What is Purpose?

Every once in a while you meet people who are inspired by their life and work. They are totally alive, enthusiastic, and appear to care genuinely about what they are doing, the people with whom they work, and the people they serve. They express a joy that seems to come from deep within, not forced or superficial. You sense their genuineness and believe they are not just playing a role. When you meet such a person, you realize their work is consistent with their purpose. You might say they are living on purpose.




Jim White is President of JL White International, author of What's My Purpose? and creator of The Circle of Success®, a customized, yearlong leadership and management transformation process. These innovative events have attracted more than 100,000 participants worldwide, including Fortune 500 CEOs, management teams, entrepreneurs, governments, and trade associations. Jim helps people dramatically and measurably increase their success in as little as 90 days.

Whether working with multi-billion dollar corporations or the individual entrepreneur, Jim's approach is the same: to help you clearly identify how you lead and how you live professionally and personally so that you can discover your life s purpose. This is how leaders launch their real success and discover why living well shouldn't take a lifetime.

Here's the latest inspirational message from Dr. Jim White, author of 'What's My Purpose, A Journey of Personal and Professional Growth' and creator of the 'What's My Purpose' Life Mastery Course.

Help Support Our Troops
For every course purchased by December 15, one course is donated to a Veteran or a spouse/family member of an active duty service member. Our next class starts on December 17, 2008.

Sign Up Here:
http://www.whatsmypurpose.com/lydiasmithlenardson



12-01-2008
From: Dr. Jim White
RE: Lydia, What is Purpose?


Happy December 1, 2008!

We have 1 days left in this year!

We have 51 days until our next president takes office!

We have many challenges facing us, we have many unprecedented opportunities.

We have the opportunity to define, implement and live a life on purpose.

I know your time is precious but please take a few minutes to read this article, you will be glad you did.

What is Purpose? A hard word to define, perhaps; yet we're born with it. It may not have a name or a face. We may not see it as purpose. But it is there.

Purpose is the eternal quest to be connected with something larger than our own life. It is an answer to the spiritual question, "Why?" Why am I living? What is the true meaning of my existence here, now? The word "purpose," misused and open to challenge as it is, still conveys a question that each of us must answer.

Purpose is like art. We know it when we see it. It comes through us as we gaze at the Northern Lights in the clear, cold fall sky. It is the deep center we feel as we warm ourselves around a fire. It is the intrinsic high we feel when we make a difference in another's life. We sense our place in the grand pattern of life. We feel centered.

Some people claim that there is no grand pattern of life, no reason for our being here. They claim that purpose is an invention of people who refuse to face the harsh realities of life or who deny death. They argue for purely rational explanations of our true nature.

We should not argue with these people. They are the people the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu observed when he wrote, "A frog in a well cannot be talked to about the sea."

If you sense a call to the sea--a purpose in your life--it's time to follow. You must leave the well to those who choose not to see beyond it.

Purpose is a path to the sea. There are many paths from which to embark.

Like life, paths are uncertain. Tennessee Williams wrote, "There is a time of departure even when there's no certain place to go." How do we know when it's time to depart? How do we find the path to the sea?

Answering a Call

Today, when we think of exploring a new path, we recognize that we are more vulnerable and that life is more difficult than we had been led to expect. There is a widespread sense among many people that everything that was once tied down is coming loose.

On September 11, 2001, the world absorbed a devastating act of darkness. Suddenly, we were forced to think hard and to think deeply about what matters most in our lives. When faced with a crisis these immense, matters of purpose could seem trivial.

"Why?" became the operative question of the day.

Purpose was not trivial but essential. The events of September 11th called us to the sea. They called us to ask the big question, not only so we could cope and heal but so we could make sense of the new world in which we were forced to live. The tragedy brought forth the question in firefighters, rescue workers and ordinary people who dropped everything to simply serve. Their deeds were a witness to our intrinsic purpose and a clear answer to the question, "Why?"

A great tragedy of many lives is that the big question is never put to us but by crisis. And when we are confronted with a crisis, then we are given a choice to answer the call, to fulfill our highest purpose. What matters are the choices we make in a crisis.

Purpose is our answer to the question, "Why?" Who am I? Why am I here? Our answer is crucial to our health and happiness.

Our bodies need messages of hope from the brain and heart to cope and to heal. Those of powerful purpose have always had this inner knowing. They have understood that a meaningful life must somehow celebrate the purpose that life provides.

After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela knew this. He demanded dignity for himself and his people and got it because he was centered in the big question. Despite his stature as one of the most admired people in the world, Mandela never lost his sense of the African tradition of "umbuntu," described by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu as: "A person is a person through other persons."

Taking a Stand

We were born with our unique purpose. But we must be open to what it is. We will get it by choosing to have it. A sense of purpose comes from within. Only we know if we have it. Only we know if there is something in our life that makes us want to take a stand.

Purpose requires a mind and a body that work together--an integrated mind-body state.

I'm drawn to people who embody passion and purpose.

When I hear Nelson Mandela speak, I feel affirmed and inspired, not through his words but because he is fully present with me. The man exudes purpose.

Heeding the call to become president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela said of himself: "I was not a Messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances."

Surely time and circumstance favored Mandela in distinct ways. He takes with him a legacy like few others in world history. The power of his purpose places him beside 20th century giants like Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Like them, Mandela risked his life for the sake of integrity and dignity as he sought to overthrow a white police state with a well-equipped army. Unlike Gandhi and King, however, he lived to see his legacy. No one will be able to deny Mandela his legacy: "I want to sleep for eternity with a broad smile on my face. I want those who remain behind to say this man has done his duty."

It takes centering to live on purpose. The authority of Nelson Mandela reflected a deep knowing of center. Being centered allowed him to tell the truth in a simple way. From a centered way there was no need for him to exaggerate his own importance in order to win approval. He knew very clearly that who he was, he was the path of right choice.

How will we know we're enough and on the right path? The world is a great and mysterious place and it contains more paths to the sea than our minds can conceive.

The single most important step we can take is to live authentically enough to be tested and challenged by the question of destiny--"Why?"

Centering is a simple art available to all of us. We each have the capacity to organize body, mind and spirit in a way that makes us more present, more hopeful than ever before.

Marathon of Hope

I can not help but be hopeful about President Elect Obama! I do not care if you are from the right, the left, the center, A Republican, Democrat, Independent or other. We all should feel a certain amount of hope. We should also be very cautious with our expectations. It will take time. But with a world living on purpose.

We can! That is my vision! "One World Living on Purpose!" It is my purpose, my passion.

We all have an unprecedented opportunity to do great work! How? By living on purpose!

I spoke of the September 11, 2001 tragedy earlier. Well we find ourselves in another tragedy one that is affecting our financial lives.!

We are faced with many challenges! But if we all connect to our purpose We will reap many rewards!

Claiming Your Purpose!

There is no true path without purpose. Purpose is not something that is granted to one person and not another.

Purpose is not reserved for only the great or near great. It is not something impractical or mystical. When you come from center, you can be courageous. You are secure in yourself, in your deep connection to the ground you stand upon.

Therefore, you can step out in life answering,

"How can I make a difference?"

Perhaps we were placed on earth to meet the challenge of a single day; or like many people today responding to another devastating disaster. Or perhaps, like Nelson Mandela, we are here to change the world consciousness.

Like a path, purpose must be walked. Our purpose is determined by one thing and one thing only: the degree to which we add to or subtract from other people's lives. The degree to which we dare to fully live in the question, "Why?"

The degree to which we are willing to say "yes" to what truly matters to us.

Centering ourselves from the essential question allows us to feel our passions and at the same time gives us the strength to take action from our highest purpose. Centering is always a choice we can make.

When they sense a path or face a crisis, people like Nelson Mandela, and countless others give themselves to it with their bodies, minds and spirits.

They embody the practices of centering that strengthen them to get up every single day saying "yes" to what matters most in their lives.

Purpose is a path to the sea that has been taken before, and the path is well trodden for those who dare to follow it.

In my forty years as a business leader, author, coach, speaker and transformational leader, I have observed that purpose is the single most significant prediction of life fulfillment. It is one of the critical factors in emotional intelligence-- considered by some to be a better predictor of success than technical knowledge or general intelligence.

Choosing a Purposeful Life

Purposeful people have made three simple, yet profound, choices in their lives:

First, they see their part in the scheme of things. They sense their special place in the grand pattern of life. They do their part by choosing to leave the well and follow their own path to the sea. It's the historic path Thoreau captured when he wrote, "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer."

Second, they see that no problem ever comes to them that does not have a life lesson attached to it, thereby contributing to their spiritual growth. They choose to see problems as opportunities in disguise. They know that if they did not have obstacles in their paths, they simply drift through life.They recognize obstacles are necessary for growth.

Third, they see that the path to the sea is a path of service; Serving others is what they choose to make of their lives. Our motive, if we are to be truly happy, must be played out externally through service to others.When we live to give, instead of to get, we step onto the path to the sea.

Mandela, Ghandi, King and many others symbolized what most of us want to know--that there is a purpose to life, that our being here does mean something, that what we do matters. Behind the creation of any great deed is at least one individual who was consumed by the hope to make a difference in the world. People like Nelson Mandela learn to move the focus of their attention away from themselves to others. They learned to let life question them.

There is in each of us a purpose.We are all part of the human family. We all have a place in this world. There is no tragedy so great, no life so small, that we cannot answer the big question, "Why?"

Purpose is the eternal quest to be connected with something larger than our own life. It is an answer to the spiritual questions, "Why?" Why am I living? What is the true meaning of my existence here, now?

Please walk the path of purpose with me and hundreds of millions of other purpose seekers!

You may do so at: http://www.whatsmypurpose.com/lydiasmithlenardson

With appreciation,


Jim White PhD
Author, What's My Purpose, A Journey of Personal and Professional Growth
Creator, What's My Purpose life Mastery Course

P.S.
Remember, for every course purchased by December 15, one course is donated to a Veteran or a spouse/family member of an active duty service member. Our next class starts on December 17, 2008!

PPS.
Please pass this email and link on to a firend or family member. The link is: http://www.whatsmypurpose.com/lydiasmithlenardson