Is the responsibility yours?

"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them." Denis Waitley

There is an acquaintance, a Mr. Chen. He was born in a family with good background. From young, he lived his life as defined by his parents. Mr. Chen, who grew up to his father's expectation, had no real purpose of his own. He was grateful to his father who had prepared everything for him. So, in order to please his father again, he married the daughter of a wealthy family. That made his proud father even prouder.

For years, Mr. Chen lived in his wife's shadow. She had so many purposes in life. He had not. He went through 30 years of marriage doing things for her. He complaint little and did nothing to improve himself. He envied his wife for being able to do so many things she wanted. When Mr. Chen's wife died last year, his world crumbled. He lost all the force that drove him on throughout the years. He lost his 'purpose' to hang on to life because he did not have one. All day, he mumbles to himself. He seems to be angry with everything and everyone. He looks like a 70 year-old man instead of 50.

That is a sad way to end a life, especially when you have lived that long.

So, get up ...... do not be another Mr. Chen. There are too many Mr. Chens in this world, anyway.

You have the responsibility to change yourself. If you do not have a purpose now, define one. If it does not sound ideal, redefine it .... because if you have a life purpose, nothing will tumble you! Make the changes now so that you would not have any regrets later.

Redefine Your Purpose

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned about setting a new purpose. Maybe you will have doubts about this.

However, take time to read through the reasons in this list. If you check more than four reasons, you will know what to do!

• Something is missing in my life.
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• I don't feel joy in all I do.
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• I dislike my present job, but I have other no options.
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• I want to start something new, but I just don't have the courage to do so.
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• I can contribute more than I do now.
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• I have been spending so much time doing 'what I should' and not 'what I want'.
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• I have been busy doing someone else's work.
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• I always compare myself to others.
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• I feel bad when I see others being more successful than I am.
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• I always try to make things happen rather than to allow things happen.
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• I don't know what to look for, although I know I lack something
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• I'm not happy although I seem to have everything.

Not being happy and satisfied can cause stress and depression. If you know you need to do something about it, this is the time.

Hiding behind so many masks is not a good way to be yourself. I have decided to redefine my purpose. I have tried to unmask myself, layer by layer and by doing so, I know I'll reach my purpose easily.

New Purposes

We all live with many sets of purposes in our minds. We have lots of things we want to do before the sun sets every day. It is important to have clear purposes.

Many people live day to day, without a real purpose. Is there something to look forward to today?

We lost our sense of directions when we recovered from a major blow in our lives. We just do not know where to head to. We seem to forget that we still have the talents and gifts. We seem to forget that we all have acquired skills before all the unhappy events happened. We have forgotten that we still have families and friends who care enough to help us through.

Search in your heart, what was your passion before the unhappiness? Why must you let the unhappy event take over your passion? Can you somehow rekindle the passion?

Do you know how compelling passion is? It is able to to create that urgency in you that separates you from the external events of your life. Passion also allows you to live with a sense of purpose! You will be truly alive!

If you somehow cannot rekindle the passion as it may be linked to a painful experience, then, creat a new passion. Be renewed! Have new purposes to live!