How fulfilled do you find yourself these days? Do you even think about living life in a way that is fulfilling, or is it enough to just get by? Does it even matter?
Some people live a life of aspiration, some settle for goals, and still others are doing what they can to "just get by."
Lest we get distracted here, I have spent some considerable amount of my life "just getting by." When my family lost everything (dad died, insurance company denied coverage for his leukemia, insurance company denied death benefit, family forced into bankruptcy, etc) and I wound up living in my beater of a car, I had some experience with "just getting by."
Only, not really.
These were the 60's and my version of getting by was working full time washing dishes in one of the campus cafeterias while scrambling to stay in school. I was also actively involved in the civil rights movement, although not nearly as conscious about the process as I might like to give myself credit for being.
One day, on a protest line, I wound up getting hit by a tear gas canister. As I picked it up and started to throw it back, I suddenly, and inexplicably, found myself looking back at myself, as though I were a spectator to my own activity. And then I heard myself screaming, "why don't you a**holes love us?"
At that moment, life began changing in profound and meaningful ways. As wave after wave of awareness broke over me, I saw the contradiction of my life to that point: my message was love and peace, and my strategy was to yell, scream and throw things.
Up to that point, I had lived my life with a series of goals. Not the most meaningful goals, but goals nonetheless. Get a job (after the first bankruptcy). Make the track team. Win a medal. Get into college. Find a way to stay in college.
I was pretty good at setting goals and achieving those goals. And, still, life wasn't all that fulfilling. Only I didn't notice. There was always something else to do, some hurdle to overcome, and, of course, the challenge of just making it through another week.
And then that tear canister hit me, or perhaps more accurately stated, that tear gas canister awakened me.
As I can see so clearly now, with the benefit of time, experience and insight, that little awareness about loving vs. screaming, opened me up to an expanded realization of what really mattered to me. That moment is one that I characterize today as one of inspiration. I was inspired by a higher source, and inspired toward a higher purpose.
According to Random House, the word inspire means: • to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence: • to communicate or suggest by a divine or supernatural influence • to guide or control by divine influence.
Indeed, I was inspired to turn my life into something more than achieving goals, overcoming difficult situations, and surviving to fight another day. My focus on goals shifted toward a life of aspiration.
Random House defines aspiration as: • strong desire, longing, or aim; ambition: intellectual aspirations • a goal or objective desired
When you dig a bit further into the epistemology of these words, it turns out that they both share a common lineage, all stemming from a 13th century root word meaning an animating or vital principal, from old French and Latin words meaning soul, courage, and breath.
Curiously, inspiration and aspiration¸ all share that same common root word meaning to breathe or to breathe in. And the older usages all point toward a form of "divine inspiration" as in "the breath of life," often referred to as spirit.
In that odd moment on a strike line about civil rights, I was indeed inspired to seek a higher level of goals in life. Mine was to move from achieving the kinds of things you could measure with a check list, to a life of aspiration. To me, this was a moment of divine inspiration.
That divine inspiration came from within. No preacher, sermon or set of dogma told me what to do. I began awakening to that which resided inside of me, to my Spirit, to my Soul, to my connection with the Divine.
It became increasingly clear that I wanted my life to be about making a difference in the quality of life as measured by the qualities of loving and caring.
I have focused my work on enabling others to expand their own awareness of what matters most to them while also enabling me to live a good and abundant life. These columns are but a current form of sharing insights and awareness, most often in the form of exploring common, sometimes current events and experiences.
Underneath it all, you will find a common thread in the form of a question, often unspoken: what is it that matters most to you? Why does it matter? What are you hoping to experience?
My thought is that most of us are seeking to live a life of aspiration and inspiration. What inspires you? Are you focused on goals? Just getting by? Would you prefer to lead a life characterized by higher levels of aspiration, of service, and of caring?
What if you could aspire to an inspired life? And what if that life could also be one of success and fulfillment?
We will explore these themes and more in the coming weeks. Please let me know what matters to you, what questions you would like to see us explore, and any thoughts or advice you have for making life more rewarding and more fulfilling.
You can find out more about Russell Bishop at http://www.lessonsinthekeyoflife.com. Contact Russell at: russell@lessonsinthekeyoflife.com
Russell is an Educational Psychologist, professional life coach and management consultant, based in Santa Barbara California.
Follow Russell Bishop on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Russell_Bishop
He works in a tiny cubicle in a main tube station in London and puts battery's into watches and fixes and services most watches from Rolex to Franck Muller. People come to him from all over London, why because he does a great job and he costs a third of any big retailer. He has an inate sense of wisdom and a great sense of humour. He could work for any big establishment but chooses his own hours and his own prices.
He was yesterdays gift to me.
I've never been goal oriented, but I've always had aspirations. They take the form of ingredients in the answer to the question: Who do I want to be?
Some of the ingredients:
Engage in the struggle between being special in the world of my own creation and not being special but being a part of the universe. This is the all-encompassing one, and is lifelong.
Being open to the truth, whatever it may be. This isn't attainable because I'm always in the way - my psychology, my ego, my beliefs and opinions - but recognizing my own inherent, and self-imposed, limitations helps me to see beyond them.
A big part of this is the notion that the truth, whatever it is, is independent of me. It doesn't care what I think it is, or what I want or need it to be. It just is, and I can be open to it or not.
Objectivity is related to this. Objectivity is seeing the world independent of who I am.
Acceptance that things are as they are. This is the opposite of denial.
I probably have more to say, but I've run out of thoughts.
think good, be good, do good.
Thanks for this great post. Your story about your dad is very close to mine and I grew up standing very quietly against the wall with my mother and other family members so that the creditors knocking on the front door would think we weren't home. I grew to value being open, honest and 'opening the door' no matter who or what was knocking; facing my fears.
What I'd like in this life is to continue helping others live a life of passion and joy and not get hung up in the cynicism and defeatism I run into all too often. I have a certain lack of patience sometimes so I could use more of your 'tear gas' realizations. Your piece this morning is the kind of thing I need, a reminder that there are more people out there speaking up for a better life for all. I'll visit your site today.
Thanks for writing this, for sharing and for doing the work you do.
James M. Lynch
The simple awareness that each and every day of life is the gift of being alive.
There are no guarantees that anybody wakes up today. Rich, poor, famous, homeless.
Health, awareness of Health, knowledge of Health, practice of good health, appreciation of good Health, is what Happiness is derived from.
Forget fictional religions, superstitions, and simple Human mental fraud.
Happiness is learned, and than it is internalized, and becomes intangible never to be given, or taken.
Cause and effect.
Choice, Consequence, and Responsibility.
Responsibility for one's own actions is the missing element of the Modern thinking Human.
It is as important now as it has been in any moment of Human existance.
Excellent question, as has already been stated by many commenters.
I would like to extract greed from the minds of those who feel they have to have an over abundance of what life has to offer, at the expense of the rest of mankind here on earth. I would like human beings who seem to have dominated the earth to realize the jewel they have and to care for it and all of it's inhabitants. I would like time, time for all to enjoy the diamonds that are dew on the grass in the morning, time to own true and experience gold, gold that is the shine on my son's face as the sun reflects the beauty in his skin tone. I would like all people to care for their families, young as well as old, I would like to live in a community where neighbors follow the golden rule. I would like a world without greed, a world where the wealthy are not squeezing the life out of the middle class and poor, causing them to migrate to unknown climates and conditions in order to subside, I would like nuclear weapons eliminated from the earth, and serious talks between governments as to how to care for the people and not for what they feel are treasures that they have laid up. I plan to do my part to help bring this about until I breathe my last breath and move on.
What I want,really?
To grow the love in my life by sharing more of it. To appreciate fully all of the many blessings I presently enjoy. To inspire others with fresh hope and confidence in the innate goodness of life. To grow closer to my experience of the Divine in my everyday life. Be open to the best that life has for me. Then I would say etc because there is so much goodness that I cannot possibly imagine, even in my wildest dreams.
Thank you for your inspiring post.
Blessings to you,
Anne
Great post! I sound like an echo of Kari, but I agree. I think this is one of your best. Thanks for sharing your powerful story. It's amazing how life works.
What do I want out of life? To be in service. To serve life to my highest ability and be open to receiving its blessings and abundance. I see it all as a big circle. What goes round comes around. So to be part of the greater flow that supports human beings aligning with their higher purpose, to be able to make some kind of difference along the way, to love well and receive love, that's it for me.
Thanks so much for the opportunity to reflect on a very important question.
Many blessings
Judith
Blessings to you!
Art of giving commemorates the purpose of existence. A heart that aspires for such acts truly embodies inner peace and an outer purpose. The act of proffering is truly aesthetic and ecstatic. One who has more, should give more and service before self, are values that are immortal. Moreover, children need to imbibe “giving” at toddler years. If a child today can share a bag of potato chips, I wonder what all he would learn to share through his youthful years.