Do you really love your life?
by Jack C. Randall, CIC, PCLA, PFMM
Valentines Day!
… the traditional time we dedicate to focus on our love for our sweetheart and others we hold especially dear. Some simply display their affection outwardly in flowers, cards, candy, or glittery gifts. However, it is meant to get deeper than that. It is also a time to reflect on our innermost priorities and deepest feelings of love. It’s a time to be honest, as well as intimate. It’s a time to look into those loving eyes and say with all of our heart, “I would go through it all over again, in a heartbeat, just for you”. Sound sentimental? Sure, but you had better be sincere and mean it or you’re in for trouble and disappointment!
So, how about your feelings of love as they apply to you and your life? Leadership and Serving Others starts with YOU. Ask yourself some heartfelt questions. When it comes to your feelings about you and your life, do you love what you see? Could you honestly say, “I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, just for you?” Or do those words stick in your throat? If real love must be honest and true, are you being true to yourself, or if the truth really be known, are you living a life filled with regret? Can you, with all good conscience, use the words love, passion, and excitement in the same sentence when you describe your life?
As your Executive Coach for this article and this time of reflection, I want to encourage you to explore the following three areas that should provide much needed direction, clarity, and insight as you live your life going forward:
1. LOVE. Have you given yourself permission to love yourself – warts, wrinkles, and all? An age old passage from the Bible says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Too many people “get” the part about loving their fellow man, but either gloss over the part about loving themselves, or feel self-love is weird, creepy, or wrong. Please don’t make that mistake. Nor however, am I advocating narcissism. I am talking about a healthy self-image and self-acceptance. Your Creator loves you. You were created as you are with unique characteristics for a specific purpose in life. That purpose will involve helping other people. Without a healthy image of yourself, you simply will not be able to adequately give them the help, love, and assistance they need.
2. PASSION. Are you pursuing your life’s calling or living out someone else’s dreams and expectations? Here is a news flash. Your calling was meant for you to pursue, not someone else and vice versa! This seems to be a sad, but all too common occurrence. If you find yourself sad, frustrated, and resentful at your job, it could be you have fallen into this trap. Are you on the right “bus” and are you “in the right seat”? If, after careful contemplation, you know you are not, do yourself and everyone else a favor by getting off that “bus” and onto the right one. The trip will be so much more enjoyable for everyone!
3. COMMITMENT. Are you living a life pursuing your true priorities in life or not? Maybe you have not given this area the thought you need to. In my book, *Man In The Windmill; Perceptions, Choices, and Pursuing Your Calling, I ask the reader, just like I am asking you now, “Are you working on the important things in life that matter the most to you?” Pause and think about your answer. If you are not, happiness and fulfillment in life will elude your grasp. If you want a life without regret, the best path to travel is one of living life in alignment with your priorities!
If you need to make some changes in your life, what might they be? Make a written list. Start planning and then begin acting on them. As a Coach and Consultant, I have seen too many lives spent and wasted in years of regret because the people simply did not make any changes in their lives, even though they knew they needed to make those changes.
Be real. Be honest. Yesterday is gone and will not return. Let the past go, but give yourself a present by living in the “present”! Start really living today without any regrets. Live each day all-out with true love, passion, and commitment! Start Leading and Serving Others by living a life you LOVE!
All my best to you,
Jack
(Copyright 2013 Randall Resources International, LLC. All rights reserved.)