DO you feel restless or dissatisfied with life?
Do you seek a certain paradise…
The life of your imagination, dreams and childhood fantasies?
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| Where's your own personal paradise? |
Just the other day, I was talking to a friend of mine, Rachel. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you Rachel has the perfect life.
In her mid-forties she is as healthy and radiant as she’s ever been. She has a husband who adores her and three kids who multiply that love.
Yet lately she admitted, she’s been feeling… restless.
Like something was missing and she had this nagging urge to sneak off and find it.
As I listened to her talk, I recalled a story an old mentor of mine had told me in a time when I felt restless in my own life.
The story went something like…
Once, long ago, there was a man who was displeased with his life.
Yes, he had a wife who loved him and two children who adored him.
He liked his work and had friends he enjoyed, but still something nagged at him.
Daily, he found himself dreaming of an unseen place he heard about called Paradise.
One morning over a bowl of oatmeal, he stopped dreaming of Paradise and decided to go find it.
Without a word to his family, he walked out the front gate with the broken latch, away from the place he had called home and never looked back. He was a man bound for Paradise.
For three days he traveled. And each night, before falling asleep, the man removed his shoes and deliberately pointed them in the direction he had been traveling, toward Paradise.
Each morning he carefully stepped into his shoes and continued his quest.
Then, on the third night, the man accidentally kicked his unofficial compass 180 degrees.
When the first rays of morning fell, the man leapt to his feet, carefully stepped into his shoes and began traveling in the direction they told him to go - toward “Paradise”.
Exactly three days later, he arrived. “Paradise!” he cried from atop the hill. Though, as he stared at the village below, he thought it looked vaguely familiar… but wrote it off as coincidence.
He excitedly descended the hill and walked through the village of Paradise where strangers knew him by name. Of course they did! Why wouldn’t they? This was Paradise!
The man continued until he came to the end of the road where there was a gate with a broken latch.
He walked through, and as he did, he heard a melodious voice calling him in for dinner and could smell the aroma of his favorite meal.
As he opened the front door the man was greeted by two children who yelped “Daddy!” as they wrapped themselves around him and a woman who kissed him like she meant it.
Ah! Paradise he thought.
Now, every morning the man eats his bowl of oatmeal and revels in his new, wonderful life in Paradise.
I finished the story, and Rachel nodded just as I had when I heard it years ago.
I assured her that the desire for Paradise is not itself a crime.
Everyone desires Paradise.
The confusion of where to find Paradise is the problem.
Paradise is a choice.
It is a state of mind.
It comes from within.
Paradise doesn’t exist unless you create it and unless you choose it everyday.
We all seek significance (aka Paradise):
That we are important, that we matter, that our life matters.
The reality is, you already are.
You are significant, you matter, your life matters.
The only thing separating yourself from the knowing is your perspective.
Stopping, looking and realizing the profound impact you making in the worlds of everyone you meet, most particularly those you lead in your home and at the office.
For, my Paradise seeking-friends out there, the next time you feel dissatisfied, kick your shoes around. It may lead you to discovering the Paradise you’ve been living in all along.
Feel free to share this with any like-minded achieving friend, family member, or teammate that may need the wake up call because they are ready to pack up and search for their own paradise.
Article source: http://tiny.cc/244rpx
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