Living & Working On Purpose

Quick Tips for Bringing More Purpose, Passion & Play to Your Life

Boomers On Purpose - Redesigning & Redefining Retirement is the current theme we're exploring with our Living & Working On Purpose Radio Show that's airing through Exceptional Wisdom Radio. It finally dawned on me after 3 months of having weekly radio shows, that we could further explore the radio themes through our Living & Working On Purpose Blog and here in the ezine, so be on the look out for this starting to occur. Here the show we aired this week and the one slatted for next week:

April 16 -- Ann Fry of ItsBoomerTime.com -- Born on the first day of the boomer generation, January 1, 1946...Ann started It's BoomerTime℠ as a way to cope with turning 60 and embracing it, rather than hating it.

April 23-- John Gomperts of Civic Ventures and Encore - Why retire when many Boomers are realizing that they have 20+ years ahead -- plenty of time to create an Encore Career -- productive work filled with purpose and meaning.

Our show airs on Wednesdays from 5-6 pm EDT at: http://exceptionalwisdomradio.com and are also archived for listening at your convenience. You can even download them to your MP3 players.

Now, let's explore 5 new tips for bring more passionate purpose to your life:

6. Watch Your Thoughts Like a Hawk.

Our thoughts have a powerful influence on how we experience life -- the meaning we ascribe to what happens as we go through our days. So, it makes sense to become increasingly aware of our thoughts, especially the automatic ones that seem to 'just appear.'

Someone cuts you off in traffic and immediately you think -- "Look at that jerk? How dare he/she do that to me?" And if we're not careful we're flicking them off before we even consider that just maybe they never even saw us before they changed lanes.

7. Watch Your Emotions Even More Closely.

More often than not, attached to those automatic thoughts are some powerful emotions that have an even more powerful influence on our experience of life. In the example above, typical emotions would include anger, agitation, indignation, and revenge, none of which contribute anything positive to our day. Our thoughts and emotions are the basic building blocks that create "Molecules of Meaning" which creates the context for our lives and how we experience life? Being aware of them is an important step to being able to let go of them, and in the 'empty space' to create meaning that contributes to life.

8. Set an Intention for the Day.

Setting an intention for the day is a powerful way to stay focus and on purpose. The intention to be joyful, to be playful, to be compassionate are just a few examples. Or, as Abraham-Hicks suggests, you can 'segment' you day with different intentions. For example, my intention while writing this article is to be of service and to inspire. When I have my session with my coach later today, my intention will be to gain clarity and focus for what's next at Life On Purpose.

9. Add Value to Life for the Pure Joy of It.

One of the common elements of a purposeful life is being of service. Adding value to life for the pure joy of it is a great way to know and to experience living on purpose. Look for small ways to add value to the people around you, and that includes to yourself. Remember, you are part of the world as well, so a little “purposeful pamper” is also allowed. In fact, it’s a great way to receive a double dose of joy — as your giving to yourself and as you are graciously receiving.

10. Complete Your Day with Gratitude

I know of no more powerful way to complete on a day filled with passionate purpose than with gratitude. Counting your blessings will allow you to drift off into peaceful sleep and to awaken with a renewed commitment to bring passionate purpose to the new day.

Quick Tips for Bringing More Purpose, Passion & Play to Your Life

Quick Tips for Bringing More Purpose, Passion & Play to Your Life (Even If You Don't Clearly Know Your Purpose Yet)

Well, my week of Rest & Rejuvenation turned into about a week of Rest, Rejuvenation & Recovery when I came down with some viral bug that extended into a 2nd week of recovery.

Being sick is real contrast that allows me to more fully appreciate how great it feels to be healthy most of the time, and that's about the best thing I can think to say for it.

It's great to be healthy and back on purpose again.

Can you believe we're already into the 2nd quarter of the year? How on purpose did you find yourself in quarter #1? More importantly, how can you bring more passionate purpose to the rest of the year. That's what today's article is about.

Here are 10 quick tips for making 2008 your most purposeful year yet. (5 now, and 5 more in a couple of days)

1. Carve out time for self reflection and for purposeful planning: So many of us have been sucked into such a hectic, frantic pace of life that we rarely take time to consider whether we're heading in the direction that will ultimately serve us. Often what happens, is we go, go, go, until something like an illness, or a catastrophe lays us out, and of course, when we're sick or in a crisis, is not always the best times to quietly reflect on life.

S.T.O.P. -- It's a powerful coaching tool that stands for:

S. Step Back
T. Think
O. Organize Your Thoughts, &
P. Proceed

One of the most important things to think and reflect upon in my opinion is:

** Who am I as a spiritual being and what is my purpose for being alive? **

2. Is life being shaped by love or fear? As you go through your day, at times when you feel frustrated, anxious or just “off,” ask yourself this question:

“Is my life in this moment being shaped by Universal Love, or by fear?"

When you hear the phrase, Universal Love, know that includes a sense of abundance and a willingness to flow with life, and when you hear the word, fear, know that it includes lack and struggling. If the answer if fear/lack/struggle, then ask this question: “If I were to pivot in this next moment and allow my life to be shaped by love/abundance/flow, what would be different and what could I create?” Try it for a week and see if it doesn’t bring more purpose and passion to your life.

3. Make a list of at least 10 things you love to do, that excite you, and that you are passionate about.

Then look beyond the ‘doingness’ of these to see who you are and what you experience while doing them. (Examples may be peaceful, connected, compassionate, etc.). See if you can find the common thread of central theme that connect at least some of the items on your list together. These common threads are likely to be elements of your true purpose, so ask yourself, ‘how can I experience more of these common threads?”

4. Who Do You Greatly Admire and Why?

We often admire people we want to emulate, and by realizing who they are and why we admire them, we can begin to bring more of their positive qualities and attributes to ourselves. Focusing on who these people are, more than what they do or have, will bring their qualities of being into perspective. They may be real people we know or know about, historical figures or even fictional characters. When you identify someone you greatly admire, ask yourself, “How can I bring their qualities and attributes to my own life this day?”

5. Bring Fun and Play to Your Life.

Since one of the benefits many people who know their purpose report experiencing as they live true to their purpose is fun and play, ask yourself how you can bring more of these to your life today, whether or not you know your purpose. When we’re not living true to our life purpose, we often operate from a place of fear, lack-based thinking, and believing we need to struggle to survive. In other words, we take ourselves and our present situation much too seriously, so start by lightening up. None of us are going to get out of this alive!

Stay tuned for 5 more powerful quick tips in a couple of days.