Let's take a moment to pretend that we are all puzzles.
The pieces that make up our puzzle are all our life experiences to date. Our parents behaviour, the movies we've watched, the affairs of school. We all take different parts of those experiences to add to our own puzzle. This is what makes us unique. Some take the kindness of their kindergarten teacher, some the playfulness of their favourite cartoon, another the joy they found in toy cars.
Through the years, as we grow we decide to keep some pieces and dispose of others. Playfulness is replaced by the quirkiness of our new favourite superhero. Joy is now found in studying design. Your value of honesty has been refined by your friend George.
However, no one ever teaches you how all these pieces fit together. They just do. And most of the time, this is alright.
Until it isn’t anymore.
All of a sudden it feels as though our puzzle is missing pieces, maybe whole sections as you sit there feeling lost, confused and perhaps even broken.
But why? You've been doing just as everyone has been telling you your whole life. They seem okay, so why don't you?
Perhaps if I just had more money? New opportunities? Better tools?
What if it wasn't any of that, it was simply that no one ever took the time to help you identify your puzzle pieces? That you've never shone a light over why you're interested in the things you are, why you're attracted to some characters over others and why you have the values that you do.
What if it was possible to not only identify those puzzle pieces, but how they fit together? That by doing so, they acted as a map to your personal philosophy. A guide to the change you want to create in the world.
It led to you being empowered to no longer worry about the extrinsic; the money, the status, the follows. That it enriched your life intrinsically. It gave you the confidence to say no to the wrong opportunities. To re-find joy in the craft, to rediscover your zest for life.
So if we pause for a moment, what are the pieces that make up your puzzle? Would you embrace the opportunity to learn more?
Questions to ask yourself:
- Who have been the biggest influences on you? What have you taken away from them?
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