Camp MOJO

A Deeper Purpose. What Will It Take?

by Bill Brakemeier on 29/09/09 at 5:16 am

What is it about people?

We pedal along through life thinking everything is OK. Or at least we believe that everything is going to be OK. So each day we get a little more lost in our busy lives, and concentrate a little less about accomplishing something really big.

Then it happens. Something life changing occurs – usually something “bad”:

• A friend has a car accident
• A loved one has a heart attack, learns s/he has cancer, or suffers a stroke
• A relative loses his job or even files for bankruptcy
• A frustrated coworker announces s/he’s getting a divorce

Every once in a while something happens that makes you stop to think about your own life. You wonder what you would do, what changes you would make - if that same thing happened to you?

Suddenly, the thing or things that are most important to you flash before your eyes. And as you become conscious of what you value most, you also realize that you could be pursuing, encouraging, or nurturing those areas of your life so much more passionately.

And you realize that when you are not heading TOWARD your goals … your purpose… you actually are heading AWAY from them.

• What if we thought about a deeper life purpose (“am I doing what I truly want to be doing as a grownup?”) BEFORE something bad happens? Does it have to take that reality reminder to focus on our values?
• What if he started working out and eating right BEFORE he had to see that awful photo of himself, witness that alarming number on the scale, or hear that degrading, depressing comment?
• What if she spent quality time with her children, working on their homework WITHOUT having to experience a dreadful, disappointing report card?
• What if I were to really finish that mindful book on Finding your MOJO or Spiritual Capitalism?
• What if you headed toward that area of your life where you know you want to go (spiritual, mental, vocational, financial, familial, social or physical), but your values keeps taking a back burner to the every day urgencies that seem so important?

It doesn’t have to take a tragedy to find purpose. It just takes finding your Mojo.

And yet, strangely, people don’t usually care about Mojo until they have lost theirs…

What is it about human nature that we have to hurt, deeply, before we find a reason to change?

A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his conscious suffering.
G. I. Gurdjieff