The Purpose Driven Life
I was having brunch with a new friend this past
weekend, and we had that instant connection that
surrounding yourself with good people seems to harbor. The conversation expanded very quickly into
one of great profundity. He said
something that struck me and has continued to resonate. It was an analogy he once heard…that there
are those who sit in the stands watching the game and those who play it. Some people sit in the stands their whole
lives, just watching, wondering what it would be like, to be on the field--feeling
their heart drumming, tasting the salt of their sweat, hearing the internal
voice driving strength and motivation into their every move. Some people might inch closer and closer to
the field throughout their lives, and even jump into a game here and there, but
ultimately live in detached observation.
Then there are those who live to play.
After an interweaving of each of our life’s work, zest for existence, spiritual
connection to music, nature, and people…he looked at me with recognition and
awe, and said, “You are someone who is constantly in the game.”
This is the highest compliment I have ever received in such
a short period of knowing someone. I won’t
outline the details of his personal life, but he made it clear that he had been
inspired by me in the way I led my life. My work is play and my play is
free-flowing. I have found my present
calling by following my heart; at the same time, I am allowing unlimited space
for whatever this purpose might expand to become. I no longer hold myself captive to an idea or
a vision I may have pictured at one time, but don’t entirely desire anymore, if
it has in fact transformed. We can look
at life with openness and opportunity and not restrict ourselves to the
rigidity of a “perfectly-mapped” plan.
We cannot assume to know how any of the external forces
around us will respond, react, or align with our actions. We can only be responsible for what we set
out to do and how we will self-adjust to the constant shifts of an ever
changing universe. The player never
knows with certainty whether the current strategy will successfully come to
pass. You can only control how you will
assert your efforts to drive toward what you want. Any number of things can and will disrupt “the
plan”; it is up to us to accept this fact and not allow ourselves to get
tripped-up. Whatever your current goal
is, be it work-related or personal, you must focus on your supporting behaviors
rather than the outcome. I encourage you
to instill purpose in your day-to-day rather than obsess over how you
eventually want things to be. After all,
if you drive forward with steady dedication and authenticity, your end goal is
a very likely side effect. Then you
can free yourself of worry and fear and just live your life from a place of constant
action rather than examination.
There’s all this business about “following your path”…but what
if we didn’t have to live in fear about messing everything up and derailing our
entire lives? What if our paths are
simply where we walk next? We create our
lives, as we choose. This is not to say
we don’t set goals; I am saying quite the opposite. It is that we lay out our own goals rather
than chase approval from anyone else’s expectations of us. And
much like the players of the game, we follow the framework of a specific play,
with the innate acceptance that everything may, and often will, go very
differently. That is the beauty of the
game.