The Purpose of Christmas

I first posted this during Christmas last year. It still has as much relevance today.

God bless you and yours as we commemorate Jesus - the reason for the season.

Purpose /ˈpəːpəs/ noun (Oxford Dictionary)

•     the reason for which something is done, or created, or for which something exists

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Purpose is the reason why you exist.

I would say that makes discovering what your purpose is pretty important.

Fortunately, the Oxford dictionary definition above also gives us the key to discovering purpose.

Purpose is the reason for which something is created.

Your purpose is the reason why you were created.

Everything is created for a purpose.

Christmas is here, with lots of excitement surrounding the exchanging of gifts. High on many people’s gift lists (especially the young people) are electronic gadgets of one kind or another. I know my daughter would be thrilled to open her presents on Christmas morning and discover anything Apple!

If you’re still catching up with technology like me, you can sometimes find these gadgets slightly mystifying. I have an iPod touch that I basically only use to listen to my audio Bible and my favourite music. However, I’ve been reliably informed that I can download all sorts of ‘apps’ and get my iPod to do all kinds of amazing things. “There’s an app for just about anything you can think of”. (Having a teenager in the house helps if you want to keep up with rapidly changing technology!)

Nevertheless, there are some aspects of the iPod touch that even my techno savvy teen doesn’t know. That’s when I have to turn to the glossy little brochure with pictures that show me what my gadget can do, or the accompanying booklet, the Product information Guide, that’s crammed with information printed in the tiniest font. For more complete instructions and important safety information, I’m advised to visit the online manuals at Apple Support – the User Guide and Important Product Information Guide.

You are more complex than anything that even a creative genius like Steve Jobs could ever imagine.

You are a unique creation. There is no one else in the world like you. No one else has your unique blend of gifts, talents, skills, abilities, interests, goals, passions, dreams, values, personality, achievements, education, or experiences. You are one of a kind.

Your Creator has also supplied you with a User’s Guide, an Important Product Information Manual, containing all the information you need to ensure you make full use of all the capabilities He fashioned you with.

You see, Christmas is not about Santa Claus, Christmas trees, or pretty flashing lights. It’s not about shopping sprees, piles of gifts, or unlimited alcohol, chocolates and sweets.  It’s not even about a cute little baby born in a manger 2000 years ago.

Christmas is about purpose.

Christmas is about the reason you were created.

Christmas is about God reconnecting you to your purpose.

Jesus’ birth in that manger in Bethlehem 2000 years ago was just the first step in God’s plan of enabling you to enter into the fullness of all that He created you to be.

This Christmas, open up the User’s Guide – the Bible – and find out what your Creator has to say about you. The Gospel of John is a good place to start.

Wishing you all a purpose-full Christmas!

Creativity

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

Creativity is the essence of great leadership.

Great leaders are visionaries – they see what other people do not see.

Great leaders do not see what is, they see what can be.

Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jnr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa. They all saw a better future for their communities, and through their leadership they created that better reality.

We all have innate creativity because we are created in the image of the Creator of the universe.

However, for your creativity to be released, a demand usually has to be placed on it.

We've all heard the saying ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’.

Every invention that was ever made was created in response to a need.

Inventions are solutions to problems.

So, if you want to be a great leader, get creative.

Start looking at the world around you with different eyes. Look through the lens of wanting to add value to others. What needs do you see around you? What talents and abilities did God give you that you can use to serve and benefit a fellow human being?

The world is waiting for you to liberate your creativity.

A Week Of Fridays!

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom 

(Psalm 90:12)

It’s Friday today and I know that the phrase ‘Thank God It’s Friday!’ is on many people’s lips.

The work week is over and everyone is looking forward to the weekend.

Fridays are always so full of hope and expectation. Everyone is busy making plans – where they’re going to go, what they’re going to do, who they’re going to see.

People come to life on Friday.

It’s a tragic fact that for too many people life begins on Friday and ends on Monday. Too many of us simply exist during the work week.  We feel locked up in jobs that we hate, working for people we don’t particularly like, and performing tasks we can hardly bear.

But…

What if every day of your week could be like a Friday?

What if you woke up every day full of hope and excitement about what was ahead of you that day?

What if every week was a week of Fridays?

Well, it can be.

Not literally of course!

But you can live your life in such a way that you look forward to each day and live life to the fullest – rather than simply killing time.

You can live life with passion.

My post on Passion produced an overwhelming response.

I guess there are a lot of us out there looking for more to life.

To help you further along your journey from ordinary to extraordinary living, I’m making available to you my worksheet ‘Passion: Discovering What You Love to Do Most.’

You can access it by clicking here.

Learn more about empowered living in the next post.

Square Wheels

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Square wheels. 

Seems like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? 

Is it possible for a vehicle to run on square wheels? 

The Mythbusters tried it out with little success. It was a very bumpy ride and the wheels disintegrated along the way. The truck couldn't pick up much speed and it didn't go very far either.

Maybe you’re trying to go through life on square wheels, and are wondering why things aren't working out for you. You have goals and ambitions, but somehow they remain out of reach. You can’t seem to pick up speed and in some areas things are starting to fall apart along the way. Your life is one continuous bumpy ride.

In my previous post I introduced the concept of Life Areas.

The ‘Wheel of Life’ is one of the basic tools that I use as a coach to help my clients evaluate their lives.

This is a very simple yet powerful tool to help you identify the areas of your life that you have neglected and need to prioritize more in future. It helps you think about where you are now and where you want to be in the future.

Give yourself a score of 0 to 10 depending on how satisfied you currently are in relation to each area on the wheel. 0 is pretty much as unhappy as you can be, whereas 10 is the perfect score. Take the centre of the wheel as 0 and the outer edge as 10. As you score each area, it is vital to be honest so that you can identify the areas for change and set goals to improve the key areas of your life.

I have left two blanks in the wheel for you to fill in any other categories that may be more relevant to your life.

When you have scored all areas, join the points on each section to draw a wheel. This will show you how balanced your life is overall and the areas you really need to focus on and set goals for improvement.

Below is an example of what your completed wheel could look like.

After you have completed the wheel put a date on it and then review it at least every 6 months. Hopefully you will have made significant improvements in your key areas but may find that another area now requires your focus instead.

Get a printable copy of the wheel of Life from the resources page on my website http://www.drmary-livingonpurpose.com

Learn more tools for empowered living in the next post.

Prof Stan Wagon on his square wheel bike at Macalester College

Life Areas

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers (3 John 2)

We are in a series of posts exploring the truth about who you are.

The most recent posts dealt with the truth that you are a multi-dimensional being – body, soul and spirit.

This truth gives rise to your different life areas.

Your life is made up of several components.

These are basically:

Spiritual	-        your relationship with God
Social	-        your relationships with other people
Intellectual	-        your mind
Physical	-        your body
Emotional	-        your emotions

To be more practical, life areas are usually broken up further into life components that you can actually identify in your everyday life.

Partner/ Romance/Significant Other	Career
Family	Finances
Friends	Physical Environment/Home
Health & Well-being	Spiritual Well-being
Personal Growth/Learning	Fun/Recreation/Leisure
Community	Contribution

A basic understanding of the different life areas is fundamental to living on purpose.

Once you recognize your life areas, you gain an awareness of your life priorities. You can then start to set significant life goals and create a balanced, meaningful, and fulfilling life.

In the next post I will give you tools to help you along the road to understanding your life areas.

Breath of Life

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul 

(Genesis 2:7).

We have now come to the most fundamental truth about who you are.

In previous posts we discussed the truth that you are body, soul and spirit.

Your body is the physical part of you. The ‘you’ that we can see.

Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. The ‘you’ that thinks, feels, and makes choices.

So what is your spirit?

As I was thinking about the best way to explain what your spirit is, an analogy came to mind. It may seem simplistic, but I think it starts to make the point.

The inflatable air guy.

Inflatable air guys are balloon figures used for advertising. They are basically huge balloons, shaped like people, that dance around when air is blown into them continuously through a fan. Inflatable air guy waves his arms in the air, bends from side to side, and generally wiggles all over the place. Inflatable air guy looks alive and active while the wind is blowing, but once the air stops, inflatable air guy stops too. Once the fan is cut off, inflatable air guy falls to the ground, lifeless.

Your spirit is your innermost being. Your core. The essence of your life.

Your spirit is the breath of life that God breathed into you to give you life.

Your spirit is the part of you that is eternal.

The fan is the source of the air that keeps inflatable air guy going.

God is the Source of the breath of life that keeps you going.

Without the fan, air guy is shapeless, lifeless, powerless.

Without God…

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.

Are Twins Really Identical?

Kian and Remee Hodgson with their parents

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart (Jeremiah 1:5)

I’ve always found identical twins and the stories of twins fascinating.

Like Kian and Remee Hodgson born to the same mum, one minute apart – yet one is black and the other white.

Or 27-year-old Lebanese identical twins Hassan and Abbas O, whose DNA was found at the crime scene when $6.8 million worth of jewelry were snatched from the cases of Kaufhaus des Westens, a luxurious seven-story German department store. Despite the evidence linking them to the heist they could not be charged as the court ruling declared, "From the evidence we have, we can deduce that at least one of the brothers took part in the crime, but it has not been possible to determine which one." 

Then there is the case of James Arthur Springer and his identical twin, James Edward Lewis. The twin boys were separated at birth, adopted by different families. Unknown to each other, both families named their sons Jim. Both boys sought law-enforcement training and had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry. Each married women named Linda. They both had sons whom one named James Alan and the other named James Allan. The twin brothers also divorced their wives and married other women – both named Betty. And they both owned dogs which they named Toy. Jim Lewis and Jim Springer finally met in February 9, 1979 after 39 years of being separated.

Despite their similarities, the two "Jim"s had obvious differences too. They styled their hair differently, and one preferred to communicate verbally whilst the other was more fluent when writing.

No matter how alike twins may seem, they are of course fundamentally different.

Twins may look very alike physically but each is a unique personality.

The difference lies in their soul.

The soul is often described as your mind, will and emotions.

Your soul is where your personality resides.

Your soul is what gives rise to your character.

Your soul is the wellspring of your personality, passion, values and strengths.

Your soul contains your sub-conscious mind – your beliefs, attitudes, memories and feelings.

Your soul houses your conscious mind – your thinking, reasoning and imagining.

Your soul is the seat of your will – your ability to make choices.

The changes that are occurring in you as you learn from my blog posts are taking place in your soul.

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.

James Arthur Springer and James Edward Lewis

There's got to be more to life...

Chasing Utopia, The New York Times

So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing? 

(Matthew 6:25)

In my previous post we started exploring the truth that you are a complex, multifaceted being.

You are body, soul and spirit.

These three dimensions intricately intertwine to make you, you.

These three dimensions blend together into what we call – life.

Your body is obviously the physical part of you – the moving, breathing, walking, talking, touching, seeing, eating, drinking, working, playing, sleeping part of you that enables you to interface with this physical world.

Your hands, your eyes, your mouth, your feet…

Some of you are already protesting that I've got it wrong. Moving, breathing, talking, touching, seeing etc. are not purely physical activities.

And you’re right.  

If eating was purely physical, then your toddler would finish his plate of vegetables as readily as a McDonald's Happy Meal.

If sleeping was purely physical, your teenager would fall into bed exhausted by 7:00 p.m. every night.

If movement was simply physical, people could never gain “superhuman”strength to save loved ones from danger.

You cannot separate body, soul, and spirit.

Your body cannot function in this world without your soul and your spirit.

Absence of your soul and your spirit from your body is what we call – death.

Living on purpose means living with the awareness that physical things are only part of the “whole” that makes up your life.

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.

Living Holistically

May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being – spirit, soul and body – free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (I Thessalonians 5:23)

He had it all. He was a world champion, unbeatable, at the top of his game. Then allegations of unfaithfulness and adultery emerged. Chaos rocked his home, a scandal reverberating in headlines at every street corner. He dropped from his exalted position into obscurity, never quite regaining his former glory.

She was a child star, rising to fame even before she was old enough to spell her own name. Her adult life disintegrated into drunken binges and drugs, depression, divorce and damaging relationships.

He was a super star, revered by fans all over the world. One night he jumped out of a window, falling to his death several stories below. There was no note left behind to pacify the question burning in everyone’s heart – Why?

This is the next vital key to understanding the truth about who you are.

You need to know the truth that you are a multi-faceted being.

You comprise a body, soul and spirit.

Your life consists of several life areas.

If you focus on any life area to the exclusion or detriment of the others, you will never truly be a success.

Every life area impinges on the others, and failure or deficiency in one area inevitably affects the others.

It is a tragedy when executives rise to the pinnacle of the corporate ladder only to discover that the victory is hollow. Every close relationship was sacrificed on the journey to the top and there is no one left to enjoy it with them.

It becomes meaningless to finally achieve financial security only to be unable to live the life of your dreams because you neglected your health and are now hindered by a debilitating disease.

Living on purpose means living holistically.

Living on purpose means living with balance.

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.

A 7 Year Old Surgeon?

He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands (Psalm 78:72).

In 2000, video footage emerged from a remote village in India, making headlines around the world. A young girl was receiving surgery to separate her fingers, which had been badly burned and fused together in a tight fist. The surgeon was a 7 year old boy named Akrit Jaswal.

Akrit developed a passion for science and anatomy at an early age. At an age when most children are learning their ABCs, Akrit was reading Shakespeare and assembling a library of medical textbooks.

When the girl’s impoverished family, who could not afford a doctor, heard about his amazing abilities, they asked if he would operate on their daughter for free.

Akrit had no formal medical training and no experience of surgery, yet he managed to free the girl’s fingers and she was able to use her hand again. The surgery was a success.

Akrit went on to become the youngest student ever to attend an Indian university and is currently working toward bachelor's degrees in zoology, botany and chemistry.

Nancy Yi Fan moved to the United States from Beijing when she was 7 years old. She couldn’t speak a word of English. Determined, Nancy taught herself the language by reading lots of books.

When she was 11 years old, Nancy began writing her first fantasy novel, Swordbird. A year later, she emailed her manuscript to the CEO of Harper Collins. Her book was accepted for publication and flew to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. At age 13, Nancy became the youngest best-selling author in Harper Collins history. Her book is sold all over the world.

Nancy has subsequently released two follow up novels and is a freshman at Harvard University.

Akrit and Nancy tapped into the next key to knowing the truth about who you are: knowing your talents.

Your talents are your natural abilities – the things that come easily to you without being taught.

You have the greatest potential for growth in the area of your natural gifting.

Teaching and training in your area of talent simply hones your natural ability, taking it to higher levels. The 2 young people above didn't go to University to gain totally new skills – they went to University to develop their already identified abilities.

To tap into the power of living on purpose, you need to identify your God-given strengths. Then work on increasing your capacity.

A good way of identifying your talents is to pay attention to what other people say about you. Our friends and family can often see in us what we can’t see in ourselves. Think about the things you do naturally that others say "I wish I could do that _____ (fill in the blank), as well as you do" and you say "it’s no big deal, it was nothing, etc..."

In what areas are people always coming to ask you for help?

Read StrengthsFinder2.0 or Now, Discover Your Strengths. Each copy of the books contains a unique access code to allow you to take the Gallup online assessment.  Alternatively, you can buy an access code at www.strengthstest.com. 

There are also many free resources available on Web to help you discover your talent.

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.

What Motivates You?

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich (Proverbs 23:4). 

So far in your quest to uncover the truth about who you are, you've looked at personality type and passion.

The next key to living authentically is getting in touch with your core values.

Your core values are what you judge to be important in life.

Values are not the same as morals. Values are not chosen. Your values are part of your intrinsic make up.

Your values are what drive you. Your values are what motivate you.

Your core values are who you really are.

When you are involved in activities that are in line with your values you feel most like yourself. You have a deep sense of well-being  You feel connected, excited, glowing – everything is effortless.

On the contrary, when you are engaged in activities and behaviour that are not in line with your values you feel disconnected, frustrated, bored, upset, angry, disturbed, obligated – you find yourself wishing for a better life. You’re just going through the motions, fulfilling your responsibilities, doing what you feel you ought to be doing, but there is no life in it for you.

For example, if you are someone who values harmony and connectedness, you may find it very difficult working in a fast-paced, highly competitive office environment, where everyone’s main focus is simply getting ahead.

If freedom to choose and risk-taking are among your core values, you will probably end up feeling extremely bored, frustrated and trapped in working environment that requires you to follow strict protocols and report to your supervisor before making any significant decision.

Identifying your values can be a difficult process and I’m reluctant to give you a list of options to help you get started. I've found that people tend to look at a list of values and choose the ones that they think are most socially desirable or acceptable, rather than looking into themselves and uncovering the values that are really there. The process of coaching helps draw out what your values actually are.

Use this list simply as a prompt.

Choose the values that are important to you and rank them in their order of importance.

Expand the list by adding other personal values that are important to you.

Contribution	Excellence	Humour	Honesty	Orderliness	Adventure
Integrity	Discipline	Compassion	Spirituality	Creativity	Independence
Perseverance	Authenticity	Elegance	Trust	Accuracy	Growth
Joy	Service	Humility	Recognition	Aesthetics	Collaboration
Self-Expression	Tradition	Community	Freedom	Personal Power	Performance

Learn more about developing empowering belief systems in the next post.