Finding your “why”

For those of you that have done yoga with me, your ears are probably burning with the words:

“WHAT IS YOUR WHY?” because I ask it every single class, every single day and not just once but at least 3 times throughout the hour..

— Friedrich Nietzsche

What do I mean when I talk about your “why”?

Well, your why is your purpose. Your why is the reason behind the work that you do, the things that you say, the food that you eat, the places you go, the people you see and it’s the entire reason why you live life the way you do. This is your calling. Your conviction. It’s pretty damn important and is often very overlooked, which is terribly, terribly sad. It’s sad because in order to do the how’s in life – like the living, the eating, the talking and all the other doing things, YOU NEED TO HAVE A WHY. It’s your motivation, your reference point – a little thing you come back to every now and then to triple check that you are talking your talk and not talking someone else’s talk. 

This whole why thing has come up for me even MORE so than in the past (didn’t even think it was possible to bring anymore awareness to this point). Recently I’m busy with two major launches – one is part of Tulua Sun and the other is an ENTIRE NEW AMAZING BRAND that the love of my life and I are working on, all very exciting to say the least, but anyhoo, with new ventures – comes new business plans. So, we have our little University caps on slaving away at the computer coming up with and creating EPIC business plans. And this is one of the first things you do when you start a business, this is your reference point, you know, your little guide throughout the process – something to always come back to if you feeling a little lost.

Noticing how much effort is going into these business plans, which I know most people do at some point in their lives – whether for themselves or for someone else – and I wondered why humans don’t spend this much time on their own business plan? 

And then the hardest thing about these things for me, is the vision and mission statement, writing them as simply as possible incorporating all you represent in just a few words. For those non-business folks, a mission statement is basically a summary of the aims and values of a company and a vision statement is essentially a quick sentence or two describing what the company hopes to achieve.

So, naturally, being the journaling queen that I am – of course I wrote my very own vision and mission statement for myself. FOR ME. 

After writing these down I came back to my why, and kinda combined the 2 to formulate a 1-2 sentence long WHY. Why am I here? What is my mission here on planet earth? What did I come here to do?

We all know that we weren’t just placed on this spinning globe for shoots and giggles, nope. We were placed on this spinning globe for a VERY important reason. And we ought to know and understand that reason. We owe ourselves at least that.

So, that’s when I thought it would be a darn shame if I didn’t write a blog post on “finding your why” because maybe this is a foreign concept to some. Maybe some of you are thinking about this for the first time, and that’s totally okay, there is no time limit on these things. We get to them when we are ready. So now, you are ready.

•        For clarity. To have a clear vision of who you are and where you’re going.
•        For passion. Surely you want to ensure you are doing things you feel passionate about?
• For motivation. Sometimes the “how” stuff gets a little tough, and when you come back to your why – it reignites your fire to the how.
•        For focus. Understand where you’re going and don’t get distracted by things that don’t serve you.
•        For guidance. If you’re feeling a little off-path, chances are you’re probably right. This little thing will steer you back in the right direction.
•        For health. Don’t you think being happy is healthy? Of course it is. And when you are living your truth, you are happy and so, you are healthy.
•        For the love of being authentic. Allowing yourself to not get sucked into what society says you should be doing, and to do you.
•        For resilience. Your why always picks you up when you are down.
•        For integrity. For the sake of feeling “whole” because what a wonderful thing it is to feel. 

These are a mere few things of why it’s important to know your why, I have no doubt you will find many more perks on your journey.

So, there really isn’t a one way of knowing your why. Finding your why is different for everyone, the approach is different for every person – and as much as I wish I could write a step by step process to finding your why, I can’t. only you can do that. What I can do though, is give you 4 journal prompts to send you on your merry way to finding your why.

Yes, I said journal. Again.

But this is the easiest way to find what’s burning in your heart, writing it out. It works. I promise. Please give it a bash.

1.    WHAT MAKES YOU COME ALIVE: What lights a fire in your belly, hmmm?

2.    WHAT ARE YOUR INNATE STRENGTHS: We’re all good at something, what comes naturally to you that is usually a challenge for others?

3.    WHERE DO YOU ADD THE GREATEST VALUE: Think about everyday situations, what do your friends call you for?

4.    HOW WILL YOU MEASURE YOUR LIFE: Please don’t say money (monkey emoticon with hands over face)

I’m keeping it simple, and I’m not going to elaborate on these questions because sometimes when someone goes into too much detail it can shift the way you truly feel about something or influence your mind in some way. So I’m going to leave it at this. A blank page for you to get writing, and to get why-ing.

Now go get ‘em tiger.

Xxxx