Yes to Me

(Photo by Kaptain Krispy Kreme)

He has it all – a great job, beautiful wife, healthy kids, big house, nice car. . . yet he is not happy.

Todd at We The Change recently shared his encounter with his old friend. I know many of these people, too. I used to work in the corporate America assisting senior management. They had advanced degrees and high-paying jobs, and were mostly stressed out. You know these people, too, or maybe you are one of them.

If money doesn’t bring happiness and satisfaction, what will?

Money is good. We live in capitalism and we need money to buy comforts. The problem is, once we cover our needs for security and wellness – foods, clothes, roof over our head, insurance, etc. — the more money and stuffs don’t always bring us more satisfaction, but many of us are not aware of this.

Then what will bring true happiness? Well, you actually know the answer deep inside, so I’m going to jump to it: Life Purpose. Without purpose, life is a mere survival struggle or living in a big fat warehouse of stuffs, or somewhere in between. Todd’s friend got everything he could buy (and some more – like a good family), but he doesn’t have the sense of direction that he is heading toward his purpose. This sense of no direction is very disturbing, so he distracts himself in Vegas. How sad . . .

Do you have the sense of direction you are heading toward your purpose?

Even the way you think and spend money changes when you do. When you know your purpose of your life, you see money as a means to an end, not the purpose by itself. So you start spending money on things that support you in your journey to the purpose, like getting services that free up more of your time, or books and classes that better equip you in the journey. And the relative lack of money (again, provided you have the fundamental security and wellness) won’t disturb you so much.

I am talking from experience. As I wrote in Is Becoming An Entrepreneur Harder Than Surviving In A Foreign Country?, I left my comfortable life in Japan to seek higher purpose. At that time, I wasn’t so clear about all this spiritual purpose of life stuff – I just knew I had to do this. And I never looked back.

Do what you love? Follow your bliss? Is that all?

It’s nice to do what you love. It brings certain level of happiness and satisfaction. But it will also bring innate limitations. If you follow your bliss and do something only because you love doing it, what would you do when you face challenges? Maybe you get a harsh criticism. Or maybe you are just tired. You may still love it, but doing it is not much fun on these days. A self-indulgent purpose to do what you love betrays you . . . unless the love is . . .

If you look deeper, you might find that the real reason you love “it” is because it connects you to other people, other lives. For example, I see aspiring musicians in Todd’s comment area. They say they want to sing. Great. Perhaps they like the sensation of singing, their voices, the way their voices mix with the instruments. Now I guess they want people to hear their singing. They love singing, but that is not the end of the process – what they are really seeking is to connect with the audience through their singing. And even change the feelings of the audience, which may mean changing their lives. If they love music not only for their contentment but because of the joy of connecting to others, that is not a self-indulgent purpose – it is probably a true purpose.

Their gift in singing is probably bestowed so that they can use it to fulfill their purpose to touch people’s lives through their singing. So is your unique gift – it indicates the way to your life purpose.

Real satisfaction comes somewhere beyond the boundary of yourself

I am not talking about charities and volunteer work necessarily. We can be of service through our work, either as employee or as entrepreneur, and through a lot of things we do in our lives.

Spiritually we are all connected. It is only an illusion to see myself separate from you and others. I think this is why self-serving purpose is limiting and misleading – true purpose can’t be only about you, it is about how you can serve the universe.

It may sound like a contradiction, but when you become aware of your life purpose that serves not only you but the people around you too, it will bring you joy like no other. It is a warm, expansive feeling. Like all the struggles matter no more.

Take a moment today and think. What do you love doing? What are your gifts? Do they indicate your purpose of life that extends beyond yourself?

I feel so honored to be the first Winning Quote of the Week at Cath Lawson. Please see her post Can You Write a $500 Prize Winning Quote? to see which part of this post was quoted. Thank you, Cath! Also, thanks to Jonathan for including this post in his March Round-up, to Andrea for including this in Carnival of Truth, to Alex for inclusion in Personal development Carnival, to Jirel for inclusion in Carnival of Inspiration and Motivation, to Roger for inclusion in Carnival of Self-Growth, to Carnival of Improved Life for inclusion.

Would you like insights and accountability to bring real changes to your life? Please check this page

(Photo by Max xx)

How luck, or synchronicity, came into my life today

Happy Easter, my readers. I understand Easter is a celebration of renewed life. For me, it is a beautiful time in spring to appreciate the gift of life and review if I am living it fully.

What we do is a big part of our lives. I have been thinking a lot recently about my coaching business and its marketing. Some of you may have noticed that I changed the tagline of this blog from “For Tomorrow’s Successful Entrepreneurs” to “Life Purpose, Passion, and Entrepreneurship” I’m clarifying my niche – in other words, I am redefining my target market and my message. And this is a scary process because choosing something is about letting go of others. After tons of brainstorming, I thought I could really use a little guidance . . .

My guidance came unexpectedly. After I visited my CPA’s office this morning, I stopped at Powell’s Books nearby. There was a book-signing event going on – an old man was talking to a bunch of people. I listened to him for a while and liked his non-arrogant way of talking, so I took a seat, still not knowing who he was. He was talking about how we are all spiritual and how the invisible power works behind the scene. It was Neale Donald Walsch promoting his new book, Happier Than God: Turn Ordinary Life into an Extraordinary Experience. I was surprised how down-to-earth he was – he wasn’t like a crazy bygod at some religious institutions at all. He was even funny!

BE who you intend to be whatever you are DOING

During the Q&A, he told us how he started to do what he does now. At that time, he was very frustrated because he wanted to be wisdom, to work as the wise-man helping people, but he didn’t seem to get there. In layman’s terms, I guess he was unemployed. That night, he was asked what he needed to DO right now, and he answered he had to do some grocery shopping. Then he was told, “Then go to the grocery store.” Neale responded with frustration, “You don’t understand. That is not what I want to do.” “You can BE what you intend to be whatever you are doing. Be the wise-man you want to be while doing the grocery shopping.”

So he went to Safeway. There he saw a woman with a baby cart. The kid was picking grapes while the mother walked off to pick up things from the shelf. When she saw what the kid was doing. she hit the kid’s hand, and the kid started to cry. So Neale walked up to the woman and quietly said to her, “You don’t need to do that to your child.” She got upset at him and yelled at him it was none of his business, blah blah blah. He again told her she didn’t need to do that to her child, in his wise quiet voice. Again, she bombarded him with her stories – how her husband lost his job that week, how tough things are for her, etc. Third time, Neale talked to her, and she started sobbing, asking him who he was. “Are you a minister of some kind?” By the time, a crowd was forming around them and listening what he had to say. By BEING what he intended to be, a spiritual worker, he became one, although what he went out to DO, a grocery shopping, had nothing to do with it.

What does this story have to do with my or your businesses?

On one level, the message is straightforward. We need to BE first before we DO it, BE it whatever we are DOING. If you want to become an entrepreneur, be an entrepreneur whatever you are doing now. Think as entrepreneur even when you are doing employee work.

When we do this, the X Factor of life kicks in. Coincidences start to happen. Like Neale walking into the situation where he could exhibit his wisdom. Or me walking into his book-signing and hearing what I needed to hear. This is the second takeaway of the story.

We are spiritual beings, and spirituality works in business as well.

We have the tendency to think of business in a superficial way. We tend to see only the doing part of entrepreneurship. I think this is quite an ineffective way of thinking. DOING it right is of course important, but there is this hidden working in entrepreneurship, the BEING part.

So I think my blog is about BEING a successful entrepreneur, the inner mechanics of thinking and feeling as a successful entrepreneur so that we can act as one. Maybe I just lost a group of readers who are only interested in the How-To’s, and honestly that saddens me. I am also excited about this niche. There are a lot of good teachers and their blogs about the doings of entrepreneurship, and there are also a lot of great personal development and spiritual growth blogs, but I don’t know many writers who effectively connect the two points. Jonathan Fields occasionally writes about it (like this post), but that’s about all I know. This is still a pioneer field.

From experience, I know that synchronicity starts working when I embrace my spirituality.

In fact, my next post is about another synchronicity I had this past week and the great motivational speaker I had the honor to interview. Stay tuned.

Do you see synchronicity working in your life and in your business?

Would you like insights and accountability to bring real changes to your life? Please check this page

Hi, I guest blogged at Andrea’s Empowered Soul. Please check The Difference Between Smart and Wise there. Empowered Soul is an outstanding website that encourages you to pursue your highest path and purpose of your soul.

And welcome, Andrea’s readers! I believe personal issues manifest as business issues, so while Yes to Me is for aspiring entrepreneurs, it discusses our inner growth often. Please take a look around — Are You Afraid To Express Yourself In Business? and 5 Qualities I Find In Successful Entrepreneurs may especially interesting for you. Let me know what you think by leaving your comment! Thank you.

Would you like insights and accountability to bring real changes to your life? Please check this page