Word for the Week: Purpose (wk 1=Jan. 4, 2010)

Welcome to the first Word for the Week post. Here's how this will work: every week of 2010 we'll have a Word for the Week along with some things to ponder and reflect on about the week's word. If you're wondering how the words will be selected, here's what I decided to do:
I have a pack of cards called Angel Cards. On each little card, there's a word; not just a regular word like dog or car or people, but "make you think" words, such as Purpose (this week's word), Kindness, Joy, Strength. Each week I will draw a card, see what the word is, and that will be our Word for the Week.
If you're interested in the Angel Cards, I have no idea where I got them, plus I've had them for a very long time, but I think you could Google Angel Cards and something would show up.

PURPOSE

I don't think it's just chance that the first card drawn was PURPOSE. This is a word that so many of us are focused on right now because a new year is beginning and we tend to make New Year's resolutions that reflect our purpose, whether we know it or not. There are so many books out that deal with purpose in some way, and...think about it: how many of Oprah's shows deal with purpose :-)!

Most people really do want to know many things about purpose, like What's my purpose in life? Does my life have a purpose? Does what I do have purpose? Am I living my life in line with my purpose? How can I discover my purpose? Am I living on purpose?

If you've ever asked yourself these questions or ones like them, you know these are not easy questions and you know that questions like these can apply to different parts of our lives. My "purpose" question related to the "work" part of my life turned out to be "Is this what I'm supposed to be doing with my life?" Very scarily to me, the answer was consistently "NO". Trust me, I wasn't happy with this knowledge because it meant I would either have to do something about it or I would have to ignore it. Trust me again, I don't advocate ignoring your answers to questions about your purpose. So....... after much thoughtful reflection, talking with my partner, meditation, prayer, and therapy, I came to the decision that I would make the choice to do something about it. The decision I chose to make was resigning from my full time faculty position as a counselor educator so that I could focus on what I believe is more in line with what I believe I'm supposed to be doing with my life: continue teaching, but just doing it in a different way, like presenting workshops, seeing clients, supervising, consulting, writing, doing more of what I REALLY want to do and doing it full time instead of part time, as I'd done before.

Have you ever felt really happy and really scared at the same time? If you have, then you know exactly how I'm feeling right now. I am confident that the happiness will continue to grow and the fear will continue to shrink.

It's the beginning of a new year of your life and every day you wake up is the beginning of your life. I hope you will reflect on and contemplate the word PURPOSE and how it is and isn't in your life. I wish you courage in making any changes you believe you need to make. Don't let fear win.

I'm ready to wrap up the first word of the week blog. I don't know if I'll do this every week, but definitely for today I'd like to close with a quote. It's by the Dalai Lama:

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy."

Thanks for reading. I hope you'll return often, and if it feels right, share this with friends.

I truly wish you the knowledge of your purpose and great happiness and joy.

Karen