Purposeful Living: Clarify and Distinguish Vision from Mission

Our life purpose platform needs to be built on a foundation built upon the rock of our truth, who we feel (with heart) we are, not just who we “think” (head) we are. Belief is based more in a sense of feeling, not thinking, actually.

I’ve discovered the hard way, that allowing society and others to set my priorities can be deadly for living with clarity, confidence and peace of mind. It also can swing you on both sides of the financial spectrum, for those of you who are money-motivated and still believe that money is the golden formula for a happy life.

I’m all for wealth, as long as I don’t have to sell my soul – who I really am, what I came here to offer the world and the ability to live my life in joy (en-joy, get it?). Lots of money or lack of money cannot give me a joyful life in and of itself.

As I continue to expand my awareness, I’ve come to see that even if I know my purpose and mission, if I don’t have a clear vision for where I’m going and why I’m going there, I’m not likely to arrive to a fulfilling destination. I’d just be going nowhere – fast. All of this frantic doing I see, and was doing myself all too often, is the source of much stress, overwhelm and life dissatisfaction.

People still believe that “doing and getting” is the way to “being happy.” No, you have to “be” before you get to “have” in a way that becomes a lifestyle and is sustainable. This being said, vision is something I’m always up for improving. I was on purpose as an eye surgeon; now my purpose has just shifted. I’m still about “restoring sight to the blind.” The difference now, though, is “perceptual blindness” – cataracts of the soul that keep you from seeing who you really are.

I was listening to a presentation in Chicago recently and heard some very wise comments. She talked about the importance of “Vision” as the need to know where you are going, while your “Mission” is the higher purpose of your “Why”. Mission has to be tied to your value system, and it takes you to your vision. So make sure you ask yourself, “Why”? Why do I want to impact the world in this XYZ way?

And then, be mindful to NOT let the world around you push you into “running nowhere fast” with a lot of frantic, disconnected “doing.” Why do we do this? What creates all this cloudy vision and frantic doing in the first place? Both of these challenges arise because we are constantly looking for our sense of self in what we “do” or have.

I’ve gained another level of clarity into who I “Be” and it has been worth taking the restorative downtime to reconnect more deeply. Expansion of awareness is a never-ending process; it keeps life interesting. Integration continues, yet over the past couple of weeks I have quantum-leaped in my new awareness and wisdom simply by setting clear intention from my heart and engaging my mind to keep my attention on this intention. In fact, the clearer the intention, the more automatic the mind searches for it. This being said, you need to be clear in your intention about where you want to go before you start running down the road, rushing to “get there,” so that you can be _______ (fill in the blank).

Again, you can’t truly “be” by doing. This is why people can feel like a “fake” when they accomplish their goals because their inner image does not really align with their outer accomplishment. This can lead to self-sabotage, and often does. Ultimately, your doing tends to unconsciously come out of your “being.” We are so confused about our being, though, that our doing is often just frantic action taking with no clear direction. If you are not clear about your vision and why you want to go there, don’t be surprised if you find yourself out of gas and distracted into a ditch – or miserable when you get there.

Have you had experience with expending a lot of time and energy and getting results that, even if you did reach the goal, just wasn’t the destination you thought you would experience? Likewise, have you ever been so clear in your intention and why you were doing it that it seemed that the “universe conspired” to make it happen like magic? I’ve experienced both, and at this time in my life I’ve decided to make the time to become conscious about the winning formula so that I can “be” my purpose consistently, see my vision clearly, and then continue to do my mission with more clarity, grace and ease.