The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.
Truly, this is an awe inspiring video. It’s worth the time to view it.
Finding your life purpose is a lot harder than most people think it is. Most of the time, if you ask people what their purpose in life is they will give you a vague list of goals or duties such as: being a better parent; being a good friend; being a good person… and of course all these things are important.
But who doesn’t want to be a better parent, a good friend and a good person? If you want to find a definite purpose for your life, one which fills you with enthusiasm and gives you understanding that you’re living for something bigger than yourself, you need to move beyond the realm of generalities.
It’s like the motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said in his book “Over the Top”: “You will never succeed as a wandering generality, you must become a meaningful specific.” So if you’re really ready to get specific about your mission here on earth, here are a few simple strategies for finding your life purpose.
The First Step in Finding Your Life Purpose
The first thing that you need to do when it comes to finding your purpose is let go of all the noise and static which is keeping you from “hearing” the still small voice within your heart. Sure, there are many valuable things you can learn from outside sources and other people’s input.
But when it comes to you finding your life purpose, the person you need to have a consultation with is always available, and that person is you. The problem is that we are all bombarded with so many opinions, solicitations and ideas about how things should be that we’ve desensitized ourselves to the voice of our heart.
Your own personal and spiritual growth is your responsibility and no one else’s, regardless of how many people will try to tell you what you should or should not do with your life. Once you have filtered these things out by cultivating “selective ignorance”, you can start focusing on the skill which will help you in finding your purpose.
Start Listening to Yourself
The most important thing you can do to start building self-awareness and find out what YOUR specific purpose is here on earth is to start listening to yourself, and the best way to accomplish this is by keeping a daily journal of your thoughts.
The great inventor Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you’re not to be forgotten when you’re dead and rotten, either do things worth writing about or write things worth reading about.” This saying must have been believed by many other great achievers in history because most of them were prolific writers who kept track of their thoughts and reflections in personal letters and journals.
Writing is a focused exercise for the mind and it helps you to clarify the random thoughts which are going round in your mind driving you crazy for most of the day. Begin to write these thoughts down and write down the answers to questions such as “What’s the one thing that I want people to remember me for?” or “What’s the one thing that I want to accomplish before I die?”.
As you ask yourself these questions and develop the skill of understanding your own thought process and listening to the voice of your heart, the answers will become clearer and more specific.
And finally…
Finding Your Life Purpose By Going After It
The great writer Jack London once said: “You can’t wait for inspiration to come to you, you must go after it with a club.” The same is true when it comes to finding your purpose, you have to start feeding your mind with things and seeking out materials which will help you to further understand your own desires. If you want to do something with your life, you can bet that someone else has either done it themselves or at least something similar.
So devote yourself to becoming an avid reader and researcher of the things you’re interested in, and in conjunction with your journaling you’ll eventually succeed finding your life purpose.
There it is . . .
Listen to what your heart is telling, and then get after it like your life depends on it!
How many times have you missed out on an opportunity because of your lack of self esteem? Have you ever turned into a sweating, stumbling mess at a job interview, and completely forgot the answer to a simple question and failed completely – even though you know you are right for the job?
Have you ever stuttered your way through a conversation with someone you are attracted to, and known straight away that you have blow your chances with them?
Building self-esteem is probably one of the most important things you can do towards your own personal growth. This is because having high self confidence makes everything else in your life so much more pleasant!
To make sure you never miss out on a potentially life-changing opportunity again, here are three easy steps to building self-esteem.
First, Seek Your Own Council
Building self-esteem begins with seeking your own Council when it comes to your self-worth. This is because no matter how hard you work to develop self esteem, there will always be external opinions or circumstances which will seek to tear down your self confidence. Think about it, even the most incredible people in the world are often at the butt of other people’s disproval. The difference is that someone who has unshakable self-confidence always makes sure that they seek their own council above anyone else’s. They never give exterior circumstances or other people the power to validate them.
TIP: Start paying attention to how often you allow outer circumstances or the opinions of others to chip away at your self-confidence. This alone will give you the power to interrupt this self-limiting pattern and to change it for the better.
Second, Have a Definite Purpose
Having a definite purpose on which to focus your energy is essential to building self-esteem that is indestructible in the face of any circumstance. This is because your definite purpose will help you to develop character trait of decisiveness, which is a clear sign of rock solid self-confidence. Just think about all the people you know who are insecure…I bet you a dollar that they are also indecisive as a result of being unclear about what they want. Now, finding a definite purpose can seem like a big challenge at first. But you’d be amazed at how easy it is once you start seeking your own council and turning off the exterior “noise” which is distracting you.
TIP: Start keeping a daily journal and write down questions about what your definite purpose is. Don’t try to answer them at first, just write them down and then start writing whatever comes to mind. This will help you to clarify your thoughts and develop a better understanding of what your definite purpose is.
Third, Change Your Inner Dialogue
Your self-confidence is a direct result of the way that you talk to yourself. Just think about how quickly you can destroy someone else’s confidence by the way that you talk to them…or how quickly you can build their confidence up. The same is true when it comes to the way you talk to yourself…only it’s more intense because you are listening to yourself 24/7. This is why changing your inner dialogue through use of positive affirmations is the most powerful way to start building self-esteem. The easiest way to develop your positive affirmations is to ask yourself how you would speak to someone else if you wanted to help them boost their confidence.
Then, you simply write down your answers and read them aloud every day, once in the morning and once in the evening. For really fast results, look in the mirror while you do it…look yourself right in the eye.
Now, go put these simple strategies into practice and before you know it you’ll be building self-esteem which will make it easier for you to use the skills and talents which you possessed for years.
Yes, ultimately this is a commercial but the truth of the message is powerful. What do you think?
It’s been fun to me to speculate how tall each of our four kids will be. I’ve used the rule of thumb they’ll be twice as tall as an adult as they are on their 2nd birthday. So if a child is 34 inches tall at two, then they project to be about 68 inches tall as an adult.
I projected my oldest daughter, Rachel, would be 5’10″. Now at age almost-10 she’s a little over 5’2″. I found this height prediction tool for kids on WebMD and after filling in the number they predict 5’11″. It’ll be fun to see . . . though I’m in no hurry for them to grow up!
I love efficient home space ideas. In this video Christian Schallert shows how he’s made maximum use of only 258 square feet in his apartment.
My office is approximately the same size as his home! . . . which BTW makes me feel liking I’m really wasting a lot of space to have a place to sit and work.
My daughter, Rachel, has shown a surprising interest in basketball and I’m not going to lie to you – I think it’s great! The Barker family goes to the YMCA 4 days per week and I’ve been working with Rachel on various skills. She’s proving to be an apt student with an aptitude for the game.
Anyways . . . I searched for coaching youth basketball videos on YouTube and found this insightful. In particular the dribbling drills have really helped her – and the perspective that to a 9-year a basketball feels like an 8lb ball would to adult is very helpful.
The most common image of meditation is one of a monk in a religious experience. However, meditation is actually a practice that anyone can do to improve mind function and overall health.
Meditation has been proven to reduce stress levels and it can even help with conditions such as high blood pressure. Once you’ve become more calm and peaceful through meditation, your life will open up to more opportunities and you’ll find it easier to make healthy choices.
What Exactly Is Meditation?
Meditation is a way of clearing the mind. Once you’ve gotten into a habit of meditating often, you’ll discover that it’s easier than you think.
Some people sit in a cross-legged position when they meditate, but this isn’t mandatory. Another sitting position might be more comfortable for you, but the key is to maintain a good posture. If you slouch, you’re more likely to get tired and feel like falling asleep.
To get started, find a quiet place and get comfortable. Then start taking deep breaths in and out. Pay attention to your breath. You might find it helpful to say a “mantra” to yourself as you breathe in and out. Your goal is to keep your mind clear of thoughts.
Thoughts are inevitable though. The best way to eliminate them is to recognize that you’ve had a thought and then focus on your breathing and clearing your mind again. This will get easier with frequent practice.
Stress Free
When you focus on breathing and clearing your mind, you’re actually centered on the present moment. On the other hand, stress arises when you think about something in the past or future.
Since you have little stress when you have a clear mind in the present moment, you exude calmness. When you practice this often, you can bring a calm, stress-free demeanor to your everyday life.
Stress And The Body
When you feel stressed, you put your body into overdrive. When it’s overworked, it’s more open to various diseases and disorders. Stress exists for a reason; you need to have the hormonal adrenalin rush and increased breathing and heart rate in order to escape threatening situations. It’s simply how you’re able to handle threats.
By always having your mind on past or future stressors, you keep your mind and body in a stressful state even when you aren’t enduring a stressful situation in the present. This is exactly why it’s important to give your body a much needed break from all the stress. When you learn to meditate often, you’re giving your body the energy and rest it needs to stave off exhaustion and disease.
Improving Your Health
The absence of overwhelming stress improves your health in many ways. You’ll likely enjoy lower blood pressure and a strengthened immune system. Stress can also lead to mental disorders, so when you strive to be stress-free, you’ll keep anxiety and depression away as well.
When you meditate, you place your body in a kind of sleep state. You’re still awake, but your body can begin to repair itself in the same way that it does when you sleep. If you meditate in the morning or at night, you can help yourself transition from sleeping to wakefulness and vice versa.
Meditation is the ultimate exercise for a healthy mind and body. You’ll feel refreshed and rejuvenated once you’ve given it a try. Who knew that “just sitting” could be so helpful!
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by an overly complicated life. If you’re looking for ways to gain control over your life or your current situation, consider simplifying.
Simplifying your life can mean cutting unnecessary to-do list items, eliminating clutter from your home, fine-tuning your priorities, or otherwise gaining perspective on what truly matters to you.
You can use these strategies to simplify your life, beginning today:
Know what really matters the most to you. Things that don’t matter are simply wasting your time and energy, so purge them as soon as you can. What is your objective?
Keep this list with you all the time so you always remember what counts the most. Put a copy on your bathroom mirror, another above your bed, and keep one in your wallet for good measure.Do my actions reflect my priorities?
How are you spending your time? Make a list of everything you do in a day and compare that to your list of priorities.What can I eliminate?
Rather than trying to knock off every single task on your to-do list, focus on only the most essential tasks and then find ways to eliminate all the others. To do this, you can try delegation, outsourcing, moving them to other days or simply dropping them.Am I doing this because it’s important? Or am I just doing this to do it?
The abundance of media available today can overwhelm nearly every second of our lives. Try to simplify your own life by limiting media and information consumption whenever possible.For just one week try living without television, Facebook and other media interrupts. Just one week . . . the difference will amaze you.
Designate certain times for communication by only e-mailing at certain points in the day, only using the phone during certain hours, only chatting via IM in your off-hours and so on. Limit the ways that you communicate throughout the day to prevent communication from overwhelming you or your day.You’d be amazed at how little communication is really important communication.
This is only a small sampling of the things that you can do in order to simplify your life. Consider this to be a foundation, though, that will guide you to find new and interesting ways to create a simple life. With just a little conscious effort, you can achieve simplicity in all aspects of your life.
