I want you to live on purpose. When we live on purpose every action we take is filled with intention. Intentionality brings possibility into our lives. With intention we see the picture of our world as something bigger. When we live on purpose there is choice: choice in how we respond to things we do and do not like; choice in how we are being in the world; and choice in the impact we are making. You carry with you every day a choice card. We always have the option of carrying this choice card with us or handing our choice away to something else to decide how our circumstances will affect us.
A recent example of handing my choice card away was with my move into Austin. My fiance pulled the moving truck up to our new apartment after a very, VERY long journey from Oregon. We had picked an apartment unseen because, well, we needed a place to live. We were told the place was newly remodeled and on the second floor. Upon arrival we picked up our keys and the leasing office employee told us where our apartment was: at the back of building twelve and at the top of the steps. With great enthusiasm we -- myself, Philippe, and a dear friend -- take our first round of boxes around the building, down a few stairs, and then up five flights of narrow steps to our “second” floor home. We walk in and it looks great! The whole place is newly remodeled with new fixtures and it smells squeaky clean.
I take a water break because I was beginning to feel like an over-steamed broccoli in the heat and humidity of the Austin summer day. I walk into the kitchen to refill my water bottle and see a bug. I shrug it off. One bug is no big deal. Then I see another bug, and another, and another. With a gut-twisting feeling I open the first cabinet and about a dozen not just bugs, but cockroaches, scatter. Now they are in my living room, on my counters, and all over my floor. Philippe calls the front desk, they send an inspector, he gives us the treatment plan, we finish unloading the truck with help from some awesome neighbors just in time to return the truck, and spend the night at our friends. This is about where I start handing my choice card away.
After the initial pesticide spray we start unpacking. We are still seeing cockroaches and cannot move into our kitchen, because, you know, chemicals and cockroaches and such. Then without realizing it the stress of the cockroaches starts coloring how I’m seeing my new home. I start thinking about how much I don’t like the heat and the humidity and how this just isn’t the place for me.
About two weeks after we move in, I’m petting one of our cats and notice that she has little bumps behind her ears and I get another twisting gut feeling. I hop on Google. Google relays that the cat probably has fleas. I check both cats and indeed they both have fleas. I have never, until moving to Austin, had a critter get fleas. This is where I not only gave my choice card away, but I threw it out the window with no intent of seeing it again. On top of having cockroaches the place now had fleas. I had had it and this is when the bugs won. Not only did I not like Austin, I began to hate it. What kind of place has so many bugs? Why did my apartment have to have them? Was this going to be the rest of my life? Why me? When do we get to move out of this terrible place and away from Austin? I cried rivers over these stupid little bugs and acted as their victim.
So where is my choice in this? I didn’t choose to have bugs in my house or on my beloved pets. My choice is in how I perceive my circumstances. I could continue to play victim to the nasty little creatures. Or I could say, “Yes, this totally sucks, and it is not all of my life.” This leaves me with room to ask, “What else is here?” When I started looking around I could see that I was here supporting my fiance in his dream job. I could see the quickly expanding community of amazing people I was already building, and in less than a month’s time! Having a positive mindset also let me see the things I truly do like about Austin. With this more positive mindset I am more able to pursue my possibilities and live my life to its fullest. With my choice card in pocket I am living on purpose rather than playing victim to the obstacles life throws at me.
I want this for you. Where are you throwing away your choice? With your choice card in pocket rather than in some other situation’s hand, what are the possibilities? What does your life lived on purpose look like?