Palmer's Let Your Life Speak Throughout my reading of this book, I often felt like Palmer was talking to me specifically. What I mean by that is the topics he covered in this book, especially those concerning the meaning of vocation as well as the idea of reclaiming the gift you were originally given when you were brought into this world, really hit home for me. I really liked learning about the meaning of the word vocation. The Latin root of vocation is voice, which Palmer directs us to believe that the “voice” in vocation is the voice of our calling. So instead of thinking of your vocation as just your job, you should also think of it as your calling. But first you have to figure out what your calling actually is. Palmer talks about the idea that each of was born with a gift and that gift is what leads us to be successful in our calling. But we have since lost our gift shortly after birth. So he believes we are trying to relocate this gift the entire second half of our life. I would like to believe that I am a little bit ahead of the curve on this topic because I am always trying to figure out what my strengths and weaknesses are. I do this so I can hopefully realize what I am really good at and enjoy doing so I can make a career out of it. My dad always taught me to first, figure out what I love doing and second, figure out a way to get paid doing it. It’s definitely easier said than done, but I can look at his example of how stressful he was at work when I was growing up and see why he believes that finding something you enjoy doing everyday is important. Another topic that Palmer discussed was the topic of rewards. I really like what he said about how we shouldn’t live our life for the rewards oth... ... middle of paper ... ...stions like “What are you going to do with yourself?” as well as “What is my purpose in life?” I do this for the fact that once I graduate I am officially on my own and at that moment acquire a massive amount of responsibly and debt. As I discussed earlier, I would like to find my “vocation”, but I also have to pay bills. So until I can find my calling and make it profitable, I guess I’ll be doing the same routine that every other human does just to keep their head above water. But I believe that I’ll figure it out. I just have to keep on believing that there is a brighter future ahead of me, and all I have to do is find it. I can’t say that I have found the answers to the questions I constantly ask my self after reading this book, but I feel like I now have the right mindset to find the answers to these questions among many of the other great questions of life.
He was not alone, many of his peers felt the same drive. John Lewis quotes, “Jim Lawson conveyed the urgency of developing our philosophy, our discipline, our understanding. His words liberated me. I thought, this is it… This is the way out.” John Lewis’s calling becomes clear, his new sense of purpose is what drives his motivations now. This drive is, in part, because he recognizes his own power to change his world. He also realizes that he does not have to accept the way life he was born into. This rejection is what liberates him, he sees the potential of what his world can be and this potential is recognized within his
In the excerpt from The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert this was shown to us by the Alma, Henry Whitaker's daughter. She observed something that was more thrilling than anything she has ever seen and because she asked to be apart of, she was allowed to be a part of something meaningful to her. An individuals has the power to create a meaningful life if they strive for what they value in life, because if they don’t try as hard as they could they will not be able to live a purposeful life.
“I have lived every day of my life asking myself ‘is what I’m doing reflective of who I am? Or who I want to be?’ If not...”
... time thinking about OUR wants and how long the wait is but spend the time being happy with what we have because others may not have the same pleasures. Wallace’s idea of not getting caught up in our default setting is true. We shouldn’t make things about ourselves but make everything about what we can do for others.
Many books have multiple life lessons that people can learn to. One of the life lessons that this book indicates is
In the final level of Maslow’s Hierarchy, self-actualization must be met to complete Maslow’s Hierarchy. Pi acknowledges Richard Parker’s importance during the duration of his survival. He meets the criteria of having a profound and significant relationship describing Richard Parker’s help: “He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful. I am grateful. It's the plain truth: without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you my story.”
Butler begins with asking the question of what makes our lives worthy? What assists us in the relevance of humanity? What helps us become recognizable as an individual who’s relatable to others, along
After reading the writings of Susan Wolf and William James, I feel that I was successful in my initial approach to the prompt of defining the things of significance in my life. While I might have been lacking in the way of providing a lot of terms or having relatively superficial descriptions, the closing sentences that describe contentedness seem to be very compatible with certain elements in William James’s piece. The way James traces his mental epiphany when he sees the railroad worker on the tracks closely corresponds with the metacognitive journey I have been on for the last couple of months. Specifically, finding joy in the everyday when I had been obsessing over long-term goals in order to create an “impactful” future life.
Joshua Nealy, a prominent medical school graduate, died last night from complications of losing his dream of becoming a practicing physician. He was 39 years-old. Soft-spoken and borderline obsessive, Joshua never looked the part of a “professional”, but, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the last three years of pursuit of his long reputed dream profession, a position, which he spent nearly 10 years attaining. Sadly, the protracted search ended this past March 18th in complete and utter failure. Although in certain defeat, the courageous Nealy secretly clung to the belief that life is merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. It’s not a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of her dear friend, Emily, the girlfriend turned fiancé and dPT expert of Berkshire County, described Joshua as a changed man in the last years of his life. "Things were worse for him; not following his dream left him mostly lifeless, uninspired," Sammons noted. Ultimately, Joshua concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess the powerful ability to change ourselves and the world around us; the choice to make ours from nothingness.
One of the biggest life lessons that this book has taught was that one does not know what they truly have until it's gone. As the main character Joe is left with just the power of his mind he is now
There I lay in bed, tormented by the same question.The kind of question those who seem to have all the answers, simply cannot answer.The kind of question that runs through your head after a bizarre dream.The kind of question those who are closest to death ask themselves.But I wasn't close to death, nor was I waking up from a wild dream.I was simply a regular seventeen year old boy fearing the life that would come after graduation.Staring at the ceiling, I took a deep breath and exhaled as the question raced across my mind once again,”what’s next”,
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. As Roth states in Strengths Finder 2.0, we as a present day world tend to focus on and try to overcome our weaknesses rather that building up our strengths. Using our natural talents can help us do the best we can and help us be a better asset. After taking the strengths assessment, I found that my top five strengths themes ended up being: relator, discipline, competition, responsibility, and significance.
You go three years of high school preparing for college and at the same time having fun. Until you are in your senior year of high school that’s when you realize and start asking your self what college do I want to go to? Or what college career I want to pursue? That’s when you notice you have but so little time to answer these questions. Me I’m in my last year of high school and I though I already knew what career I wanted to pursue, but its now that I notice that not even I know what I’m going to do with my life? All I’m sure of its that I’m going to graduate out of high school with a diploma and that I’m going to college. But what happens after that? What major did I study? Or where did I go to accomplish my goal?
He enters the first big point by saying “After all are role as care givers, as people who care is to relieve suffering not add to the pile.” I really like this statement, basically saying that we shouldn’t add more stress or hurt a person any more than what they already are, we should try and help them / care about them. Even to our selves’ we should try to care for our self and not keep suffering , do things that excite you and are healthy to you. BJ talks about frank
I believe that life is a learning experience and being able to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses can help us become better individuals in anything we choose to do, whether it is positive abilities and skills that can help achieve our goals or negative personal areas that need improvement. Knowing yourself and what you can do, can help you recognize and overcome your weaknesses.