The Many Loops of Life
Life is circular. There are a number of things most of us are aware about to support this view of things, like Karma and nature to name just the obvious ones.
Look at nature. We see the life-cycle of many things around us, yet often don’t realize that we are part of this cycle, living a cycle of our own. We dwell too much on the beginning and end of things, which often boils down to our fear or disappointment of having "all this end" some time, or even "When will this end?".
It doesn’t end folks, it doesn’t begin, it just goes round and round. I would like to talk about an aspect of the loop we exist in and how it is there for us to liberate or imprison ourselves in our lives. It’s our choice.
A common obstacle to doing something you want to do is the fear of what others will think. For some reason it is difficult for many people to admit to their friends that they want to inspire people or do something that will impact the world around them. This is tragic. We are all actually here to do that because there is one simple word that joins all the dots of life and clears the fog of "What’s it all for?".
Purpose
Purpose is the very thing that separates a mundane life from a fulfilling one and something which is constantly evolving. It is very rare that we all have one purpose that lasts a lifetime. Purpose comes and goes, but is the very foundation on which our happiness can be built on in any given moment.
So, with regard to wanting to contribute to others. There is a potential fear of standing out, that maybe one or more of our own flaws may be exposed in doing so and the all-too-often remark made by people that "He’s not interested in helping others, just making a buck" or "She only helps others to feel good about herself".
I’ve got a response to comments like that. "Shut up and find a purpose!". Yes I used to have those kinds of thoughts about people who were successful and contributed their time and or money to helping others. I would sometimes cynically mention that they were just exercising some good PR to grow their self image and therefore bank balance, but I think on the whole that is incorrect.
The result is what’s important. Also this:
If you want to help people because it makes you feel good then that is actually a good enough reason to do so. The holy grail of life in my opinion is to be happy. Is that fair to say? Nothing else is of much use if we don’t feel happy enough to appreciate, value and enjoy it.
So by helping people in your own way and making yourself feel good, you are flowing with the loop, you are dancing in time with the music of life and therefore fulfilling a purpose. Do you know one of the end results of fulfilling a useful purpose to the world around you? It is being taken care of, which at the point our world has evolved is usually in the form of being able to pay our bills and sustain ourselves financially.
This is the main reason I left the office in the first place. Yes I wanted to seek my fortune, become financially independent and live the life of my dreams, but if you have a dream for your life, it had better have some clarity about the purpose you have living it, or it won’t actually be much of a life, let alone sustainable.
This is not about being a "Do gooder", but it is about doing right by yourself, which means being true to who you are, which you can only be if you know "who" you are. My idea of purpose is changing all the time as I get to know myself more and since I left the office my dream and my intentions have changed, or rather they have evolved. I still want to do many of the things I set out to do. Some of them I have achieved, but I am aware that they will only ever be achieved with purpose behind them.
So what of this loop? Well let’s say you have a purpose to inspire people (I feel this is a purpose of mine. It is certainly an intention). You wish to inspire somebody by being yourself, maybe you write a book, write a song or simply help others see how they can improve their own life. You succeed in doing so and this makes you feel good. In fact it does more than that, it feeds you with energy, which makes you feel alive and incredible. This in turn inspires you to create an even more powerful expression with which you can inspire others and the result is that you inspire more people and so it goes.
If you help others in order to feel better yourself then you are actually building on your ability and effectiveness to help others even more, so anyone that says it is wrong to help others out of a desire to help yourself is wrong. They are simply assuming that your desire is to make money from appearing to help others. You can’t do that, at least not for long. People see through that S***T, even if it seems to go on for a long time.
I always go back to someone like Bill Gates because he always seems to be on the receiving end of criticism. No surprise, look at how many know who he is. Microsoft transformed the world and made it a much easier place to do business, make money, turn new ideas into reality and communicate with loved ones around the world, relatively cheaply. It has transformed the world. The result is that Microsoft made loads of money. Now I am the first to curse Windows for hogging too much memory and crashing at inopportune moments, but the point is that whether Bill Gates started Microsoft to become rich or because he wanted to do something good is irrelevant. Look at the result and I’m not even talking about his philanthropic work.
Making money helping people is perfectly OK as long as you are actually helping people. If you receive feedback that suggests what people are paying you for is not helping them then it is time to refine your purpose or how you implement your purpose.
What all of this boils down to is that leaving the office is not an answer to life’s problems. If you simply want to stop putting money in your bosses pocket and live life on you own terms, that is great, but make sure you know why you want to do that because it needs to serve a purpose, not only to work for you, but to make life fun.
Bill O'Leary
Derek Sivers
Maria Palma
