Your worldview is the lens through which you see humanity, creation, and your place in it (or not). It is the construct that constantly colors our approach to life, work, and relationships. In fact, everything in life runs through this complex and incomplete set of filters.
If your life has been a constant battle of worrisome struggle, aloneness, and internal strife, check your worldview. Something is off. Add, subtract, or modify a construct or two and you can alter your life experience. Experiment to find what works best.
One would think the older one gets, the more layered, nuanced, and rigid one’s construct would become. That’s likely partly true, which is why many older people get accused of being grumpy. There’s also another group of elders, of which I like to think I’m a part of, who loosen or remove many of these hard and fast “rules of life” and focus on a few key ones that we will not compromise. Paradoxically, there’s greater acceptance for deviation but greater reinforcement for the remaining few uncompromising principles.
Purpose, Vision, Missions, and Values (PVMV) are part of my worldview both as a method and as a personal practice. As mentioned in last week’s message, a 2-word purpose is my gyroscope. My vision may be cloudy, my mission mired in confusion, and my values challenged, but my purpose provides pinpoint orientation that gets me back to peace and resolution faster than without it.
For example, one of my values is Forgiveness. This is a hard-earned value due to a betrayal and ensuing business divorce that occurred in my mid-thirties. This tough shift event cost me my job, income, and a 20% equity position in over $20 million in commercial real estate development holdings. This gut punch to my life, finances, and career left me pissed off and poisoned. Had it not been for the practice of forgiveness applied with discipline with no expectation that sincerity might follow, my heart would not have changed. The poisonous sting of my former business partner was broken as I forgave him. More importantly, I forgave myself for my ambition and greed that put me into such an at-risk place.
The more you explore your world, especially the painful places, the easier it will be to navigate the complexities of life with confidence and unconditional peace.
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
