Is there a dream that drives you forward? Do you have a vision for your life, work, and legacy?
What does it look like? More importantly, what does it feel like?
Take the time to strip yourself down to the core, to the simplest of joys. What if you dream your life but remove all money moves, all contingent material fantasies? And just fill it with connection, grace, and rituals? How would it be?
Imani Perry
When we consider the people who have made a difference in our lives — loved ones, mentors, dear friends, or gracious students — we do not associate those memories with objects or things, but sensations. We remember how they made us feel, what they helped us realize, and who we became in their presence, through their presence, and because of their belief.
We cannot measure joy or quantify self-regard, and so we are simply thankful and inspired.
What if we applied the same principle to how we determine success and develop strategy in our work? To start each morning thankful and to be even more inspired at day’s end.
Seth Godin asserts that “just because it’s measured doesn’t mean it matters.” And what does matter, if not the feeling of contributing and collaborating?1 Because if we are each created on purpose, then we are also called to participate in creating for a purpose.
In our search for wisdom, we realize that we can barely fathom it, let alone reach it, and so we surrender to the seeking of knowledge and wisdom. This is our daily work, and therefore, “a patient spirit is better than a proud one,” Solomon writes, because only through consistent practice, “by adding one thing to another to find an explanation,” will we discover and cultivate anything that matters.
May our lives and legacies resonate because of qualitative impact.
God walks out of the room when you’re thinking about money.
Quincy Jones
The Mystery of Minimal Abundance2
I am counted with 41 human years of living, and at some point I had to decide: Do you want your life to be a spectacle or special?
The spectacle was the shortcut and hustle, the busy days silently haunted by missed chances. I trusted in the lie that deliverance came from doing, that safety could be solicited, that the trappings of success would bandage my wounds of inadequacy and unworthiness; that mask is a trap, which does not heal, nor did it allow me to really feel. And if we can’t feel, what’s the point?
Special is that fall from grace that God transforms into a leap of faith. Special asks that we let go, suffer for a little while, lose a lot, and redeem a life that others will measure on the spectrum of foolishness. Special is seizing opportunities to forgive, love, and serve. And when you fix your gaze on the eternal joy that exists on the other side of this temporary world, you feel everything.
I decided on special. It is a work in progress, and so am I.
What do you choose?
Let us pray.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven … for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus of Nazareth
- Sincere gratitude to Austin Kleon for offering windows into the creative process and inspiring art that is ethical and crafted with integrity. ↩︎
- A story of many parts and intersections; an irregular series. Thank you for your patience.
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