Beyond Your To-Do List: How To Aspire To An Inspired Life

Changing gears ever so slightly (that's code in my family for completely and utterly), let's turn our attention to something that matters a bit more than your to-do list. Of course, your to-do list might matter quite a bit in any of several different contexts.

One form of value associated with a to-do list could be as an indicator that you are still employed. In today's economy, that might mean quite a bit.

A layer up from at-least-I-have-a-job, a to-do list could mean that you are focused on activities that mean something to people who mean something to you. That could be anywhere from the proverbial honey-do list to things you want to do for your honey.

Moving up from there, you might have a series of to-do's tied to meaningful goals. A meaningful goal could range from something relevant to your job, business or career, over to something you are trying to accomplish in your family, relationships, or personal health.

And then there's the question of how much any of this matters in the first place.

So what's the first place, anyway? And who cares? And why?

The Inspiration Behind Aspiration

A personal perspective here: I have a spiritual reference point toward life - my life, your life, life in general. I won't belabor you with any particular dogma, other than to say that my way of walking through each day starts with the presumption that all things come from God (substitute any name you might prefer here), that God loves all of Its creation, and that not one soul will be lost.

Now, if you followed me around each day, and especially if you could not only hear me out loud, but also hear my inner voice, you would know that what I just said about my approach to life is a lot more about my aspiration in life than it is about my actual experience of day-to-day reality.

I do aspire to a life where I can see the good in all things, where I can approach all people and all situations with loving, caring, peace and acceptance.

And then there's that jerk who just did something that was, well, jerky. And it gets worse from there. Bernie Madoff pisses me off, but not much more than any of the other greedy leeches out there masquerading as someone trying to help me succeed.

So, you can see what I mean about the difference between aspiration and actual experience. Clearly, I have a lot to learn. (Both about whom to trust for financial advice, and how to embrace those who would do me harm.)

And yet, I have found that when I am in contact with a deeper essence of who I am, when I am both in a state of inner peace and reflecting that peace outwardly, when I am in my loving, compassion and caring, I tend to experience my life in a much more balanced, fulfilled and harmonious way.

So part of my aspiration in life is to experience and radiate those qualities that reflect loving, caring and grace.

Ultimately, I think life is about fulfilling our aspirations, guided by our inspiration. If you play around with words as I have, you will likely find that inspiration comes from the Latin and/or Old French and means to "breathe in spirit."

Aspiration reflects a longing, seeking or desire toward something of great value. Now "great value" represents a tricky notion all by itself. Some people have aspirations that are much more narrow than the notion I am moving toward here, and yet underneath most any aspiration, lies an element of inspiration.

In today's vernacular, you can be inspired by a novel, a television show, or even a decent ad campaign. Inspiration can also take shape as an innovative idea regarding your work or a thought about how to help a friend in need.

Indeed, we all have likely experienced different levels of inspiration, from the mundane to the divine. Sorting out the meaning and direction of that which inspires us is part of the game of life.

It is the notion of divine inspiration that moves me and it is toward a divinely inspired life that I aspire in my day-to-day existence.

That doesn't mean that I aspire to a life measured by rituals, holy-person garb, or by restrictive demands on righteous behavior. But it does mean that I aspire to live life in alignment with my spiritual values, in a way that is practical and fruitful.

How Do You Aspire to an Inspired Life?

I aspire to a life of substance, meaning, service, and contribution, inspired by the divine, characterized by the qualities of loving, caring, compassion, empathy, acceptance and understanding. And I also aspire to live life in ways that are practical, meaningful and successful.

The next series of posts will address these kinds of questions:
• What do you aspire toward?
• What is your source of inspiration?
• How do you combine inspiration and aspiration and wind up with something of value, meaning and substance?
• How can you live in alignment with your core personal and spiritual values and still make life work at a practical level?
• How can you achieve success in the physical world while being a conscious steward of the planet?
• How can you create an abundant life without taking advantage of others along the way?

Please leave a comment or drop me an email with ideas, questions or suggestions. I would very much like these posts to be as relevant as possible and your contributions make a huge difference.

***

You can find out more about Russell Bishop at http://www.lessonsinthekeyoflife.com. Contact Russell at: [e-mail]

The author of Lessons in the Key of Life, Russell is an Educational Psychologist, professional life coach and management consultant, based in Santa Barbara California.

Comments

[Eli Davidson - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for reminding me and all of us of our higher calling. Your questions are so profound and meaningful.

Thank you for once again anchoring the spiritual focus into very practical next steps,
Eli

[mykebee]

My to-do list has many open items....to aspire beyond that would require me to enter into another dimenison.....

[GhostwriterDoF]

Russell, if all things come from God, what does that mean about our individual responsibility for our choices and our actions? If our destiny is already planned, is there a need to aspire to anything? Does God choose who will be rich or poor, and with love and peace we must also have corruption and war? Only if we truly are responsible for our actions in life would our aspirations, inspirations and transgressions be our own.

Then, of course, that would mean there are consequences to our actions, and yet the discipline of religion is not necessarily about obedience or punishment, it is supposed to be a guide to living a more disciplined, ordered existence between family, friend and neighbor. However, we don't necessarily need religion to lead a structured lifestyle.

How many people that rely on to-do lists use only one to revolve their life around, or do they tend to have more than one? Is it the list that makes the difference, or is it how they are managing their use of the list or their to-dos? Bad habits are hard to break, but that does not mean they can't be broken.

People can't change lifestyles like they change clothes. One thing we can all learn from religion, if we want to be more self-disciplined, is once we discover a system that works for us, or a way of being, we might also try seeing if we can follow it religiously...

[kroltan]

God doesn't exist, silly!

[Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald - Huffpost Blogger]

Wonderful post. Looking forward to the series that will address those follow up questions. Certainly many people feel that there's not enough time in the day to "do" everything (the what) and don't feel they have enough time to "be" and for reflection. Focusing on "the inspiration behind aspiration" is so key to living a joyful life. Thanks for offering such valuable insights, Russell.

[BigSisTX]

Thanks for this post. It truly is a challenge to actually live in agreement with our aspirations. The reality of daily life so easily derails my best plans. I love this statement, and think you summed up my ideals exactly: "I aspire to a life of substance, meaning, service, and contribution, inspired by the divine, characterized by the qualities of loving, caring, compassion, empathy, acceptance and understanding." I look forward to the rest of your posts on this subject!

[Anne Naylor - Huffpost Blogger]

Great questions you are exploring here, Russell. The aspirations I have seem to point up the areas in me that are out of sync with them. And the out of sync-ness can be used to get me closer to my aims. If that makes any sense.

The whole process is really an adventure and is a lot of fun because my plans are often overtaken by life events. Ideas are just ideas. What shows up is what I get to live and deal with. For example, my idea of fun and adventure might involve travel to some exotic place. Then daily life throws me something unexpected to deal with and I creatively get to restore my peace of mind and equilibrium without going past the front door.

What suggestions do you have for enjoying balance, well-being and peace of mind around handling
finances with so much uncertainty in the air?

Thanks for a great post - or indeed series of them!

Best,
Anne

[Dogvane]

You had me right up to the god part. Kinda lost interest after that.

[feyangel]

Russell, I love your honesty! While I am aware that I do live an inspired life most of the time-- and that other people seem to see me as doing that all the time-- I am also aware of my "inner voices" that just don't always seem to be tracked in on describing the wonderful life I really am living. Re-tuning my self-talk, gently and lovingly, is part of my day-to-day process—and sometimes I feel I am in danger of having that become the only thing I spend time on when I am looking out into the world and seeing lots of "yuck" out there. AND I do find that simply re-focusing on a list of "self-questions" similar to the ones you presented here helps keep me “on track” with my Heart -- and provides an answer to the perpetual question that weaves its way through my consciousness day-to-day-- "What am I doing here?" When I am living a life based on my Core Values-- and thus working to create a kinder, more loving and affluent reality here for myself and those I come in contact with-- I know the answer to that question. I know where the Value in my life lies—in my Heart and in singing my Heart’s Song.