Do You Have A Personal Mission Statement?

Do you believe in having a defined personal mission in life (not including what may be derived from the temple Doctrine)? Do you feel having one is necessary, or are you one who "goes where the wind takes you"?

Why?

I don't know. I used to have one, now I'm not sure. It helps to have one to stay focused and feel like life is worth living. It's hard to say that if I accomplished any goal I would say that my life is 'complete'. That's why I focus on smaller goals.

My sort of daily mantra really is " Do the right thing for the right reasons" i dont know if that directly derived from the Doctrine here as i had it long before i came to Temple. In fact one of the reasons i am here is to learn to live up to that , to do the right thing for the right reasons , i find that the deeper i dig into my motives the more i find things i need to change , not because i need to change but because i taught myself stuff to fit it that i need to get rid of again , leaving me in a bit of a turmoil sometimes preventing to learn stuff again because i want to fit in ,but if you want to do the right thing for the right reasons you dont have to bother so much with fitting in. So now i am doing the right thing for the right reason and then get told that i used to be nicer and more compliant loll , owkeeh..but that does not change my mission statement for now , because i am getting closer to me and what i want to be in this world

Wu wei.
Does that count?
It's kind of the opposite of a mission statement, to be honest... :huh:

Proteus wrote: Do you believe in having a defined personal mission in life (not including what may be derived from the temple Doctrine)? Do you feel having one is necessary, or are you one who "goes where the wind takes you"?

Why?

That is an excellent question. My mission statement has always been "to spread wisdom". Most of the early Jedi in the 90's followed that mission. Before things got complicated.

I have a personal... I wouldn't call it a motto, but it's a one line statement of intent, so I guess that's he closest word.

"In all things, a lesson".

For me it guides my approach when working with more elaborate codification, such as our Doctrine.

I don't believe it's necessary as such but personally I find it's helpful to keep me on track, and to keep me honest in my practice. It also encourages me to keep working on the aspects of my personality or behaviour where I require most growth, without either writing myself off as useless or dismissing them as unimportant when I fail to meet my personal standards.

The closest thing I may have to this is the poem I use as my "personal ministry mission" in my clergy handbook.

Unknown wrote: "Through this toilsome world, alas!
Once and only once I pass;
If a kindness I may show;
If a good deed I may do;
To a suffering fellow man,
Let me do it while I can.
No delay, for it is plain
I shall not pass this way again."

I've also always been fond of "hakuna matata."

Life is a constantly changing state. What may sound and/or feel right for me today may not tomorrow. I find it is more fullfilling to simply LIVE it rather than plot and plan courses for it.

I consistently find that life follows Dan Millman's (or Socrates's) immortal House Rules: Paradox, Humor, and Change.

Things do not make sense. Our brains do not comprehend the Universe as it exists. Life is simultaneously the best and worst thing. Paradox.

Because of this, tragedies and comedies are both humorous. In different ways, of course. I don't mean "ha ha" laughing type humor... But, definitely a light hearted approach to the world's problems. World Hunger? It does no good to be confined to your bed with grief every day about starving kids in Africa. Having a full heart and a good sense of humor can provide the energy to make a difference and help. In addition, humor allows us to see the Divine Comedy in a reasonable way. When the next Hurricane hits, you can appreciate Nature's nature. When the scorpion stings the frog, you can laugh at how Nature defies our whim. No matter what promises we make, we are slaves to our nature. This isn't a bad thing, if we know how to ride it. We can ride our minds just like we can ride a horse. Humor.

And, nothing stays the same. From moment to moment, we have a whole universe that is constantly shifting. The universe is much larger than we are. We gotta ride the waves. Change.

We do not have complete control over our lives. But, we do have the power to be "in charge". We can be the horse rider. But, being prepared for the horse to be a horse... this is the truth of life. This is how I choose to approach every day, with these ideas in mind.

I have a very elaborate mission statement I wrote after reading Stephen Covey's 7 habits of highly effective people. One of the habits is to "start with an end in mind", which involves imagining your funeral and what words the person delivering the eulogy would speak of you. It provides perspective over what really matters to you, since when faced with death all the typical illusions fade away and we are left with a sense of truly matters to us the most.