Reflection: You want things to change, but do you want to change things?

There is always a turning point, a moment that changes you from passive to active.  A shift that empowers you to move from the one being  ‘done to’ to the one doing things, taking steps, raising your voice, creating change.  When this moment happens, you claim your purpose.

What is purpose? Purpose is a complex weaving together of experiences, thoughts and actions.  Your purpose might blend your experience of burnout, parenthood and a creative flare.  Another’s recipe might mix recovery, poetry and a knack for throwing a party.  There is usually emotion stirring the pot, an angry refusal to accept or a joyous lightning bolt of possibility. If the word purpose feels too big, replace it with the word reason and the question, why?

How can I work with purpose? A helpful way to view purpose is to think of it as a path, its not a fixed destination but a journey. On that path are practical solutions to barriers you have faced in your work and growth opportunities to support and nourish you. Over the next 6 months you have the opportunity to move along this path, mend whats not working, tend to your needs and explore how you can develop and make brilliant things happen.

Grounding Exercise

To start our work together, get comfy and listen to this audio

Purpose Path Video

We are going to develop practices and processes to support you and your work, but first lets get clear on your reason for joining The Brilliant Club and what you want to gain from the next 6 months. Watch this video and try a journaling exercise to expand your perspective of whats possible, then create a ‘design question’ which will focus and guide you over the coming months.

You can use this Purpose Path Worksheet to make notes.

Books

Do Book Series – this is a really useful short form series of books, they call them ‘inspirational pocket books for doers!’ we especially like Do Purpose and Do Change.

Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas – a deep thinking book about uncertainty that spans sectors, politics, religion and humanity

The Decision Book: Fifty models for strategic thinking by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler – for those of us who think in pictures, this is part of a fab series of books and this is especially useful.

HumanKind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman – a wonderful book that reminds us that humans are indeed-kind

Articles

Carl Rogers’s Actualizing Tendency: Your Ultimate Guide (positivepsychology.com) Really useful to learn about during transitions and life thresholds.

Gestalt Therapy and Focusing – an overview of an existential and experiential theraputic approach based on “what we resist, persists” (the paradox of change), useful background to somatics (body) work.

In Defense of Performance: A Manifesto by Brad Stulberg -Interesting perspective on routines, body and mind experience and performance, aligned with our thinking at ABT but through a different lens.

Videos

Alan Watts – what do do when you need to stop thinking – an oldie but a goodie!

Brene Brown Empathy – A lovely animation about the difference between sympathy and empathy.

Podcasts

Invisibilla -We love this podcast series about unseeable forces control human behavior and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions.

The Sunday Social Podcast -Auture marketing is the things you can do right now to support your business in the future.