Our life purpose could be mightier than it is now if we gave it more attention
Life purpose bestowed on her by tradition
This time of the passing of the great Queen Elizabeth 2 has been monumental worldwide. Her life purpose was a mighty one, decreed and bestowed on her by tradition. Without flinching for one moment, she received her cloak and crown of office with commitment, dignity and kindness that very few people before or after her, will be able to own.
The question I’m left with, as a mere mortal among royalty, is what can I learn from this? If this event has moved you deeply too you might wonder how you might take a leaf out of her majesty’s book by asking yourself:
“How could I shift my focus in some small way more towards a life of service while distancing myself from the worship of false gods such as status and wealth – and all that is attendant upon them. How could I recalibrate my life to live a great purpose as our late Queen did.”
Life purpose bestowed on us by a decision
I read in the Guardian a few months’ back that people have already begun a recalibration in order to accommodate their changing attitudes to work. As a result the UK labour force has shrunk by an estimated one million people in the last 2 ½ years as droves have left jobs to do something different, take early retirement or live off their savings.
It’s said we’re living in the age of anti-ambition. Confined to home as we were, many used the opportunity to take stock of their lives and decide whether their work added value to their existence. Adjustments imposed on us during the pandemic revealed that jobs were not what we believed them to be. Indispensable people were furloughed while the office as a place of work became redundant with many able to operate online at home.
It’s not that people can’t be bothered any more but we’re re-evaluating how we are spending our time because our motivations are changing. We care less about career success and social status and more about work-life balance. Having enjoyed more autonomy and flexibility has left our employers struggling when they insist their workforce return to the old ways and in so doing risk losing them.
The stark dawning that our mental and physical health takes precedence over everything came dramatically into focus – and many of us have made changes accordingly. We rekindled pastimes and discovered new hobbies to provide an outlet for our natural desire to create. We realised that having good and close relationships sustained us from the inside when the chips were down while those in solitary confinement suffered.
My first calibration
For most people recalibration needs to be implemented in stages. We’re here on this earth to undertake a lifelong journey. We’d fair best to proceed in steps, integrating the transformational shifts brought about by each before moving onto the next. This is how my own recalibrations have panned out this far when I embarked on the road less travelled.
Back in the 90’s I went through my first recalibration. It happened when I relinquished my share of a successful marketing agency in which I was a joint-partner. While we had serviced clients that had allowed me to shop in Milan and take lavish holidays, it was still too great a price to pay for a 6 ½ day working week and a minimal, childless family life. After 8 years I recalibrated. While it took me the best part of two years to discover a new path, I continued to work part-time as a consultant meanwhile. (I hadn’t invented the Intuitive Vision Board back then which could have speeded things up.) Eventually I was to re-emerge as a Feng Shui consultant and Reiki Master.
My second recalibration
Six years later, now with a family of my own, I was left to raise my daughter alone without financial support from her father. Again, I had to choose. Should I allow my expanding Feng Shui career to continue unabated, which required me to travel away at times and be absent from home. Or, to curtail it. I consciously took the decision that the role of mother and homemaker take priority in order to create a new stability at home and put my daughter first.
Eventually I was inclined to create other worthwhile work closer to home. That way I was able to manage work and family life without being pulled in different directions. I returned to University and embarked on four years of study. I gained a PGCE in Dance (to teach dance-movement to children and adults), followed by an MA in Somatic Arts Psychotherapy. It was during the latter I developed the Intuitive Vision Board process and have been facilitating this for others ever since.
The value of recalibrating your life purpose
I once facilitated a group of CEO’s to make Intuitive Vision Boards. We’d got to the moment in the proceedings when I was cruising around the room to view the near-complete visions. I approached one man: middle-aged and overweight, the successful owner of a large software company. To my surprise he had placed a Tango-dancing couple right in the centre of his board. I glanced across at him as I blurted out the obvious: “They’re dancing Tango!” It was then that I saw the man’s eyes were filled with tears as he mouthed back: “Yes, that used to be me once. I was an excellent Tango dancer – and teacher. I’m a million miles removed from both now with this software business and it’s hurting. I must do something about it.”
Compare this CEO with another true story. The office cleaner who has mopped up for the same company for the past 20 years. She works her hours around the rest of her life, including home and family. While close to the minimum wage, she takes pride in her job, creating a sparkling environment to greet staff each day. She travels to and from the office out of the rush-hour and has no issues about finding a car parking space. She’s left to her own devices – to ruminate or listen to the radio uninterrupted – as she labours.
Which of the two roles enjoys more personal freedom to create a life of meaning while being of service to others?
Which of the two has calibrated their life for fulfilment while attending to their ‘mighty purpose’?
What might you be doing if it wasn’t for ….
Ask yourself sincerely what might you be doing if it wasn’t for ….
the money
security
the title
social pressure
family pressure
out of habit
not stopping long enough to consider the alternative.
For the sweet privilege of being alive
You owe it to yourself to know your presence on the earth has a value that can be worthwhile to many. Life is too short to allow it to otherwise slip away. For the sweet privilege of being alive, I invite you to take steps to recalibrate if you need to.
Commitment to the pursuit of happiness alone won’t do it. It can lead to conflict too when your agenda rubs up against those close to you. There’s much to be gained by following the lead of our late Queen Elizabeth and her commitment to a life of public service. Imagine, in some small way, we were all accountable for a life of public service. After all, we live interdependently whether we like it or not. There isn’t one person alive who isn’t dependant on another fulfilling their line of duty.
The next time you’re feeling low, at a loss, or weighed down by the depressing public news, try this. Irrespective of how bad you feel, find a way to help someone or some place near you. It could be you are of service next door or your local community and don’t even need fuel to get there. Or get in touch with me to make an intuitive vision board together to help you decide what to do with your life.
Notice how your mood shift immediately when you’re less focused on your desires and more aligned to be of service to others. As we fulfil our purpose I’m wondering if, like our queen of late, we’ll take our command and direction from a spiritual authority greater than ourselves. “So help me God.”
Thank you for reading my musings on this very sad moment in history. If you have something you’d like to share in response please do drop me an email.
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