Sense of purpose, commitment and income generation (by Marc)
Here is yesterday’s quote from transformational coach Steve Chandler (one of my favorite teachers):
“If your mind is on the right path, it doesn’t matter how fast you go. If you’re on the right path, you’ll get there. Commitment keeps you on the path.”
And then:
“The hardest thing for people in western culture to unlearn is the short attention span that’s encouraged by television, entertainment, letting the kids rule the roost, and by letting untrue victim thoughts become our belief systems. And this inability to be quiet and real is really just the inability to return the mind to the most important thing it can be thinking about in any given moment. It leads to a very confused life full of much unfinished business. The unfinished business then leads to drama. The drama leads to self-dramatization including wild stories about how other people are making us unhappy. This self-dramatization replaces the committed life.”
Man I relate to this (short attention span, me??? Self-dramatization???).
Steve Chandler, incidentally, is one of America’s highest-paid coaches, writers and consultants. He charges $50k for an internship, which I believe is worth every penny. I am saving up for it :).
As I was reading this quote yesterday my life changed irrevocably. It finally dawned on me that since my life purpose – the thing that I love to do, that I was born to do, that I would do even if I never earned a dime from it - is creating communities of transformation, and nurturing transformational relationships, all that I need to do is to commit to earning my primary livelihood in that way. Nothing more and nothing less. That is the solution to the work-life income problem that I have been debating inside for 4 months and more.
Within less than 24 hours of this realization, by strange coincidence, all kinds of powerful business ideas and opportunities opened up around Trellis, the transformational community where I live, which I will share later. The end result was to realize that I need to take on the Trellis business on a much larger scale than I had previously contemplated. Along with this, I need to change both my presentation and my self-image around that – to start treating it like a business rather than a hobby – a business of personal transformation, which is what it is.
Later, a friend of mine wrote to me that she was having a hard-time, that nothing seemed to be working out, she was discouraged and depressed. I replied (among other things) as follows: State what you want and decide that nothing less will be acceptable. Period. And I said it too, aloud, and a strange thrill went down my spine.
I have frequently quoted the mountaineer W.H. Murray on this same topic, but it is well-worth repeating:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”
More to follow…
