What Is Your “Why”?

Dear Reader,

If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, I shared three tips for transforming your life in August. I also announced that I am posting every day this week, the first full week of August, to help you get going. One of those tips involved doing inner work, which leads me to the topic of today’s post: your “why.”

What on earth do I mean?!

By your “why,” I mean nothing less than your motivation for doing what you do in life. What do you believe in, deeply and passionately? What are you willing to take a stand for? What gets you out of bed in the morning and launches you into your day to do what you do best – and why do you do what you do?

Ever thought about it? Have you thought about it recently?

If not, August is the perfect time to focus on your “why.”

First, it’s important to understand that the answer is not carved in stone; it may change over the course of your life.

Second, it is also important to be very honest with yourself. It may be that right now, you don’t have a sense of your “why,” or your “why” may be negative – you may be motivated by fear, or doubt, or someone else’s idea of what is best for your life. If that is true for you, be open and non-judgemental about your discovery and congratulate yourself for seeing clearly where you are in life right now. That’s your starting point.

Third, think of the word “why” as a key that can unlock the doorway to your greatest gifts, and reveal your next steps in life. Have fun with this exlporation, and go forward with a sense of wonder, rather than a determination to be perfect.

Ready to investigate?

Take a few moments, in your own way, to get quiet. Let the slower pace of August sink into your being. When you are ready, commit with a curious, open mind, to asking yourself the question: “What is my why?”

You may decide to journal about it. You may meditate or visualize about it. You may draw it, or do a collage. Or you may simply let the question go to work somewhere inside and go on with your day. I sometimes get insight about the big questions in life while buttering my toast. Whatever your approach, allow yourself at least forty-eight hours (or possibly the whole month of August!) to come up with something.

Here’s a hint; your big “why” will be related to what you love, or possibly to something you have struggled with in your own life. It could be very specific, or it could be very broad. It could be related to your love of children, or your love of nature, or a passion for cooking, or a curiosity about how the mind works. Whatever comes to you, just receive it, and commit to spending more time with it to gain further clarity if you want it.

I’ll share my big “why” with you, in case it helps your own reflection. I have done many things in my life, and have many interests. I have also had my share of struggles. When I get quiet, go within, and allow myself to look back over my life, what comes to me is that a driving force beneath everything I do, whether for myself, my family or as part of my work in the world, is the awareness that all human beings contain within them profound beauty, deserving of the opportunity to be fully expressed.

Dear reader, what is your big “why”?

I honor your loving heart,

John