Utilising the psychology of Purpose

"There is no bigger predictor of death than birth". If you’re born, you will die. So life isn’t something that is owned, rather it’s something that is loaned. If you look at a tree, any tree you’ll notice that the branches on the tree are where they are, they’re connected to the trunk, they can only grow and by implication go from where they were born. 

Those branches at the top of the tree could in an egoistic sense, feel and believe that they’re somehow superior because they’re highest, but they’re only highest because the branches below them succeeded, the branches at the top are merely the latest... 

A tree has two sets of branches - those which dig and drive themselves into the ground, we call these types of branches roots, and those branches which try to root themselves in the sun. Each end of the tree feeds the trunk, the trunk grows up and out as a means of consolidating the position of the branches at both ends.

The biggest mistake:

I witness people playing the game of pretend… “I’m not a root”, I’m a wonderful branch at the very top of the tree! Yet quite literally, we’re all rooted in our own inception, we’ve all grown from a patch of ground which varies in quality and we’ve all had to grow from top to bottom whilst consolidating and expanding our personal trunk of strength and knowledge. 

What’s my point?

Any pretence of being other than where you come from or where you are is in essence cutting you off from the root of your experience. The pretence of your past/ present life is starving you of the energy you require to fuel your purpose - your present life. 

Whether or weather?

Whether you know it, whether you like it or not, your earlier pain in life - yes, that moment when reality shifted for you… the unfulfilled expectation, the unfairly broken dream, the betrayal or loss of a person you love… that’s one exact reason why you grew your roots in the way you did… Born on rocky ground and fated to die? No problem: You had more to fight for. “Clothes do not make the man”, the challenges and conditions that almost killed you made you the man, and you survived.

Force of nature:

Like any tree, human beings face the force of nature on every level, but the tree has an advantage which keeps it growing, which keeps it fulfilling its purpose… It doesn’t dispute where it came from, it doesn’t bemoan the fact that it must continue to grow, it doesn’t bemoan the fact that it’s surrounded by neighboring trees who must equally fight for “sun and sky and air and light”... The tree is merely working from and with what’s present… Cold hard ground, tumultuous wind, rain or heavy snow? No problem, grow anyway. Actually there’s no other reasonable choice because "you're only green when you're growing", (Jason Robinson).

The problem:

Most people don’t even realise that they’re rotting or dead, to themselves they’re so deserving of wealth, respect and recognition and they bought The Secret! They’ve imagined themselves in every other place than where they actually are. They haven’t put roots down because they’ve put their energy into reaching for the sun and stars. They’ve imagined their life and joy on the horizon, failing to realise that their life presently represents a dreamy horizon for hundreds of millions of people. 

These people:

They invest their time = life in reading the books of people who accepted and worked from where they are… Absorbing all the strategies and tactics of mind and emotional development, business tips and tricks as a means of getting ahead… 

Yet these same people are faced with an existential discomfort, they’re not okay because they severed their connection with their roots… ungrounded they continue to reach for the stars, only to find that the slightest breeze, snow or rain leads them to fall… blaming circumstance they ignore the fact that they have no roots/ fuel for purpose, so they buy more books...

Taking ownership:

If you want to find your purpose, deal with the root cause of your pain by taking ownership of everything that’s yours. Blaming “this, that and them” is the enemy of self ownership.

If you can, imagine for a moment that you don’t dispute or despise any of the "hindrances" to your growth… rather you understand that they are what they are, part of your present environment, you’ve got every chance of developing the mindset and the ability to find, connect and be the purpose and the person you wish to bring to the world. 

Probably the best poem on personal growth, I'll let you be the Judge:

Good Timer

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

The further sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.

• Douglas Malloch

Thank you :) If you like this article, your friends, contacts and colleagues will likely like, comment or share it too, that's good for them, me and you.

Good luck,

Robert. 

Dedicated to @JasonRobinson