What Is Your Real Work?
I’m curious.
What do you think your real work is in this life?
Is some part of you comfortable in your skin?
What brings you alive?
What do you get up for every day? Is it worth it?
Why does a particular person or situation touch your heart?
Why was that event so painful?
What is this life all about?
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with poet and speaker David Whyte. In the midst of motherhood, running my own business, running a collaborative business, and the blessings of family and social commitments, the time away provided much-needed insight...and some tough questions.Good ol’ David Whyte writes:
The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering.Questions that have no right to go away are those that have to do with the person we are about to become; they are conversations that will happen with or without our conscious participation.
Sit with that for a minute. Then go back and re-read those statements. Please.
Questions that have no right to go away are those that have to do with the person we are about to become; they are conversations that will happen with or without our conscious participation.
What is your real work in this lifetime?
Looking around the workshop, I noticed about 80% of the participants were nearing retirement age. And God Bless America that those 80% were willing to ask the questions. In my humble experiences, some people never do. (Please note: It’s never too late. Well. Unless it’s too late. But, if you’re reading this post - it's not too late.)So why aren’t more of us asking the questions that shape our existence in this world?Why aren’t we asking earlier in life - during school, parenthood, partnerships, careers? Why aren’t we asking our friends and children questions that have to do with the person we are about to become instead of waiting to review who we were?
Why aren’t we asking now?
In the comments below, I’d love to hear your answers to any of the questions posed...and I'm always up for a few more questions.