thoughts

Lately I have been thinking about purpose. It seems that we as human beings thrive on the feeling that our life has some meaning, that we matter to someone or that we have done something for some Higher Cause. This need for our lives to have meaning and purpose is what drives us to wake up from day to day and to do the things we do. Depending on our religion or the way we were brought up this need for a sense of purpose might manifest in different ways. It might cause someone to do any number of things for any number of causes. But the fact is that we all desire to have a higher purpose in our lives. This need for purpose in our lives in itself is not a bad thing. I was reading a book today that proposed that a feeling of purpose can keep a human from falling ill or from contracting diseases versus someone who seems to contract every virus that comes along. Maybe the one person had a sense of purpose and the other person didn’t. Or it could keep a person from dying from a disease long after the doctors predicted they would live.

I read a post today on facebook where someone said… do what you love and you will love what you do. What about all the people in this world who would just love to sit in front of the tv all day? I would predict that soon those people would be getting hungry. Sometimes life requires us to do things we would not prefer to do. Some days I get up in the morning and I really don’t feel like running or going to the gym, but I make myself go and after several minutes the rush comes and all of a sudden I am loving what I am doing. My suggestion is this… choose to love what you do and then you will do what you love. I never thought when I first got hired at the Post Office that sorting mail or delivering mail was my purpose in life. I thought surely one day the heavens would open and by some miracle I would be able to quit my job at the Post Office and do something ( I wasn’t sure what that something was) that would save the world from disaster or make the world a better place. In the mean time, I delivered mail and along the way came upon a woman who had no real contact with people except for me, the mail carrier, delivering her mail to her every day. She baked me bread and had some little something for me every day. At that time my purpose in life was to be a light to that woman. I would take my breaks at her house every day and talk to her because I knew that I was the only human contact she had every day. No I wasn’t saving the world, but I was bringing a better day to one woman.

I think sometimes we have these grandiose plans for ourselves. I think of the movie Toy Story where the Astronaut toy thought he was really the real action hero who was here to save the world. His whole world fell apart and he lost his whole sense of purpose when he discovered he was only a toy. But his real purpose in life was to bring happiness to one child.

I think most of us are here to make the world a better place one little moment at a time. Maybe we are here to encourage someone who is down or to smile at a clerk who has had a bad day. Today as I read inspirational thoughts from some authors and public speakers who seem to really have an amazing talent for words and inspiring others, my first thought was, what could I possibly say that would be as good as what any of these people are saying? And then I remembered talking to a customer today whose exwife is trying to take visitation of his child away from him and I encouraged him to think positive thoughts and send her good vibrations instead of the energy of hatred and just say a positive affirmation that whatever is best for everyone concerned is what will come about in the end. Of course I do not know the whole story and that is why I encouraged him to affirm what is best for everyone concerned is what will come about. There is no harm in sending out the energy of love into any situation. He left me thanking me for the encouragement and I realize that he may never read an inspirational thought from any one of my favorite authors or speakers but I am there delivering a message of hope to him.

I guess my thought for today is … bloom where you are planted. Think positive thoughts and send out positive energy no matter whether you are out there literally saving lives or whether you are flipping hamburgers or changing bedpans. What if there was no one to change bedpans? Everyone has an important job. Everyone can make a difference in the world just by being happy and spreading love wherever you go and whatever you do. If we all spend more time loving each other and seeing the best in each other than we do finding fault with each other, soon there will be nothing to complain about. We will have created a better world, one person at a time.