Sustainable Systems provides purpose-focused humans with deliberately designed processes, tools, and practices that are sustainable, meaningful, and beautiful.
Greetings, lovelies!
Imagine an object sitting in your living room. It’s not a new object; in fact, it’s been there since you moved in. But what with one thing and another, it’s moved to the periphery of your consciousness. You’ve learned to move around this object, to adjust your stride and how you place yourself and other objects around it. It’s simply there.
Until a new friend comes over one day, points, and goes “Hey, what’s this? I’d love to know the story of this!”
And suddenly, that object takes over your living room, and you wonder how you ever ignored it.
Purpose, you may have guessed, is like that object. It lies at the center of our lives, often subconsciously. It serves as a subterranean trove of images, impulses, phrases, and beliefs that we carry within, only vaguely understanding how they shape and motivate us. And yet, that subterranean trove provides such structure and stability to our lives that it can feel a bit scary to “pull back the curtain” and examine it so closely.
Now that we’ve turned a spotlight on the concept of purpose, let’s have a conversation with ourselves about what we mean when we talk about “the purpose of our lives.”
Think back to this month’s SloDo, where you reflected on how someone else’s sense of direction revealed something about your own sense of purpose. Think also about what resonated for you in reading “The Purpose-Focused Life.”
Now, let’s have a conversation with your responses. Just as in any conversation, we have partners who help us discern and decide what we really mean by what we say, and who challenge what we do in light of that.
Discern
“This is why I do what I do, and why I am who I am.”
What is “this”?
Can you describe what you mean when you say “purpose”?
Does a destination come to mind? This could be a kind of lifestyle, or vocation, perhaps a community legacy.
Does a standard come to mind? This could look like a faith tradition or philosophical commitment.
Does a filter come to mind? This could like career choices you would (or wouldn’t) make, places you inhabit, people with whom you surround yourself?
When your “someday” life comes to mind, what does it look like?
Envision your home and its location. Think about your activities and friends, your yearly and daily rhythms in this place.
What decisions and actions make that possible?
What motivations would lead you to these choices?
What does this reveal about how you understand the concept of “purpose,” and more specifically, how you apply it to your own life?
Decide
As you excavate, ask yourself:
Where did I learn this?
Is this still true?
If not, what needs to change?
How could I change it?
If so, how do I live it better?
Do
As you move through your day, ask yourself:
How do my actions express my purpose?
What actions tell me I’m aligned with my purpose?
What actions tell me I’m diverging from my purpose?
Do I like the purpose that I’m pursuing today?
Feel free to take this conversation slowly. Answer a question a day, a question a week, if you want. This conversation unfolds over a lifetime, and if it’s one you haven’t had for a while, use these questions to become reacquainted with yourself.
These questions can also serve as a regular orientation practice: try them during a quarterly check-in, or an annual reset. See how your days grow your life.
Let me know how it goes for you.
Want to learn more about how to create sustainable systems in your purpose-focused life? Book a free Curiosity Call with me! We’ll take a look at what’s broken, missing, or confused, and then see how I can help.
Let’s be hopeful, creative, and wise—together.
Shalom,
