Executing Your Purpose

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Cooking pasta; debating; finding a personal purpose; wanting to be right; getting a promotion; reducing the US budget deficit - the ultimate motivation is still to seek happiness or avoid suffering.

I belabour this point - because it is important.

It is important, precisely because people tend to forget it (or like Annie, did not know it at all).

Let us return to the original question in this thread. Derek Newland wants to choose a job - what factors should he consider? In a mundanely commonsensical way, we might make a list of various considerations, for example:

1. Should pay well.
2. Should suit his skills.
3. Mustn't be too far to commute to.
4. Should have nice colleagues.
5. Must involve one or more of his interests - "music, wildlife, photography, science, technology, engineering". [to quote him]
6. Must allow him to "encourage others to think for themselves, contribute to the world we live in, and to help others in their everyday lives". [quoting him again]

Now, it is quite easy to get lost in the details. You can take any ONE of the six points above, and spin it into another maze of introspective questions, another personal quagmire to spend the next six months musing on and wandering through.

How do you avoid getting lost in the details? A powerful tool is simply to remember the END motivation, behind ANY and ALL of the six considerations, is still the same. And always is the same.

HAPPINESS.

------------------------

In his personal analysis, Derek was already working that out for himself. He wrote and he wrote, on this forum, and through his many different considerations, he already saw the ULTIMATE motivation. Look at his later post here:

I now think that what I need to do is focus on the things I already do that make me happy the most (and reflect on similar previous experiences). And to let go of the feeling that I have to be decisive about a specific career path. If I focus on the things I enjoy most, and pursue them, than happiness should follow.

How he became subject to the risk of losing sight was the idea (put forth by Annie) that in fact, happiness is not the point. (or should not be the point). To quote Annie:

So you do everything just for the sake of happiness. Not because you want to do the right thing, but because you want to be "happy". In my humble opinion, you got this backwards.

You seem to be implying that you don't know *why* something makes you happy, that happiness is just a superficial indicator of you doing the right thing because you wouldn't be able to tell otherwise.

Feelings are indicators, but that's that. Happiness isn't an end or a goal in itself.

And this is where I wanted to jump in - to make what I personally feel is a very important point. Happiness IS the goal in itself. Not only that, it is the ONLY goal, the ONLY ultimate motivation. All other goals are secondary to the ultimate goal.

Annie Zero was threatening Derek Newland's happiness - by suggesting that his happiness is not important. And that is why I felt that I must jump in strongly.

Happiness is the only goal which does not require any other reason.
Mustn't lose sight of that. Or the risk is that you'll get lost in the details.

[Annie Zero]

K, sorry, I didn't read everything, but I'll answer anyway,

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

How he became subject to the risk of losing sight was the idea (put forth by Annie) that in fact, happiness is not the point. (or should not be the point). /--/

And this is where I wanted to jump in - to make what I personally feel is a very important point. Happiness IS the goal in itself. Not only that, it is the ONLY goal, the ONLY ultimate motivation. All other goals are secondary to the ultimate goal.

Annie Zero was threatening Derek Newland's happiness - by suggesting that his happiness is not important. And that is why I felt that I must jump in strongly.

Happiness is the only goal which does not require any other reason.
Mustn't lose sight of that. Or the risk is that you'll get lost in the details.

Other people can do what they want, I'm not judging anyone if they decide to (or think they have no choice but to) operate from the basis of "I must experience the emotion of happiness at all costs!"

Seriously, do as you please.

I just wanted to chime in because you didn't seem to know that not everyone shares this point of view. I decidedly don't share this point of view. Feelings are secondary.

[Annie Zero]

I want to explain something here,

Originally Posted by DerekNewland

/--/ I now think that what I need to do is focus on the things I already do that make me happy the most (and reflect on similar previous experiences). And to let go of the feeling that I have to be decisive about a specific career path. If I focus on the things I enjoy most, and pursue them, than happiness should follow.

Originally Posted by Annie Zero

So you do everything just for the sake of happiness. Not because you want to do the right thing, but because you want to be "happy". In my humble opinion, you got this backwards.

You seem to be implying that you don't know *why* something makes you happy, that happiness is just a superficial indicator of you doing the right thing because you wouldn't be able to tell otherwise.

Feelings are indicators, but that's that. Happiness isn't an end or a goal in itself.

I didn't express myself clearly, so here: I think that Derek knows what my point is, he just expressed it as if he didn't. So I said "you seem to be implying that" (instead of "you think that").

I think he knows very well *why* these things make him happy, but with the way he phrased it it seemed as if he didn't.

For him these things are synonymous (you're happy when you do the right thing and you do the right thing because that would make you happy).

I personally could not make good decisions by asking, "Well, what would make me happy?" I operate much, much better with "Well, what's the right thing to do?"

[James81]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I belabour this point - because it is important.

It is important, precisely because people tend to forget it (or like Annie, did not know it at all).

Let us return to the original question in this thread. Derek Newland wants to choose a job - what factors should he consider? In a mundanely commonsensical way, we might make a list of various considerations, for example:

1. Should pay well.
2. Should suit his skills.
3. Mustn't be too far to commute to.
4. Should have nice colleagues.
5. Must involve one or more of his interests - "music, wildlife, photography, science, technology, engineering". [to quote him]
6. Must allow him to "encourage others to think for themselves, contribute to the world we live in, and to help others in their everyday lives". [quoting him again]

Now, it is quite easy to get lost in the details. You can take any ONE of the six points above, and spin it into another maze of introspective questions, another personal quagmire to spend the next six months musing on and wandering through.

How do you avoid getting lost in the details? A powerful tool is simply to remember the END motivation, behind ANY and ALL of the six considerations, is still the same. And always is the same.

HAPPINESS.

------------------------

In his personal analysis, Derek was already working that out for himself. He wrote and he wrote, on this forum, and through his many different considerations, he already saw the ULTIMATE motivation. Look at his later post here:



How he became subject to the risk of losing sight was the idea (put forth by Annie) that in fact, happiness is not the point. (or should not be the point). To quote Annie:



And this is where I wanted to jump in - to make what I personally feel is a very important point. Happiness IS the goal in itself. Not only that, it is the ONLY goal, the ONLY ultimate motivation. All other goals are secondary to the ultimate goal.

Annie Zero was threatening Derek Newland's happiness - by suggesting that his happiness is not important. And that is why I felt that I must jump in strongly.

Happiness is the only goal which does not require any other reason.
Mustn't lose sight of that. Or the risk is that you'll get lost in the details.

Annie wasn't threatening his happiness. That would imply that he doesn't have a choice. You also assume that diverging from happiness is a bad thing. Some of my my insightful moments have come when I have diverged from happiness. And, when I came back to happiness I found it was strengthened by that divergence.

I am coming to realize that its better to allow people to reason through things in their own way than to insist they dismiss a particular insight that they had begun to chase after.

Btw, I personally don't think happiness is our highest aim. Happiness is an emotion, a physical reaction to stimulii. If I were to pinpoint a chief goal of humans, I would say its survival (which includes reproduction as a form of passing on our genes). The pain/pleasure paradigm fits within that.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by James81

If I were to pinpoint a chief goal of humans, I would say its survival (which includes reproduction as a form of passing on our genes).

When would you not want to survive? When might you, for example, want to commit suicide?
When life is too painful, too hard, too hopeless, too ... unhappy.

People who are feeling happy, satisfied, pleased, joyful, peaceful etc do not commit suicide.
Suicide therefore is a means to move towards the cessation of suffering.

As I have been saying, everything that a person does is motivated either by the seeking of happiness, or the avoidance of suffering.

Even reproduction - why do you have sex, James? Is it because it's painful, unhappy, awful and fills you with despair and suffering? Nah, it's because it's pleasurable, it makes you feel good and satisfied.

Happy.

[sheilah]

[QUOTE=DerekNewland;951334]

My purpose, simply put, is to encourage others to think for themselves, contribute to the world we live in, and to help others in their everyday lives.

The key for me is when you review what you did today, this week, this month what are the specifics things you can identify that mean you are living this purpose that you describe. There are always possibilities to change direction however it is what you do whilst you are 'living' each relationship and each job day to day that will tell you whether you are delivering on your purpose or not.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by James81

Some of my my insightful moments have come when I have diverged from happiness. And, when I came back to happiness I found it was strengthened by that divergence.

Of course.

Even when you do unpleasant, unenjoyable, painful things, you are motivated by either happiness, or the desire to avoid suffering.

Eg you go to the dentist and you suffer in the chair, getting all your decayed wisdom teeth extracted. What a divergence from happiness.

But what is the reason for this divergence? The reason is that you know you will suffer MORE, if you leave your decaying teeth as they are.

[aclearsign]

I didn't read any of the responses and am just going off the original question.

It is one thing to think you have identified your Life's Purpose and quite another to choose a profession.

You can shine your light WHEREVER you go. Your "Life's Purpose" is NOT a job.

I meet so many confused and indecisive people in my practice. The one thing that results in Nothing Happening is Taking No Action.

I do not believe that you necessarily have one purpose that you identify at a young age and nothing ever changes, but yours is broad and may turn out to be correct for you.

If I told you with 100% certainty that you cannot screw this up - just pick something, could you?

If so, what is it?

If you cannot choose, flip a coin. I mean it. What did your gut say?

If your gut said,"Hmmm...that sounds exciting!" then simply Take Action and Do It.

[DerekNewland]

Originally Posted by aclearsign

I didn't read any of the responses and am just going off the original question.

It is one thing to think you have identified your Life's Purpose and quite another to choose a profession.

You can shine your light WHEREVER you go. Your "Life's Purpose" is NOT a job.

I meet so many confused and indecisive people in my practice. The one thing that results in Nothing Happening is Taking No Action.

I do not believe that you necessarily have one purpose that you identify at a young age and nothing ever changes, but yours is broad and may turn out to be correct for you.

If I told you with 100% certainty that you cannot screw this up - just pick something, could you?

If so, what is it?

If you cannot choose, flip a coin. I mean it. What did your gut say?

If your gut said,"Hmmm...that sounds exciting!" then simply Take Action and Do It.

aclearsign, Thanks for your response! And thanks to the responses of ALG and sheilah.

The primary issue I seem to be facing is my inability to make a decision and follow through with it. There are a seemly infinite amount of ways to 'execute your purpose' career-wise. The biggest problem is just picking a career.. even if I already have one.

I recently learned that today, people can expect to have five careers throughout their lifetime. I think this is really awesome. This gives me hope for the future. And, I plan to learn and take advantage of the years ahead of me.

That is, if I can get past my indecisiveness. If I can make a decision to do / learn something and follow through with it, and continue to do so, I hope to be successful.

However, If I continue to linger, going between decisions and possibilities, I fear that I will remain in the same state of being indefinitely.

I really wish I could some-how calculate and solve for the most logical, the best, decision to make. But, unfortunately, as aclearsign said, it looks like I need to flip a coin and just go with it..