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- Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:47 am #122 I know I need to be rigorous about reconnecting myself to my vision and purpose.
I read the paper, I read books, I give to people.
Giving to people for me is the most effective way.
What is it for you?

- Fri Sep 23, 2005 12:39 pm #123 I notice that my vision keeps growing, expanding, evolving...at a basic level, it involves human beings recognizing their capacity to invent their lives and making choices to have their lives matter in service to other people.

I keep myself connected to my vision in these ways:

*surrounding myself with people who have a passion for making a difference in the world, are honest, and are authentic

*asking questions more than answering them

*using a Committed Action vs. Psychological Assessment chart I received in LP

*involving myself in new ventures professionally and personally which require that I risk...challenging myself to "step into the unknown" (and I see that I could be doing a lot more of that!)

*experiencing my life and the lives of others vs. assessing/evaluating my life and the lives of others...I'm not saying that I don't evaluate at all. I am saying that I notice that when I only participate in life through that frame, I'm not really participating, my experience is flat, and I disengage/disconnect from the people and things that really matter to me--i.e. I become separate and life becomes conceptual.

*listening to people beyond their masks/images...and having compassion for raw humanity

*answering these discussion questions...they challenge me to think and reflect!

*keeping a discovery journal--asking questions that are relevant for me at the time and answering them with the purpose of exploring, revealing, uncovering

*reading books that deal with universal principles/laws

*openly receiving feedback--Sometimes, this supports me in seeing beyond my own world view...my blinders come off, and I see parts of my own humanity and the belief systems of others that I didn't see before...which leads back to recognizing, in richer and richer ways, the resiliency and amazing inventive capacity of human beings.

Dawnelle
NC 19, PhD1

- Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:21 pm #133 The way that I find most effective in connecting with my vision - whatever it is at the moment! - is to pause, stop everything else, and go into my vision in my head. I put myself there, and let myself feel it and see it and smell it and taste it and breathe it. Then I look at my life as how what I am doing right now is connected to that vision of the future that I want to create, as I learned to do in the "Living Your Legacy" series that Dawnelle led here in Asheville (one of the exercises was to create a to-do list framing everything in terms of vision; I do that often, and find it's an excellent way to get back into standing in that vision.)

I'll add to that, since that's all future-oriented, that I also check in with myself on a regular basis to make sure that I am standing in my vision for what right now gets to be. One of the places I tend to hide from the present is in taking steps to ensure the future is what i want it to be, so it is a good exercise - and important - for me to pull back to the present and really focus on the now, and on valuing the now as much as the future. And I realize that if I am living right now from my vision, then it will lead me to my future vision, so it's a win-win.

Karen Moss of the Sizzlin' NC69 Leaders!