FCTB022: How to Live A More Joyful, Peaceful, Purposeful Life

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I am managing a Facebook group of women who want to grow their selves and their lives. In my desire to be of service and support them more, I decided to conduct a survey asking them what goals they are working on at the moment. I was under the guise that most will answer the typical, defined responses of career, debt, fitness, and romance that I readied a structure based on these. But the #1 answer by an overwhelming margin that turned up is the vaguer concept of living a more joyful, peaceful, purposeful life.

I’m not as ready to answer this challenge as I am with the other response options that I expected to turn up. Losing weight, leveraging finances – these are quantified by setting up parameters and tracking systems, but how to facilitate and help someone towards an intangible or unquantifiable goal, and how to measure success? While a joyful, peaceful and purposeful life will not necessarily resonate with everyone, what I will be sharing will help you to accomplish whatever type of life you want to create for yourself.

joyful /adj/ feeling, expressing, or causing great pleasure and happiness.
peaceful /adj/ free from disturbance; tranquil; drama-free; anxiety-free; worry-free
purposeful /adj/ having or showing determination or resolve; intentional; on purpose

Guided by the definitions provided above, I try to dissect and answer this today through a simple guide:

• Envision what the idealized life means to you and what it looks like – you need to be so clear on what it is you want to allow you to personalize your methods depending on your idea of the life you want to create. This also serves the purpose such that when you arrive and get there, you identify it and know that you have already reached your goal (3:50).
• Identify which areas of your life fits and does not fit the vision and definition of the life you want to create, then analyze on why they do or don’t, and if there are recurring themes or trends (6:36).
• Recognize the gap and formulate a game plan to close the gap – this somehow allows us to quantify the ‘intangible goal’ via the gap. The game plan is comprised of strategies and routines like journaling, setting and enforcing boundaries, being intentional, making choices and decisions, and managing attitudes and perspectives (7:12).
• Enjoy the journey. Be patient with life – life is nothing but a set of journeys towards the different goals we need to accomplish strewn across our lifetime (18:31).

I also shared anecdotes to support the methods I prescribed above.

• Cross-state family trips I had when I was younger waiting for the ‘Welcome to Kentucky’ sign that says we’ve arrived (6:00).
• Joyce Meyers sermon about monotony and the concept of blue skies and green grass, which makes us feel out of purpose, out of joy and out of peace (9:35).
• The lesson of managing perspectives through the story of the three men building a church (13:50).
• Dr. Phil’s wife, Robin McGraw, ensuring that Dr. Phil gets his physical exercise after traveling and work by scheduling it and leaving reminders to keep the intention (17:59).
• Looking forward to a trip to Lisa Nichols’ Speak and Write to Make Millions keeps me excited (19:57).
• A practice in our church’s mission trip to Haiti where we asked daily “Where did we see Jesus today?”. Acknowledge and find where whatever-adjective-that-you-use-to-describe-the-life-you-want was seen – this can serve as a daily reminder and a guide towards your goal. (20:33).

The most important takeaway here is the importance of visioning in defining what kind of life it is that we want – whether it is a joyous, peaceful, adventurous, spiritual, or purposeful life that you want to create. From there, identifying and analyzing your current state, recognizing and enforcing your strategies until you finally arrived at the destination of your journey.

I would like to hear your visions and what kind of life you want to create for yourself, email me at [email protected] or chime in the comments below. If you found this episode insightful, share it on your social networks so others benefit from it too.

Relevant Links:
The Truth About Purpose | From Caterpillars to Butterflies
Creating Balance and Setting Boundaries | From Caterpillars to Butterflies
Speak and Write to Make Millions Workshop 2017
Expand Your Vision to Expand Your Life
Facebook Group for Ambitious Women who want More

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