Be, Do, Have
Create Your Life With The Law Of Attraction
Every once in a while you meet someone who inspires you. They exude enthusiasm. They 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; it's not forced or superficial. You sense their genius and authenticity, and you don't believe they are playing a role.
When you meet these kinds of people, you realize that their work is consistent with their purpose. You might even say that they are working "on purpose." They know why they are here, and they know the difference they want to make. This clarity and focus on their purpose makes them stand apart from most of the people in this world. Who are these people? They can be anyone. A teacher, parent, or someone you just met. It doesn't matter what they do. What matters is that they do it from a centered purpose.
Fulfillment comes from the inside out, not the other way around. Take a minute and think of the people in your life who seem to love what they do. Write down the names of three of these people and describe what there is about them that makes you think they know and live their purpose.
Mission, vision, calling, and passion are just a few of the words used to describe our human need to identify and express our purpose. Ultimately, finding your purpose is a spiritual quest. It represents your ability to connect with something greater than yourself. Isn't that what we all want to do-make a difference in the lives of others and leave some sort of legacy behind? None of us wants to think that we have lived and died without leaving any trace of ourselves behind.
Many times the word passion is used to describe your purpose. Passion is about a feeling deep inside. To fulfill a passion is to express deeply held feelings. Passion isn't intellectual or rational, it comes from the heart. You don't think about what your passion or purpose is, you just know. Passion implies desire, and your passion if given a voice, will arouse you to take action. Once you find your passion in life, you can't ignore it. If we fail to listen to our purpose in life, we suffer stress, fatigue, frustration, and dissatisfaction.
Your purpose is compelling. It creates an inner sense of urgency and allows us to feel alive and invigorated. Now that you've thought about the people you know who are living a purpose filled life, what are your ideas about purpose?
Your life purpose needs to describe you perfectly. It should be invigorating and inspiring. Sometimes your actual life or work history turns out to be completely different with your purpose. It just doesn't match. This is a very good indicator that you have been living the wrong life or working in the wrong occupation. In essence, you've been living a life that doesn't fit you. If by chance your life purpose and your actual history don't really match, then, using your life purpose as the starting point, you might want to start planning a new, more fitting and rewarding life ... career ... or both.
In the previous chapters, you've learned the importance of your mind, thoughts, and beliefs, how attitude and determination dictate your success, and how to envision the life you want while accomplishing your goals. All of this information is vital to your life, but in order for any of it to benefit you, you have the final piece of the puzzle. Before, I give you the missing piece; I want you to think about the sunset. The sunset always follows the sunrise. This never changes. There is a definite order to this process. What happens if this is disrupted? Would people become confused? Chaos maybe? Just as the sun has to rise before it sets, we must follow an order as well. Are you ready? Now, I'm going to give you the last piece. Before we can transform our lives, we must follow the order of be, have, do.
For example, when we discussed goals, we need to realize that we're setting the "have" portion of the equation, then "doing" the work to accomplish the goal without ever making the effort to "be" anything. When you truly get this life lesson, it will have a profound impact on every aspect of your life. No longer will you focus solely on the goal-now you will focus on who you must first become, and the attainment of the goals will follow. Your identity isn't created by who you are with, what you wear, or what people think of you. In reality, your identity is based on who you are or your "being."
You have to be before you can do, and you have to do before you can have. If you don't, nothing you ever get will be enough. And if you do, whatever you have will be plenty. With this in mind, find some time today to fit a little "being" time into your "to-do" list. It may just turn out to be the best time investment you could ever make.
Most people believe if they "have" possessions such as more money, nice house, fancy car, or perfect body, then they can finally "do" something worthwhile such as go on a vacation, find a soulmate, or have children. Once they have these things, they think they'll "be" happy and fulfilled. In actuality, they are reversing the Be-Do-Have paradigm. In the universe as it really is, "havingness" does not produce "beingness," but the other way around.
First you "be" the thing called "happy" (or "knowing," or "wise," or "compassionate," or whatever), then you start "doing" things from this place of beingness-and soon you discover that what you are doing winds up bringing you the things you've always wanted to "have."
In To Have or to Be?, Eric Fromm described a group of people living their lives trying to
Unfortunately, most people get stuck at the first step. They never "have" enough. One day you reach the end of your life and realize you've never done what you wanted to do with your life. In order for you to have a fulfilling life you must
This self-awareness will lead you to
Because you are giving yourself away, you will be rewarded, and
So, how do we do this? First, we must stop making having money the goal. Stop measuring success by your bank account and possessions. Get your priorities in order and follow your heart, guided by your values.
The having mode is certainly seductive. But by definition having is possessing, and it can disappear as easily as it came. The being mode is not so transient. In this state you are centered, authentic, connected to your spiritual self. You have your personal power to assist you in creating and fulfilling your passion. If you can comfortably be yourself (without living from your "shoulds"), your need for outside approval disappears.
From the centered place of being, your vision of who you are can express itself. You will be drawn to your passion. In the having mode, you feel driven. It is no coincidence that you hear about being "market-driven" or even "value-driven." These concepts come out of the having mode. The language of purpose is "value-led" or "customer-led." What feels better to you, being led, or being driven?
Think back over times when you have felt inspired-times when you were drawn to a person or idea. Recall situations in which you thought to yourself, "1'd like to make that kind of impact." When you felt inspired you may have noticed that you reacted physically with shivers up your spine, or tears of awe. Describe three situations when you felt inspired.
As you reflect on those situations, were you pulled to take any action? Your passion can be an inspiration to you if you let it be.
If is difficult to understand what it means to be. We spend more of our time doing or having. Review the following list of being qualities. , put a check mark (v) beside the ones you have experienced. Put an X in the box beside the qualities you would like to develop.
Answer this question 20 times. Resist the temptation to answer the question with what you do or what you have. Try to stay in the being mode.
Write out your personal statement of purpose as you now understand it in the box at the bottom of this page. You might want to include the following parts in your statement: first, use a verb to describe your purpose (serve, teach, train, write, create, counsel, make, sell, etc.). Then choose a noun to describe who or what (children, the elderly, consumers, the earth, the poor, computers, etc.). For the next part, include the skills or talents that you will use (you identified these in the exercises in Mask #1). Finally, include the outcome that you want.
In order this to happen however, you must have a clear vision of what you want in life. Without a vision for your life, you will inevitably end up living someone else's vision. This is the worst mistake you can make because without a plan in your purpose will never be revealed to you. Your vision is a description of what you want to focus on and what you want to accomplish in your life. The best method to connect with your own unique purpose is to write a vision statement. This vision statement enables you to focus your all of your decisions, actions, behaviors, and energy toward the things in life that are important to you. Writing a vision statement is an important principle to success in the fact that if you live by this vision statement of what's most important to you, you can make better decisions and focus your efforts toward finding and living according to your life's purpose.
Your vision statement needs to be in keeping with your purpose in life, but it shouldn't be cast in stone either. As you begin to gain valuable insights and become more aware about yourself, your vision statement needs to reflect those changes. This is why it is so important to read your vision statement on a daily basis; it will help you to keep tabs on your progress as well as help to keep you in alignment with your life's purpose. Your vision statement follows along as you move along the journey of life.
Combining your vision statement with your purpose in life will enable you to live a fulfilling and balanced life that others only dream of. Once your life's purpose is defined, unlimited happiness and potential awaits you!