The Personal Excellence Blog

Articles Concept Map

Celes — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:07:54 +0000

2 weeks ago, I asked you for your thoughts on how I can improve The Personal Excellence Blog. One of the readers, aegil, suggested I use a concept map. A concept map is like a mindmap diagram that shows the relationship among different items. It’s much useful than using archives listing (sorted by date of article) or a categories listing because it shows the hierarchy and interlinking relationships among the articles.

I thought this was a brilliant idea, so I took some time out yesterday to design a Concept Map for the blog. Check out the end product here (Java support needed):

[ The Personal Excellence Blog Concept Map ]

The legend is provided inside. Have fun reading the articles! The map will be updated over time as more articles are added.

Thanks aegil for your wonderful idea!

PS: The software I used is FreeMind. Check it out if you are interested in doing mind mapping for your personal use. It’s great!

12 Dating Facts About Me

Celes — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:40:23 +0000

© Pieter Musterd

I recently started a 12 Dating Facts meme for singles at The Celes Show, in conjunction with V-day and the upcoming V-day episode (which will be online 12 Feb!). If you are a single, I’m tagging you to join in the meme! Visit 12 Dating Facts I Want To Know About You for further instructions. Remember to post your link in the comments box here so I can read your answers too.

My Profile:

Are you a guy or a girl? Girl!
How old are you? 25
How tall are you? 1.70m, or 5′ 7″. Many say that I’m tall for an Asian. I guess they’re right!

The 12 Dating Questions:

What are the top 3 things you look for in a guy / girl? Competence, Consciousness, and Chivalry. Someone competent because I’m always expecting the best of myself, so I’d want my partner to be someone who holds high standards for himself too. Consciousness refers to awareness of self, others, and the world around us. It’s fundamental towards living a truly conscious life of your making. Chivalry because I think guys who look out for girls are really sweet!
How important are looks to you? I think looks are important to the extent where the person looks presentable and takes pride in keeping in shape. These speak a lot about how he views himself and his personal image. In terms of good looks itself, the personality really speaks a whole lot more to me. Someone with a poor personality, even if he is supposedly handsome, will immediately come across as ugly to me. Similarly, someone who has a heart of gold, even if he may not be the best looker, will really attract me.
Will you date someone who is more than 10 years apart from you in age? While 10 years is a considerable age gap, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility if the person seems like a potential match!
If you are a girl / guy, will you consider dating someone who is shorter / taller? Why? Typically I’ll only consider someone who is the same height or taller than me. But the person seems like a great person, once again, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility
If you like someone, will you make the first move? I’m quite the traditional romantic when it comes to dating, so I wouldn’t make the first move. But I will drop subtle hints or create opportunities between us!
Do you think guys should always pay for the dates? It’s really sweet if the guy offer to pay, but it’s not fair for the guy to be paying all the time because the date should be an equal effort between both parties! I’ll offer to treat for every other date.
What is the biggest thing that will turn you off about guy / girl? Self-centeredness. I’ve been out with guys who talk about themselves all the time and it gets really one-sided after a while!
Do you believe in soulmates? I believe we have several soulmates who enter our lives as our family, best friends, life partners or even enemies to help us grow in our life journey. So in that sense, my definition of soulmates is not exactly the same as the Hollywood stereotype of the romantic partner. That being said, I definitely believe there is a special someone for each of us out there Finding this person is proving to be quite hard though!
Do you believe in love at first sight? I don’t think it’s possible to fall in love at first sight, especially since it’s mainly physical looks we are talking about. But I think it’s possible to feel a strong affinity or connection in the first conversation, from the immediate vibes you get.
How would you describe the feeling of being in love to someone who hasn’t been in love before? When the person is on your mind more than half the time, when you somehow manage to link or bring up the person in your conversations – even when it’s not even remotely related, when you break out into a big grin whenever the person is brought up, when you still feel attracted to the person despite knowing his/her “flaws” or “weaknesses”, when you can’t wait till the next time you see him/her
What kind of date sounds the most fun to you? I think even the simplest date can be fun! Out on the beach, star gazing, candle light dinner, cooking together or even just chilling out at home!
What do you feel is the #1 thing to a successful date? The right person Doesn’t matter what the activity is, if it’s the right person, the date will be amazing in itself!

I’m having a great blast reading the different answers from others – it is so interesting that the same questions spark off such different answers from everyone . Simply join in via facebook, your blog, myspace, or any publishing tool you use – Visit 12 Dating Facts I Want To Know About You for further instructions.

Separately, for The Celes Show V-Day episode, I’ll be interviewing Violet Lim – highly sought-after dating and relationship expert, as well as co-founder of Lunch Actually (Asia’s largest and premier dating company), to share with us her expert insights. If you have any dating questions to ask, feel free to post them here before Feb 7 and I’ll ask her during the interview. Stay tuned

My Upcoming Talkshow – The Celes Show

Celes — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:23:14 +0000

Hey guys! If you have been following my Twitter and Facebook updates, you would know that I have been working on the conceptualization and production of my talkshow lately. If you recall, I first shared the idea of the talkshow with all of you in one of my blog entries last Nov. In the entry, I shared the following:

A few weeks ago, I was just thinking about the developments thus far since I started pursuing my passion last year. I started off with the blog in Dec ‘08, expanded to 1-1 coaching officially in March ‘09, followed by speaking after that. Just last month, I began to actively give workshops, reaching out to people on an even broader scale. Regional expansion is in the plans for the next year, followed by intentional expansion.

I pondered aloud on what are other things I could do in order to reach out to an even larger audience. This is when the idea of a talkshow hit me. Something that’s Oprah Winfrey / Tyra Banks-esque. With a talkshow, it’s going to allow me to reach out to even more people than whatever mediums I’m using right now (with the exception of the blog). Not to mention that people who can’t afford my 1-1 coaching or workshops can still have access to what I have to offer. I can only imagine this will be a more impactful medium than any other mediums I have been utilizing so far, and the thought of it just excites me thoroughly!

Honestly, I have to say I’ve never had another idea that’s as vividly and deeply etched into my mind as this before! It’s been hovering my mind ever since it sprung in my head a few weeks ago.

At the moment, I’m letting this idea brew in my head as I focus on writing my book. For sure, this is going to be one of my top priority goals for 2010. LD One of my current ideas is perhaps to start it off as a blog TV, while working towards the end vision of a broadcasted talkshow like Tyra Banks Show (by the way, Tyra Banks is one of the few inspirational figures in my life).

Well, I’m extremely excited to share that production of the show is well under way now right now！ . The Celestine Chua Show, or The Celes Show in short, is an online talkshow dedicated to helping you be your best self and live your best life. I really see this show as a key platform to 1) bring awareness to and 2) enable conscious discussions of pertinent, socially relevant topics and trends. For every episode, we intend to have special guests to share their views on the topic.

The Celes Show website just launched at http://celesshow.com, along with a 3 minute video prelude to the show . In this prelude, I share why I’m doing The Celes Show and some things you can be expecting for the upcoming episodes. Let me know what you think about the prelude and/or the show itself via the comments box – I’d love to know what’s on your mind!

Separately, since this is going to be a show about you, I want to know what you want to see on the show. I have already planned a list of topics to cover for the next few episodes, so please cast your votes here as well as share other topics you want to see covered!

The 1st episode of The Celes Show is centered on Relationships and Valentine’s Day and it is scheduled to be up by 14 Feb. Stay tuned @ The Celes Show!

Why I Parted Ways With My Best Friend of 10 Years

Celes — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:08:39 +0000

© alexwilkes

Have you ever had a friendship which you were ready to let go?

I have. It was with one of the closest friends I have ever had – someone whom I’d refer to as K. K and I knew each other for 10 years and were best friends, before we parted ways last year.

How We Knew Each Other

I first knew K when I was 15. That was 10 years ago. I remember at that time, I was learning web design as a hobby and was setting up my first website. As my webhost (I was using Crosswinds at that time) was frequently down, I would often visit their IRC support channel to check out what was wrong. (Those were the good old days when IRC and ICQ ruled the world of online chat.)

There, I came to know K, who was one of the support volunteers. K was 27 and from America. Even though we were from different backgrounds and were 12 years apart, we hit it off very well. There was another girl – M, same age as me, whom we acquainted with in the chat room too.

Before we knew it, all 3 of us became very close friends. Our interest in web design was one of the things which brought us together. Me, K and M would often hang out online and just chat for hours and hours to no end. Because each of us were from different timezones (I was from Singapore, K was from America – 15 hrs apart – and M was from Netherlands which was 7 hrs apart), we would each take turns to stay up / wake up early just so we could hang out more. One of the things I looked forward every day after school was just hanging out with them. We were closer with each other than to many of our other friends. The anonymity of the internet allowed us to connect more authentically as individuals, free of subconscious impositions that would come attached with our social labels in the society.

Becoming Best Friends

Over the next few years, K and I stayed connected, while M and I drifted away. Since K was from America, we had never met in person before. Yet, over the course of the next 10 years, our friendship became stronger and stronger.

Do you have a very close friend in your life? K was my closest, platonic friend ever. He was the one person whom I knew I could trust my life with and he would protect it with his life. He would always be there to provide a listening ear whenever I needed one, no matter how busy he was or what he was occupied with. Whether I was down, angry, happy or restless, he would be there to listen. We would talk on the phone almost every day. He would stay up through the night and sacrifice his sleep so we could talk. Our conversations covered just about everything, from daily events, life, personal introspection, hobbies, our families, friends, relationships, my school, his work, etc.

Deep down, I felt extremely blessed and thankful to have a friend like him.

Pushing Him To Take Action On His Life

As K’s best friend, I was personally invested in his life. I always felt K was seriously living below his potential. He seemed like he was stuck in a rut in his life. For example, he was working in jobs which underutilized his capabilities. In the 10 years we knew each other, he would switch back and fro from lower tier jobs to unemployment to odd jobs. He was perpetually always trying to repay debts to his friends and family which he built up from earlier years.

He was also constantly procrastinating on his Quadrant 2 areas. He wanted to be in a relationship, but he never took much action to find his life partner. His health and fitness was neglected – he was taking the standard junk food diet and didn’t make effort to keep his fitness level in check. From an overall life standpoint, he was living on a day to day basis, without really living life to the fullest.

For the people whom we care about, we would naturally want what was best for them. It was the same from me to K. I constantly pushed him to work on his life. It started as small steps, by urging him to get a better job and encouraging him to work on his diet. I pushed him to set goals and take action. Whatever skills or adages I had picked up and found useful, I would share with him so he could benefit from it.

While he grew in his own ways over the years, I felt he was still largely living his life in inertia and wasting his life away. Not only that, whatever growth he experienced were largely triggered by me. I had to push him really hard to get him acting a little on his goals. When I wasn’t pushing, he would simply stop doing anything. All these left me mentally and emotionally drained in the friendship.

Weariness in the Friendship

© Arielle Kristina

It got to the point where I was very frustrated. While I was moving forward in leaps in my personal life, it felt as if K was pretty much stuck in the same stage, right from when I first knew him when I was 15. Like his life was in a standstill.

I felt sad. Since K was my best friend, I wished for him to be living his life to the fullest. Wouldn’t it be great if both of us could be actively pursuing our goals and achieving success in our pursuits? Wouldn’t it be great if we could enjoy the joy of conscious living and blaze through life together? As I progressed further in my goals, our differences widened. It became harder and harder to relate to him about myself, my life, my goals. He could only be listening as a proxy rather than really connecting with what I was sharing. I felt his lack of growth was holding me back from achieving even more with my life.

In retrospect, I realized the dynamics of the friendship didn’t allow him to truly grow. He had been my support all along, enabling me come into my own as an individual. Unfortunately, this resulted in him living under my shadow. He was living vicariously through my achievements, my pursuits. He changed himself because I wanted him to do so. He bended over backwards just to make me happy. The problem was he had not found his inner self and it certainly did not help that I was unknowingly imposing myself on him.

We spent a lot of effort trying to arrive at a common point, but each time it was always a forced solution that did not address any of the fundamental issues. The same problems just kept cropping up over and over again, and we were going around in circles with our discussions. Our conversations turned into consciousness-lowering affairs rather than forwarding discussions.

Our friendship may have started off on a strong note 10 years ago, but it had evolved over the years to become one which was holding us back. It was obvious that this friendship was no longer helping us to move forward in our lives.

Deciding To End the Friendship

In March 2009 which was last year, I received a sudden flash of realization. I realized it was time to let go of the friendship.

While I felt poignant about this decision, I knew, deep down in my heart, this was necessary. It was for the better. Looking back, it was clear we had entered each other’s lives 10 years ago for a reason and this reason had been fulfilled. For me, I had grown and evolved to be a much better and stronger individual with his support. For him, he finally embarked on living a life of purpose and growth after coasting through over 30 years of his life. It was evident that it was time for us to move on and start embracing the next phase of our life.

When I shared this with him, he was extremely upset. He didn’t agree with me and violently objected to the whole notion altogether. It was over the course of the next few months that he finally came to accept what I meant. After a few chats, we finally parted ways in Oct 2009, removing each other from all our communications. If you had read my 2009 reflections post, the person I referred to in event #13 is K.

As we parted ways, we didn’t rule out the possibility of crossing paths in the future. If fate has it that we are to meet again, then we will do so in the future. But until that happens, we will walk our separate paths, fervently pursue our personal growth and live our lives to the fullest.

Recognizing We Are Connected, With or Without A Friendship

Some may feel the notion of ending a friendship is incredulous, but that really stems from their worldview of relationships. The reason why I am able to readily let the friendship go is because I see the world as one. One whole. In our physical world, we have labels such as “friends”, “BFF”, “girlfriend / boyfriend”, “wife / husband”, etc to physically define connections with one another. Yet, we are already connected with one another without these labels. Such social labels serve to give some form of definition of how we stand in accordance to who we are, but ultimately they undermine the timeless and eternal connection each of us have with one another. This connection is something that’s inherent by virtue of our existence. It expands beyond time and space and transcends social labels, social filters and people’s affirmations.

Thus, the first question you should ask yourself about troubled friendships isn’t what you should do to maintain a friendship. Rather, you should ask yourself whether this friendship is one which will truly help both you and your friend progress in both your life’s journey. If it is, then you can then think about the necessary steps to maintain the relationship. If it isn’t, then there’s no point in continuing the friendship at all. Only by letting go disempowering friendships, can you make room for new, empowering friendships to enter into your life.

How To Know When To Let A Friendship Go

© Athena’s Pix

Obviously, no one goes into a friendship with the intention of ending it. However, I have learned from this incident that there are times when ending a friendship is very well the best way forward, assuming that everything has already been done to work out the issues.

While the below are written in the context of friendships, they apply to all relationships as well.

1) When the friendship is causing you more anguish than joy

Do you have any friendships which seem to be causing more unhappiness than happiness? We form friendships with others to support each other to become better persons. When the friendship you are in is causing you more anguish than joy, it defeats the purpose why you are even in the friendship to begin with. Unfortunately, most people stay on in negative relationships, causing themselves lots of unhappiness in the process. If you have friendships which are causing you more pain than joy, it might be time to evaluate whether it’s worth it to hold on to them.

2) When you are putting in more effort into the friendship than the other party

This wasn’t applicable for my situation, but there are times when dynamics of the friendship is lopsided. Say, when one person is putting in more effort than the other person. Such a situation tells you a lot about how much (or little) the friendship means to him/her. As the saying goes – It takes two hands to clap. Without the other person giving the friendship the same attention and priority to this as you are, things can never work out. Sooner than later, you’ll find yourself bending over backwards to keep this friendship afloat. In this case, the best form of respect you can give to yourself is to let the friendship go. If the other person doesn’t value this in the same way, it is pointless to continue on.

3) When you have invested a lot time and energy into addressing issues, but to no avail

Where there are obstacles in the friendship, you should first try to sort out these issues with your friend. However, there may come a time when issues remain unresolved despite that. Maybe the friend doesn’t care enough about the friendship (factor #2 above). Maybe both of you are not willing to compromise. Maybe the differences are too huge to be worked out.

Whatever the reasons are, there comes a point where you have to acknowledge that these issues might very well be irreconcilable. You can continue to try to resolve them, but if they could be resolved, they would have been addressed right at the on-start. While you can pour your heart and soul into making things work out, in the long run you become a slave to the relationship.

4) When your fundamental values and beliefs are different

For any friendship or relationship to work out, there has to be certain similarity in fundamental values. Similarity in these values are the big rocks which will hold the friendship in place. Even if other things are dissimilar, the big rocks will enable the friendship to weather through even the toughest storms ahead.

On the other hand, if the core values are fundamentally different, it doesn’t matter even if everything else is same. The journey to keep the relationship together will only become an uphill battle. It’s just like trying to hold the soil of the ground together in a heavy rain. Without the roots of the tree to hold this soil together, everything will just slip away against your best efforts.

For me and K, our friendship started off where we were similar in our consciousness. As I grew through the years, our fundamental philosophies no longer fit. From there, it was either we compromise on our personal growth, or we part ways to embrace our real life paths. We went for the latter.

I believe the most important thing in life is to first be true to ourselves. While conformance has its merits, it should never be done at the expense of our own growth or our values. Compromising on your personal values just to keep a friendship afloat will ultimately only make you miserable. What’s worse, because your true self is repressed, you start to wrap your identity around the friendship. This was what happened to K, which was why we had to let go of the relationship partly so he could grow into his own. You need to first be true to who you are before any meaningful relationship can be formed.

5) When the friendship is preventing either of you from growing as individuals

A friendship is ultimately a third entity formed due to two individuals. Every friendship evolves based on how both parties are growing. Sometimes both parties grows at the same pace. There are times where the friendship is one of stagnancy, where both parties don’t grow. Then there are times when one outgrows the other, by a large margin.

When this happens, you have two options (i) change the dynamics of the friendship to fit this new development, or change yourself to maintain the same dynamics. As I shared in Factor #4, it’s most important to first be true to ourselves. Determine who you are and who you want to be, then decide if this friendship is one that is compatible with you. A friendship that hinders you from growing into your own isn’t the best one for you. On top of that, if you are not able to grow into your own, chances are your friend is facing a similar blockage as well. A real friendship should be one that enables you in your personal life journey, so you can then enable your friend and others in their life journeys as well.

Moving Forward

As all of us evolve in our own personal journeys, we will cross paths with many different people. Some will be just a brief encounter. Some will stay for a while, then leave when the intent of the encounter is served. Some will stay for an extended period of time. Remember that physical friendships may be temporary, but the connection we have towards one another is eternal. Because of that, always ensure the friendships you are in are the ones which are enabling you in your life path. If the friendship is not enabling either party, the best way forward is to let it go. Perhaps one day, when you guys are at a different, better place in life, you might just cross paths again. This time, both of you will be able to connect with each other on a whole different capacity altogether, leading to a different level of connection altogether.

How Can I Make The Personal Excellence Blog Better For You?

Celes — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:36:15 +0000

Image © eleaf

Today’s post is different from the usual article sharing my personal reflections. Today is not about what I have to say. It’s about what YOU have to say

As you know, The Personal Excellence Blog is all about you. Every article I write here is intended to help you live more consciously. Every decision I make is to improve the value you get. This includes closing off comments in the past, removing the ads and the continuous improvements in layouts, such as the latest revamp into the minimalistic design.

However, majority of the improvements have been largely made based on what I think will be better for you. Today, I want to hear from YOU personally on how I can make this blog better for you. Your very own thoughts, in your very own words.

In the comments box below, I invite you to share with me your most earnest thoughts about the following:

What are the biggest things you love about The Personal Excellence Blog?
What can I do to make this blog better for you?
Is there anything you want to see at the blog (videos, ebooks, etc?)? If so, what are they?

You can share your feedback on anything – whether it is the layout, the formatting, the content/articles, my writing style, new ideas, etc.

So hit up the comments box now and share with me your feedback now! Please share as much as possible – the more you share, the better I can improve the user experience for you. I look forward to hearing from you

What Is The Meaning of Life? How To Discover Your Real Life Purpose

Celes — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:39:59 +0000

This is part 6 of a 7-part series on how to discover your real purpose in life.

What is the meaning of life?

Have you ever pondered on this question before?

I have. Many of you probably have as well at some points in your life. After all, as beings who want to make the most out of our lives, it is only natural we seek to discover the meaning of why we are here, so we can then live our lives to the fullest.

The Search for Life’s Meaning

The pursuit for life’s meaning has led many of us to seek out different outlets for answers. Some of us turn to religions for guidance. Some of us read self help books, hoping it will give us some direction. Some of us yearn to travel around the world in search of signs and inspirations. Then there are those who have dedicated their whole lives to searching for answers to these.

In my past year, there have been many people who asked me about life’s meaning. I have numerous clients who seek coaching to discover what their purpose and passion are. I have friends and readers who would consult me on the same question. Most of them feel lost, clueless or helpless pertaining to what life’s purpose is about. Some of them are fraught with desperation because they are tired of living lives of no meaning. Some have become just plain jaded with life.

The Meaning of Life

So what is the meaning of life? What is the answer to this question that has left so many people lost and clueless?

3 years after first discovering my life purpose and watching people seek out meaning of their existence externally, I recently came full circle with the answer to this question.

I realized the meaning of life isn’t out there. The meaning of life has been inside us all along.

Forget what the world out has been trying to tell you about your purpose. The real meaning of life is what you define to be your life’s meaning. This means you define what you want the meaning of your life to be. This means you define what you want to live for, based on what is the most important and noteworthy cause to you.

Many people have been looking towards the world for the answer on life’s meaning. Yet, the key to the answer has been with you all along. See, you can either scream and shout at the world in resignation every day asking what your life’s meaning is, or you can look within and determine that meaning for yourself. You can seek out others to tell you what life’s meaning is, or you can take it on yourself to determine the real meaning of the life you want to live. You can either muck around waiting for an epiphany to strike you or you can take the stand and decide what meaning you want your life to be. The former is where you relinquish control to the external world and defer living to a later moment. The latter is an act of conscious creation.

When I was pondering about the meaning of my life 3 years ago, I looked out into the external world, sought out different resources and deeply introspected for a period of time. At the end of the few months of search, I discovered my purpose was to achieve my highest consciousness and help others achieve their highest consciousness. I theorized this was the best thing I could ever live for, because consciousness was the only thing that was permanent in the world.

Throughout the 3 years later, I lived in adherence to this purpose, because I believed it was my path as a human.

Today, I continue to live by this purpose. But the reason why I do that today, is not because I see this as my destiny. The reason why I do this is because I have chosen, of my own conscious choice and desire, for this to be my life purpose. This is a cause which I saw to be of highest meaning, a cause which I want to dedicate myself to.

While I still believe in the notion of date and destiny, I believe more in personal power. Power in being able to decide how we want to live our lives. Whatever our destiny may be – if it is truly something worthwhile and a cause worth living for, we will eventually come to consciously choose it as our purpose anyway. This is where personal choice and destiny will converge to become one singular direction.

Define Your Purpose For Your Life

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” Rumi
“Decide upon your major definite purpose in life and then organize all your activities around it.” Brian Tracy

If you have not lived with a purpose of your own creation before, it’s time for you to define your life’s purpose. Let us now work together to define your purpose for your life

Steps To Define Your Purpose:

Firstly, take out a piece of pen and paper. On top of the paper, write “My Real Life Purpose”
Now, think deeply over the following question: What is the purpose do you want to define for your life?
Write down the all the answers that come to mind. If you ever find yourself stuck, just keep writing whatever random thoughts are on your mind. Think of it as retrieving the needle in a haystack. In order to get the needle, you need to get the hay out. All these random thoughts are the hay that are standing between you and the needle.
Keep writing and press on until you finally reach the answer that evokes your strongest emotions and resonates with the depth of your soul.

Notes:

There is no right or wrong answer: There is only the answer which is the most true for you. To date, I have never had any client with the same purpose statement as another. Some of their purposes are: “To love myself and others unconditionally”, “To live my best life via being persistent and taking continuous actions on my goals”, “To do the right things right”, “To be my best and touch others’ hearts”, etc. All of you are unique individuals and thus your purpose will be totally unique to you.
Taking time out to think: If you find you need more time to think, then take some time out to mull over it. Spend an hour, a day, or even a week. Bookmark this page and return to it when it’s time. But don’t overstretch the thinking process or complicate the thinking beyond what it should be. Because you are the person who determines what your life should be lived for. No matter who you are, when you are doing this or where you are in life right now, you already have the power and onus to define your own purpose for your life. Set a deadline on when you want to have the answer to this question and mark that on your calendar.

As you write your purpose, frame it into a purpose / mission statement. There are no hard and fast rules on how to do this, but below are some good pointers:

How To Write Your Purpose / Mission statement

Simple; 1-2 statements. It should convey 1-2 key points. Keep it within 1-2 statements. Your purpose should be long enough such that it means something to you and concise enough so it’s easy for you to remember.
Action-form. It should be framed as an action, such as “To live to my highest potential and be the best I can be”, “To bring love and joy to everyone in the world”, etc. Your purpose is trigger you into action continuously.
Use words that resonate with you. All the words used in your life purpose statement should ideally resonate with you.
Direction, not destination. Just like how you can never ever reach north, your statement should be an action which is an ongoing journey.

My Life Purpose

Here is my life purpose today, same as what I shared in my personal story. The purpose is two-fold:

1) “To unite the world as one single consciousness: To touch others’ lives, enable them to achieve their highest potential and live their best life.”

2) “To reach my highest level of consciousness: To achieve my highest potential and live my best life; To live consciously and freely in truth, love and power.”

After Defining Your Purpose

The most important thing to realize is even after defining your life mission statement, it will change in the future. Just like you evolve as a person throughout the journey, your life mission will change.

Make sure to review your purpose statement periodically, for example once every 6 months to ensure that it still resonates with who you are. It is possible that you have undergone changes or obtained new revelations in your world beliefs which makes your purpose irrelevant to you. This is just like how companies need to regularly review their mission statement to ensure that it has not been made obsolete.

Now that you have discovered your new found purpose in life, you need to start integrating it in your life. In the last part of this series, we will discuss on how to reconcile your current life with your new purpose.

This is part 6 of a 7-part series on how to discover your real purpose in life.