How many people in your life really get why you are here? What you are about?In initial interviews with prospective clients, I often find myself probing the question of mission. Some people have been trained to give a glib reply. Others answer with, “I don’t know.”
Either way, most report how rarely they have been met or understood in this sense of inner mission.I like to approach deepening clarity of mission from three very different angles.
The first is to create assignments and conversations that explore the evidence of the life so far lived. What successes are you most proud of? When do you feel you are doing your best stuff? How do people appreciate you? You can see for yourself as you investigate such questions for yourself. You may be a builder of trust, a manifester or a visionary.
A pattern emerges from the evidence of the life so far lived that points to your innate gift. However, this only points to a part of our true being.The second angle is to bring forward the experiences of the little child inside; the part of us that feels vulnerable and has needs. What is the little child deepest need? We might visualize sitting with that child or find some way to engage with the most tender part of our inner nature.As we touch again that little child’s deepest need, we find understanding.
Because we know that need so well, we understand how to give what is needed. Safety, for example, or freedom. Here is the gift that is uniquely ours to bring as an adult now. More often than not, we find that we have remarkable capacity in the very area that was once our own deepest need.
The third angle is the spiritual or mystical dimension of experience. Often such things are held private or hidden behind aversion or attraction to religious concepts and so on. As we peel that back, people report experiences in all kinds of different forms. Moments when they could see through the outer skin to the inner workings of those around them. Inspiring encounters with hawks, leopards or other powerful animals. Soul connection with a teacher. A vision of the future. Recurring dreams. Experiences of prayer, meditation or community.Our sense of mission is shaped by what we touch in this regard.
We feel called in some way. For example, to create community or abundance; or to release people from limiting beliefs.I am sure many of you reading this piece love to meet your friends and colleagues in a shared understanding of what we are most deeply about. What has allowed you to go there with people?
I would be interested to hear what you are finding.
