Equipped for Living with Purpose

“Your life has marked you in unique ways and these marks – whether you know it or not – will determine how you live your life, what quests you pursue, and what you are equipped to say with passion and authority.” (Michael Rabiger)

Dear Claire,                                                      

I am so glad that you have asked me to mentor you in discovering your personal narrative and learning how to translate your thoughts into well-written words.  When I received your letter, I was immediately immersed in a thousand ideas for ways to help you become a better communicator, and I am eager to begin our adventure together. 

I understand your frustration when you feel like other people ignore you, or don’t consider your opinion to be valid; while it is easy to wallow in that sense of “anonymity”, I want to remind you that you are not insignificant in this world, and that you exist at this exact time and in this exact place for a reason. Your life has purpose, and together we will explore the many ways you can learn to reshape your view of yourself so that you can share your creative ideas and life experiences through your powerfully written words. Many others who feel the same way will be inspired and motivated by your voice to discover their own passions and pursue them.

I have a treasure trove of ideas for us to explore together, and I am looking forward to some lively discussions about finding your voice, honing your writing skills, and molding your experiences into a cohesive narrative which will help you rise above your limiting beliefs about your life circumstances and conquer your feelings of inferiority. 

I began my letter to you with a recent quote from a documentary filmmaker — you may not be familiar with his name, but he has discovered the power of personal narrative — because his words echoed the notion which has been meandering through my brain for so many years, and which I am finally realizing is my reason for wanting to help you: I love the written word, written well.  It is my passion and my motivation for encouraging so many others to improve their writing, and it comes from my unique life – my childhood, my education and training by other people who were entranced by the power of words, and the rich environment of other people’s words and life stories with which I surrounded my own children and used to teach them the beauty, power, and creativity of written language. 

To help you understand how our experience forms our narrative, let me share an example from my life which shaped both my voice and my passion for well-crafted words.  My ninth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Young, was the epitome of English teachers: she was elegant, well-spoken, and passionate.  In fact, I wanted to be like her.  Throughout our year, she demanded excellence from each of her students, called us to task when we didn’t live up to what she knew was our capability, and praised us when we wrote with intelligence and excellence.  She shared her love of great literature with us by reading classics aloud, and encouraged us to express our thoughts about them through written essays. 

My one aim for the entire year was to receive Mrs. Young’s approval; I studied with more intention and purpose than I knew I possessed, to perfect my writing and gain her praise.  When I received back my essay for our final book of the year – A Tale of Two Cities – I beheld written across the top in Mrs. Young’s English Teacher Red Pencil script, “Piece de resistance!”  In her own inimitable way, she was telling me that I had created my “showpiece”, and my “most important work”; that was the moment I realized that words have power to transform even a young girl’s perspective and image of herself as one who has worth, and has something valuable to say.

Isn’t it fascinating to consider that language – that amazing gift which separates us from the animal kingdom – is so universally practiced and yet so locally understood?  Every people group in the world has a distinct language which they share in common and which binds them together.  When we understand the words of those around us, we join in relationship with their pain, their sorrow, their joy, their life stories — and we create brand new stories of understanding, compassion, shared experience. We create a legacy for those who follow after us.  The beauty of written language is that by engaging our ability to speak powerfully and engagingly on paper, our stories can exist far beyond our own meager life spans, and have the power to influence future story seekers yet to step into this journey we call life.

Claire, we have chatted about your life purpose, the gift of language which connects us to one another, and the power of personal narrative. The one thing I hope you’ll remember from this letter is that our well-written words, spoken with our own authentic voice, have the power to create a narrative for our lives that will inspire us to overcome our struggles and find our purpose, and which can give each of us the confidence to know that the struggles we have endured, the pain we have experienced, and the dilemmas we have solved, will resonate with others so that we can, in turn, equip them to conquer their own doubts and fears to “make them fitter to triumph in the contests of life” (Steve Denning). 

We’ll talk again soon,                                                                            

Beverly