The drive to experience heightened consciousness is the greatest hallmark of the human species. How do we live at the highest levels of our own human consciousness? How do we transcend them?
We want to establish more control over our thought consciousness while also releasing ourselves from its control so that we may experience a higher consciousness. So we want more control over our lives, and, at the same time, many of us sense that we must surrender to the divine.
At our deepest depths rises a drive to contribute. We want to know that we’ve given of ourselves and played a significant part in shaping the world around us. Our desires to add value, give to others, express ourselves, create unique things, and join groups and organizations are often all in hopes of making our mark on the world and making some kind of difference. It’s this drive to give and to matter that fuels our highest personal ambitions as well as our remarkable ability to be selfless.
Contribution is generally defined as “playing a significant part in” some kind of common or collective cause or endeavor. So contributing in life is akin to giving significantly to something, whether to work, a cause, a group, or an individual.
Activating your drive for creative expression is one of the fastest strategies to finding happiness and fulfillment. It also happens to be the best way to guarantee your future employment.
When you get to put your own personal touch on a project, you feel that you are making a real impact. Seeing your ideas resonate with others and come to fruition is one of the greatest rewards of work, and the creative collaboration at play in modern organizations makes that very thing possible.
There is but one word to bring to the center of your mind, which can define the path to an engaged life and mobilize the great energies of potential within you: challenge.
It’s important to differentiate between goals and challenges. A goal can simply be an item on a to-do list or checklist. Nothing in setting a goal demands the most of you; a challenge, on the other hand, is something that stretches your efforts and abilities. Goal thinking is destination thinking–it’s all about getting something. Challenge thinking immediately inspires thoughts about the journey–it’s about giving something more of yourself.
The drive for change stems not only from our biological call to grow and learn but also from our conscious and continual desire for newness and excitement.
You can gauge your chances of living your dream life from today forward by the answer to this simple question: Do I both welcome and cause change? If the answer is yes, you can smoothly navigate the flow of life and reach your desired end. If the answer is no, you will always feel tossed about and terrified by a turbulent stream of chance, and you will live life grasping at any certain shore that appears before you.
Feeling happy and energized is one thing, but being able to share that energy and enthusiasm with others you deeply care about and adore is the real hallmark of a fully Charged Life. True lifelong happiness comes from connecting with and loving others, so it’s best we figure out how to do that as soon as possible and as best we can. The strategies below will help you do just that.
Amplifying your own relationships with others begins by defining what your ideal relationships look like, and then designing your behaviors and interactions to make them a reality. This is important work, because the more you feel you are in your ideal relationships, the more your drive for deep, meaningful connection is satiated.
Beyond just receiving caring from others, when you don’t demonstrate care to others consistently, life loses its color and connection. You feel less emotionally engaged with those around you.
Real change begins with real commitment to be more conscious about our goals and choices, and consistent in our efforts to make them happen. To be worthy of more caring, we simply must accept it, see that it’s all around us, and, of course, return the blessing.
How we think of ourselves (our self-image) and how we behave in accordance with that image in the real world is the stuff of congruence. It’s one of the most profoundly powerful drives we have as humans–to live in consistent alignment with who we think we are, how we want others to perceive us, and who we want to become.
You can’t create congruence with something you’ve never defined, so it’s important to consciously create a unifying self-image of who you are and who you want to be.