Is It Time to Turn Your Life Upside Down?

“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.”

John F. Kennedy

I often find that when someone looks at whether she or he is going to follow what the soul is telling them to do, someone often responds, “If I do this, it is going to turn my life upside down.” Often, that is exactly what happens. In fact, holding on was causing great suffering to themselves and to everyone around them. Listening to our truth leads to the highest form of change if that truth is based on what our mind, heart, and spirit are telling us. The point is to check in with all three forms of awareness so that our outcome has the integrity of spirit and critical thinking. We cannot see this outcome when we look to the past or hold onto an old life out of fear for survival.

An obsolete world of work is falling away and this is a particularly important time to be listening to our truth rather than old beliefs. There is a vast difference between truth and beliefs. Truth leads us forward. Beliefs require that we look to the past. Sure, it takes courage to move forward. I have ongoing conversations with participants that have come through The Inspired Work Program. From outward appearances, many have made radical life changes. But, they usually will tell me, “There was no alternative.” This is the nature of truth. The truth does set us free even if at first it pisses us off. One of my clients was a successful C-level executive. But after answering a few of our questions, he realized that repeating the same pattern was yielding lower and lower returns. He became a business owner and made more money in his first year than as an executive. I acknowledged him for his courage and he responded, “There was no alternative.”

I became a big fan of Socratic theory when I met Cherie Carter-Scott. As a little girl, Cherie was standing next to a nun in church. The nun asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Cherie looked to the front and saw a priest resplendent in gold and compared that to the nun dressed in black. “Why, I would like to be a priest.” She was slapped and told her response was an abomination. In college, Cherie enrolled in a prestigious theatre program. While meeting with the professor, he asked what she thought of the curriculum. She responded, “No one has ever asked what I thought of anything.” That watershed moment initiated a journey of asking herself questions and using the answers to lead to her own truth – the very basis of Socratic principle. Today, she is a bestselling author and pioneer in professional coaching.

In my particular case, defining the truth led to a surprising future. About two years ago, I had lunch with my last boss. We had not seen each other in 25 years. She had sold the company and is now a celebrated sculptural artist. The first words out of her mouth were, “What is it like to wake up in the morning and have your life?” I asked what she meant. “Well, you touch so many people’s lives. What is that like?” The generosity of her questions so caught me off guard that I teared up and gathered myself. “There is nothing like it. I get to lead the most unexpected life and when I wake up, I do think of all the people that have come through our programs and all the people that have new lives.”

My readers know that I am not a religious man. But, this is what happens when we commit to the spiritual life. Instead of dealing with survival, we get to work on becoming better human beings. The challenge is no longer how to get through the day, it is how to be kinder and more loving by the end of the day. It isn’t how much can I get by the end of the day, it is how can I touch someone’s life today.

The advancement of technology offers us new freedoms every day. But we will not see these freedoms if we are consumed with survival. A storehouse of knowledge is available to everyone who chooses to look for it, but we will not find it if we are checking out – no matter the cause or the circumstances. Constant education is available to all of us and we don’t even have to leave home to find it. What alarms me is that beliefs are causing many people to give up and embrace the notion that the future is worse than the past. But, learning dispells these erroneous and life-killing beliefs.

What have I learned?

I have learned that each and every one of us is born with a purpose. Many of us were talked out of looking for or honoring that purpose. But, it’s still there and for those of us who believe living in that place will turn our lives upside down, this is the best time to do just that. With the dynamic and perhaps even cataclysmic changes taking place in work, there has never been a more important time to go within and get to the truth.

One ounce of courage can change the entire outcome.

Brought to you by David Harder – Founder & President, Inspired Work, Inc.

(C) Copyright, 2017, David Harder – (All Rights Reserved)

Buy a copy of David’s new book The Workplace Engagement Solution here.