"Awareness is the greatest agent for change." Eckhart Tolle
Most of us are judging the day through our reactions and our biases. In other words, most of us are like living zombies. We wake up, get to our phone, watch some type of media (Social, News, TV, Streaming), work, eat, interact with those people around us and then go to sleep. We’ve automated ourselves to live a life of "just enough". When things don’t add up we get worried, when things don’t work out like we plan we complain, and when someone doesn’t see the world the way we do we get angry. We are living a life of pure reaction.
In reality, most of us are living a combination of being reactive and somewhat aware of what is actually important in our lives. Today I want to push you to look at your current way of living, and your routine, and I want you to pinpoint the things in your life that are helping you live with purpose. Those will be your priorities. Those things will be your north star!
We all value our freedom, but true freedom isn’t just showing up daily to do the same thing as automatically as you did the day before. True freedom involves work, actually hard work, and smart decisions. In the words of David Foster Wallace in his famous commencement address in 2005 titled Water, he said this:
"The real important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in the myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day."
The thing about actually living a life worth living is paying attention to what is real and essential. Sometimes it’s right in front of your face, but you’re too worried about the economy, you are too blinded by your ego, you’re too scared of uncertainty…
To live with purpose you MUST take time to think and reflect. Most of us only take time to do either when we’re about to go to sleep or when we’re in the shower and we wonder why we always come up with ideas and things we missed to do in those moments. Leaving yourself to only think at night causes anxiety and sleepless nights, because that’s the only time you’ve actually given yourself to think quietly.
Take time to think. Take time to reflect. Take time for yourself. When you invest that time in yourself you begin to find the purpose for living. You begin to identify your priorities and you begin to live a more fulfilling life.
Thank you for reading A Brilliant Tribe.
