Purposeful Growth

There’s no such thing as a bad day. Every day that you awake is a good day. Consider the alternative.

A twenty-eight year old married woman and mother recently had a brain aneurysm. After several days of severe headaches she sought medical help and was diagnosed with an aneurysm. Surgery quickly followed but was unsuccessful; the surgeons were unable to stabilize her brain artery with an inserted coil.

She was in pain and very sad at the thought of her two year old becoming motherless. She didn’t know what to do and told her mother she was turning it over to God. Her first miracle was that her mother told her that what God wanted was for her to “get off her sorry butt and do something about it.”

Energized, she made phone calls and found a medical team in another state that specialized in her condition. The second miracle was that she was able to contact the head neurosurgeon on that team and he agreed to treat her–immediately.

Minor miracles three and four were that her sister lives in the ciy where her surgery was scheduled so her family would have a convenient and supportive place to stay, and she also had sufficient frequent flyer miles to obtain tickets for the young woman and her family.

Within days, the surgical team corrected her aneurysm, a condition that most people don’t survive–another miracle. She was able to fully recover with no faculties diminished. In weeks, she was back to work, but a different woman.

“There’s no such thing as a bad day,” she now says. All her days are good days because she is alive.

This is a true story.

Does it take a near death situation to get our attention? Those who skirt death live differently after their experience. They treasure each moment of life and appreciate what we may call the little things, but what they surely recognize are not little at all.

Each day is a gift. Each breath a blessing. Each moment an adventure. Each experience a marvel. Must I cheat death to appreciate life?

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The Present Moment is Life’s Present

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Being Happy

Four Keys to Happiness

To grow with purpose we must have a firm understanding of the ground we currently occupy. Most of us probably have the sense that we know what we stand for, what’s important to us, and what we believe. Try writing a personal essay of a few hundred words describing your philosophy of life. And consider submitting it for publication. That makes it a whole different exercise.

More than fifty years ago, Edward R. Murrow hosted a series for National Public Radio featuring the personal philosophies of 100 prominent people. People such as Helen Hays, Albert Einstein, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Helen Keller contributed.

Last year, NPR decided to resurrect the series, this time opening contributions to the public. NPR’s internet site provided the entry form and at no cost anyone could submit their personal life belief essay with the potential of being selected to read their essay on the radio.

I decided to enter. It initially seemed to be an easy task given the time and energy I’ve spent in the last few years in reflection and purposeful growth. But I found it difficult.

Somehow, writing a personal belief essay with the possibility that thousands, or maybe millions of people would hear it proved to be a daunting task. It wasn’t just the writing part, though there were challenges in succinctly and coherently capturing and describing my own belief system in a few hundred words.

The difficult part was the self doubt that crept in as I began to write. Did I really believe what I said I believed? How about the times I’ve strayed from that belief system? Did that mean I didn’t believe after all? Was my belief system worthy of reading by others? I haven’t traversed an exceptionally difficult life path, so my beliefs haven’t been tested and forged by great adversity.

In spite of these difficulties and self doubts I did it. I submitted my essay on-line and waited to hear if it was accepted for broadcast. It wasn’t. Mine was but one of thousands submitted. I like the idea that thousands of people were willing to share their deepest beliefs publically.

Though not selected, I’m glad I did it. As with many aspects of life the gift was in the journey, not the destination. My personal essay is now in NPR’s on-line database somewhere among over 12,000 others. That’s kind of neat, but the real value to me was in the process of refining and describing my personal philosophy of life. I encourage you to do this for yourself. There is tremendous growth potential in this process.

One of the perks of my writing is that I received a pre-publication copy of NPR’s book of selected This I Believe essays. This is an absolute treasure, with sixty new essays intermixed with twenty original essays from the 1950’s series. Current well known contributors are Bill Gates, William F. Buckley Jr., Gloria Steinem, and Colin Powell.

But for me, the inspirations came from the essays of people unknown to me. Some filled me with pride, some brought tears to my eyes, some caused me to think as they espoused beliefs contrary to mine. All renewed my faith in humanity and reinforced my beliefs in the inherent goodness of the majority of humans.

For your inspirational and thought provoking reading, I heartily recommend NPR’s This I Believe: The personal philosophies of remarkable men and women.