Coaching Corner with Sharon Eden
Executive Coach & Trainer
About The Author
Sharon Eden
Sharon Eden's an Evolutionary Executive Coach, Trainer and Catalyst for
Leaders, Managers and Visionaries who desire high performance, presence and
influence EdenDynamics. She also offers her expertise and wisdom specifically
for women Women of Courage, leading audaciously with purpose, passion and
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Archives for Sharon Eden
Coaching Corner
Coaching Corner w/Sharon Eden
TFW Main Page
Purpose & Meaning
posted Sep 5, 2009
Stress Free Summer
posted May, 2009
Coaching Corner
Coaching Corner w/Sharon Eden
TFW Main Page
Purpose & Meaning
posted Sep 5, 2009
Stress Free Summer
posted May, 2009
Purpose & Meaning by Sharon Eden
Posted September 5th, 2009
I wanted to start this article with a very school girlish joke about what the meaning of life's all about as if to lampoon the whole idea. I'm not the first.
Philosophical and religious thoughts have veered between your 'purpose' being divine realisation to 'there is no purpose' to the absurdity of it and all points between (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life).
And I know myself well enough to realise the desired joke's intention was to put you off my scent. It was to cover my embarrassment at writing about something so centrally important to me. Like you've caught me with my knickers showing!
For I think of my purpose as both my transpersonal* guiding principle and my grounded, earthy rock from which I operate in the world. And in the same way, I experience meaning and purpose as two expressions of one face. Purpose informs and gives meaning to what I do while meaning reflects back to me my purpose and the nature of my being.
And while the words of my purpose have changed over time, its central theme remains constant; one of service for the growth of myself and others.
Phew! I've come out of the closet feeling a bit shy and gauche and tearful... and glad that I did it. Not unlike the people I work with who are searching for something more in their lives and discover that 'something' within rather than without.
Paradoxically, their discoveries come from our conversations about not having purpose or meaning. They come from starting points like change or dissatisfaction or feeling inadequate or things not living up to expectations. And those of us working in organisations are increasingly having those kind of conversations.
A consequence of economic downturn? I don't think so. I've been having those conversations for years. Indeed, it seems to me that there's a push from humanity's collective unconscious which is now gaining momentum. And I see it as an organic urge for humans to be and experience ourselves as 'more than' our personalities... as 'more than' our personal identities, positions and posturing.
My core training in the '80s was in Psychosynthesis, a transpersonal psychology founded by Roberto Assagioli. One of its propositions is that, when we integrate both the personal and transpersonal dimensions of our being, there are at leastfour identifiable characteristics in our life and work as a whole.
1. Being 'response-able', able to take responsibility and make choices in the moment... rather than act from reactive habits or patterns of behaviour.
2. Having a deep preference for living in line with your purpose and a disinclination to get involved in things which detract from or conflict with it.
3. Having a willingness to live in the world just 'as it is' which doesn't deny possibilities for development of 'what is' yet paradoxically also brings acceptance.
4 .Having a sense of having a destiny, a meaning to live and overall purpose in life.
Now, I'm not such a purist. From working with thousands of people, I believe that anyone can connect with their purpose and meaning without that integration. I believe that connection of itself can be the catalyst for understanding yourself as more than your body, feelings & mind; for connecting with your 'ooomph' whatever you believe it to be!
If you've already become aware of your purpose and meaning, you'll know the experience of expandedness, of deeply felt engagement and purposeful action for your own and the higher good. And if you've not yet become aware of your purpose, that might sound like so much high falutin' mumbo jumbo! And maybe it won't.
I was once on a course where we students strained like a bad case of constipation to find our 'purpose', i.e., in line with the leader's definition of what it was. Wrong!!! How your purpose shows up can be through words, sounds, pictures, sensations, symbols and metaphors of all kinds.
And the most delicious thing is that you'll already be manifesting it in some way, even if you don't know what it is. Because your purpose can be expressed in an infinite number of ways and, with its urge to manifest, will use whatever means are at its disposal.
Some people think you have to totally change your life to find purpose and \ meaning. That's why I help people discover theirs exactly where they are in their lives right now. Then you have real choice about what you do... or do not!
Your own purpose and meaning are right in front of your nose just a hair's breadth away. And whatever they are, once known, you and your life will never ever be the same again... even if it is!
*Referring to experience which goes beyond personal, individual identity and meaning. It involves values, meaning, purpose and alignment with universal principles.
(c) Sharon Eden All Rights Reserved