So much emphasis is put on making sure you live your life purposefully. When I find my purpose, my life will make sense. I must take the Purpose challenge because I’m missing out until I find this Eureka information that will reveal my life’s path with the biggest AHA I have ever uttered ! But somehow, this quest eludes my everyday plodding. It’s all so importantly complicated.
But it occurs to me, complicated may not be the answer. That even the most simple intentions can be profound. The cool breeze coming through the window is simply a breeze but comparatively, it is a blessing to be alleviated from the hot weather we’ve endured. Sometimes the simplest elements and gestures have exponential meaning.
Then it occurred to me that living joyfully and sharing this joy so that others may have permission to feel and do the same, may be purposeful enough. To model the pursuit of joyful existence is mind-blowingly simple; pursue happiness. Is this not, at our cores, our truest purpose. Just to be happy, darn it.
I have always made life way too complicated. There were never any givens. I had to do it my way, the hard way, faithlessly overzealously scrabbling to get it all done right. It never occurred to me to focus on the here and now and see if that was fulfilling and purposeful enough. I assumed it wasn’t.
So today my act of purposefulness is to ask myself what brings me joy. And to acknowledge all the ways that I am going to bring that into my life. And then commit to my joy like it is a matter of life and death. Because I think it is in the end.
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Our family just went to see Toy Story 4 recently in which Buzz Lightyear learns from Woody that listening to his inner voice will help him make the best life choices. And so throughout the rest of the movie, he’d yank on his pull string and interpret his “inner voice” to guide him. It was brilliant.
Call it inner voice or intuition, people tend to get their Intuition mixed up with their Should Managers. I’ve done this repeatedly and it always gets me in trouble. Instead of listening to what will nourish my heart and soul, I make a choice that either puts me out in the wide open, too vulnerable and uncertain about what to do next. Or I stay in hiding and think I can’t start at all until it’s “safe” and I know everything. Leading with the head instead of the heart gets you in trouble.
What I do know is that if I pull it all back and ask myself what my truthful purpose in life is, I get an answer that seems so me, I relax. I asked today and I heard, “To facilitate community, communication, self-awareness, and support creativity for myself and others in a way that makes a difference.” Truth.
The trick is to make sure that every choice I make feels like I’m promoting that. Ask every time I choose to push forward, is this supporting my growth of myself, my community, and my opportunities to live creatively? If the answer is maybe, I need to stop and consider all the marvelous possibilities that I may be squelching by either not going through with it or pushing through.
I have been holding myself back for a long long time. I have listened to myself countless times asking to expand. And I have shut that down so many times saying it’s better if I just keep safe and keep treading water. Even my Intuition is onto this now. The best time to start over is always right now. As the seasons change, I feel a internal change coming too and a need for a new story to emerge. Do you feel this way too in Spring and Fall ?
And If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.
Sitting on my couch in my bay window bathed in morning light, I just saw a hummingbird hovering outside the window. Midsummer will be buzzing outside soon and the oppressive heat has broken for the moment. I heard the daughter go back to sleep above me in her bedroom. Sigh.
I have emerged from an eight month haze full of doubt and listening, healing from a self-inflicted trauma, to a new place. Perhaps it was a period of grief as I let go of ways of mistreating myself that no longer served me. Allowing myself to just Be and See while doing only that which I wanted to do has created a sense of safety.
I
am very concertedly focusing on seeing what everyone else values in
me and valuing it too. Connecting to others and appreciating them as
they appreciate me is such a natural action, so easy that I wonder
what took me so long.
We
all must go at our own pace for our own purposes. And honoring this
has been my goal. And suddenly I find myself in a place of choice and
“Can Do” that I do not remember being in before. It’s slightly
terrifying and very powerful listening to your self as a kind and
strong parent.
So
I will continue to place Shoulds in a box to stew in their own toxic
juices. And I ask every day, “What do I want to do?”. What feels
like hope and joy and fun. Then let me go do that.
And If you enjoyed
what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to
my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram
to see my daily pictures, friend
me or like my
page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter
or Pinterest
too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me
please. I live for conversations.
I
am of the opinion that everyone has superpowers. Skills that they
possess that they are truly good at. Inklings from childhood about
ourselves that are waiting to be retrieved from under our beds. But
somehow our humanity convinces us that we should be good at all sorts
of things other than what we are good at. And we no longer recognize
ourselves.
In
an effort to reclaim myself, I have made a habit recently of
exclaiming out loud when I use of my superpowers. I recognize these
following actions as being some of my superpowers.
I
believe that knowing what I’m not only good at, but what I like
myself while I do, is the key to choosing a purposeful joyful path. I
will not put myself to things that I think I should do. But rather, I
will choose tasks and projects that intrigue me and make me happy.
Life should just be that simple.
I
also understand that many people choose careers when they’re younger
that seem to be wise moneymaking choices. And they find themselves
stuck in a career path that makes them miserable. Each person must
find their way through to their happiness. Joy is a key of life and
health. If that means taking a few years to retrain for another
career during night school, hopefully your daydreams of who you’d
like to be can lead you to your superpowers.
In the end, your worth lies in who you are and not what you do. But being a super you comes from figuring out what you love yourself for when you are doing it. And then taking that and doing it as often as you can. For me, it’s all about community and listening and authenticity and creativity. What’s your ideal combination?
And
If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in
the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit
me on Instagram to
see my daily pictures, friend
me or like my
page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter
or Pinterest
too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me
please. I live for conversations.
I
have long been frustrated with my fearful self. I’m so smart and so
talented so need to make an impact on the world. Let everyone know
who I am and what I know. And if I don’t, I’m a loser. It’s the smart
girl’s sabotage. It’s the knife I perpetually hold to my throat.
And then the other day, Fiona and I were returning from the library, she ahead of me climbing the hill beside the steps, and I realized she was so deserving of the purpose she is for me. I devote and leave so much of my life open to her. I do not need the recognition. I just need her to take her fierce self out in the world and be happy.
I believe that I am addicted to being unhappy with myself. I think many women are. But there isn’t one thing wrong with not wanting to overextend yourself. Wanting to be available for the people you love knowing that that availability is the implicit understanding of motherhood.
But
I also know that we so often, so easily could use our motherly duties
to abandon ourselves. Not pursue our creativity because they are so
much more important. I will not condone modeling martyrdom for our
children. I can say that I have battled and won a creativity
entitlement and practice battle with myself in the years that I’ve
had and been raising Fiona. She sees me indulging that constantly and
she does too. But I also don’t have to capture the moon to know that
my life is worthwhile.
And
If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in
the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit
me on Instagram to
see my daily pictures, friend
me or like my
page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter
or Pinterest
too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me
please. I live for conversations.
My name is Shalagh Hogan, pronounced Shay-La. I'm the mother of a teen, a seven year-old, and I turned 54 this year. This blog was born in 2011 and my hope and joy as a writer, an artist, and an uber-creative, is that by sharing my journey of self-discovery, others will gain inspiration and permission for their own journeys.
