willing to die on the sword of your soul. It is the liberation of knowing what you are for and to whom you belong. It is the permission to care for and contribute to others, knowing that others will care for and contribute to you. It is the freedom to be yourself, freak flag and all, loving each and every one of your imperfections. These two freedoms are broadly embraced In the East Bay. It is common for folks to have done inner work and have a sense of who they are. They are cared for and are connected to each other. They get wild, experiment, make mistakes, clean them up and learn to do it better the next time. In my time in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco among the professional classes, I didn’t observe these freedoms. I witnessed and participated in the false freedoms of detachment (“not my problem”), depersonalization (“it’s just business”), and dehumanization (“the world needs ditch diggers too”). We lived from the neck up as eagles, working the angles, trading gossip on hot startups, unicorn stocks, cheap real estate, and other forms of Machiavellian comeuppance. My experience of the East Bay was different. There was rootedness, attachment and connection. Folks were in their heart, connected to what broke it and what world they are creating. In retrospect, this night gave me one of my first tastes of bison medicine, of feeling connected to my community, of marveling in the creativity, uniqueness, universality, fraternity and abundant spirit that only arises when these twin liberations -the freedom from and freedom to - are present. This is what it takes to activate our national purpose. Everyone has what they need to flourish, to discover and activate their purpose at work, build community with their diverse peers, and feel safe, wanted and connected to a larger mission. They unlock a sense of legacy, fulfillment and belonging that they then bring home to their families and communities. In so far as business is the sandbox for the activation of purpose and belonging, it is a force for the greater economic, social, environmental, cultural and national good. In so far as it isn’t, it continues to desecrate it. Let us choose the bright, connected, creative and abundant path. Let us ignite purpose and belonging at scale. Imagine the 20 largest employers in your area activating purpose and belonging in their workforce. Imagine the increase in productivity (+$20k/pp/yr), fulfillment (+64%), leadership effectiveness (+63%), innovation (+30%) and tenure (+7.4 months). Imagine the decrease in anxiety in diverse environments (4x). Imagine the resulting prosperity and tax revenues that would flow into our diverse community. Imagine the quality of our public schools, clean energy, mass transit and healthcare now available because of the expanded tax base and enhanced ability to issue municipal bonds and invest in public works. Imagine police not murdering anyone ever again, but safely enforcing the laws through de-escalation and conflict resolution. Imagine a deep regard and respect for all life. Imagine soulful camaraderie, creativity, curiosity and celebration as the foundation of our public life. Imagine intellectually sober, civil and empathetic political discourse. Imagine healing our twin genocides and ending our apartheid. Imagine sleeping well. Imagine your kids and grandkids respecting what you do for a living and who you are for the world. Imagine all the fun possibilities now at our fingertips. All this and more is available to you, your company, your community and your country. When we activate PURPOSE and belonging at WORK, we become a NATION. ... Visit PurposeWork.us, to join the community of purpose-driven leaders who engage in regular video calls, share resources, and support each other in building bison-led organizations. |
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