Which of these words frightens you most: dream, destiny, or purpose?
Whichever one of them it is, bring it to your consciousness and then ask yourself the question, ”What is my Dream, or my Purpose, or my Destiny?” That’s the question you need to answer.
You need to ask that question in the white space of your day. White space is the time in your day that is not occupied by other activities; time that you can devote only to contemplating this frightening question. It is not the time to be listening to your favorite music, doing the dishes, scanning your emails, or anything that requires more attention than slowly walking without destination or schedule. The reason that you must not be doing anything else is because it is important that you not have anything that will distract you from this question – anything that will allow you to step away from the fear, away from the exploration, away from the potential for discovery that this question contains.
Ask the question out loud, and as you are thinking about it, continue to talk out loud. Speaking our thoughts gives them clarity, reality, and a sense of commitment to the thought.
Then, after you have thought the thoughts and explored the question for a while, begin to write your answers. This is not a situation in which you will find the ultimate answer or the final answer right away, so allow yourself to explore without any need at all to get it right the first time. My purpose, my destiny, my dream, is continuously evolving. As I achieve small parts of it, other questions arise, opportunities for further clarification, for dreaming bigger, for better understanding how I will implement my dream and what the impact can be when I do that.
When you have shared your dream with your journal, the next step is to share it with another human being. Find someone you trust and ask them the question that you have been asking yourself: “What is your dream? What is your purpose? What is your destiny?”
It is unlikely that they will have an answer. But if they find the question interesting, ask if they are willing to witness you speaking about your dream. This is important for three big reasons. The first is that it helps you to express and receive feedback on your dream, particularly if the person who is witnessing for you can offer you that feedback from a place of love and understanding. The second is that telling someone else about your dream makes it more real – moves it toward commitment.
If this process scares you a bit, that is a very good sign. One of my favorite quotes is “I know when I am confronted with a truly great idea by the feeling of terror that seizes me”. You should also feel excitement. If you’re not scared and excited, maybe it’s the wrong dream; maybe you haven’t gotten under the surface of other people’s agendas to your own purpose.
The third big reason is that if you are lucky, and find the right person, you will have a relationship to treasure for a lifetime.
Another step in sharing your journey is to connect with other people who can tell you stories, offer you techniques or inspiration, or help you in other ways. One excellent way is by reading. There are some powerful and beautiful stories from people who have been along this path and have found their way through.
Here are a couple of sources of guidance. One of them is a question: “What makes you breathe?” What is in you that when you think about it, you take a deep breath and let it out with a feeling of, ”Yeah, that’s it!” The other is two books. These books are not so much about how to answer the questions as what questions to ask.
The first book is Paolo Cuelho’s The Alchemist. The second is Brendon Burchard’s ”Life’s Golden Ticket”. These books are both confrontational and inspirational. Their lessons are offered within very readable fictional stories that make the lessons readily available.
May you find the courage to ask the question.
Whichever one of them it is, bring it to your consciousness and then ask yourself the question, ”What is my Dream, or my Purpose, or my Destiny?” That’s the question you need to answer.
You need to ask that question in the white space of your day. White space is the time in your day that is not occupied by other activities; time that you can devote only to contemplating this frightening question. It is not the time to be listening to your favorite music, doing the dishes, scanning your emails, or anything that requires more attention than slowly walking without destination or schedule. The reason that you must not be doing anything else is because it is important that you not have anything that will distract you from this question – anything that will allow you to step away from the fear, away from the exploration, away from the potential for discovery that this question contains.
Ask the question out loud, and as you are thinking about it, continue to talk out loud. Speaking our thoughts gives them clarity, reality, and a sense of commitment to the thought.
Then, after you have thought the thoughts and explored the question for a while, begin to write your answers. This is not a situation in which you will find the ultimate answer or the final answer right away, so allow yourself to explore without any need at all to get it right the first time. My purpose, my destiny, my dream, is continuously evolving. As I achieve small parts of it, other questions arise, opportunities for further clarification, for dreaming bigger, for better understanding how I will implement my dream and what the impact can be when I do that.
When you have shared your dream with your journal, the next step is to share it with another human being. Find someone you trust and ask them the question that you have been asking yourself: “What is your dream? What is your purpose? What is your destiny?”
It is unlikely that they will have an answer. But if they find the question interesting, ask if they are willing to witness you speaking about your dream. This is important for three big reasons. The first is that it helps you to express and receive feedback on your dream, particularly if the person who is witnessing for you can offer you that feedback from a place of love and understanding. The second is that telling someone else about your dream makes it more real – moves it toward commitment.
If this process scares you a bit, that is a very good sign. One of my favorite quotes is “I know when I am confronted with a truly great idea by the feeling of terror that seizes me”. You should also feel excitement. If you’re not scared and excited, maybe it’s the wrong dream; maybe you haven’t gotten under the surface of other people’s agendas to your own purpose.
The third big reason is that if you are lucky, and find the right person, you will have a relationship to treasure for a lifetime.
Another step in sharing your journey is to connect with other people who can tell you stories, offer you techniques or inspiration, or help you in other ways. One excellent way is by reading. There are some powerful and beautiful stories from people who have been along this path and have found their way through.
Here are a couple of sources of guidance. One of them is a question: “What makes you breathe?” What is in you that when you think about it, you take a deep breath and let it out with a feeling of, ”Yeah, that’s it!” The other is two books. These books are not so much about how to answer the questions as what questions to ask.
The first book is Paolo Cuelho’s The Alchemist. The second is Brendon Burchard’s ”Life’s Golden Ticket”. These books are both confrontational and inspirational. Their lessons are offered within very readable fictional stories that make the lessons readily available.
May you find the courage to ask the question.
