Your Why: Why start with Why?
This year our Monday shows are focused on small, bite-sized actions that will help you move towards living a slower, simpler life. The past few episodes were about the very practical tasks of green cleaning, so the next few weeks we're going to look at things from a different, bigger picture perspective: your Why.The notion of Why and living a life aligned with it is something I'm asked about a lot - not only how to uncover it, but specifically what to do with your Why once it's been uncovered - so Ben and I have decided to spend the next few weeks exploring the idea of Why, and why it's so important in creating a simpler, slower, more values-based life.In today's show, we explore two main ideas about Why and while they may seem very basic to anyone who has given this values-based stuff any thought, we wanted to go back to the beginning and discuss: what actually is a Why, and why is it so important to have one?We talk about the ways in which our personal Why is at the centre of everything we do, how it adds clarity and confidence to our decisions and how it helps us to stay on track when things get difficult.Essentially, having a Why in place, even a general idea of one, helps in so many ways. Your Why can:
- provide a foundation on which to build the kind of life you want, supporting it and giving it strength over time
- help make decisions simpler (not easier, necessarily)
- direct your choices and actions
- help you to recognise that you stand for something, you're not merely existing or being a passenger in life
- provide you with reasons to give and the confidence to give them when someone questions your choices
- help support you when you feel overwhelmed or wrong or conflicted
- act as a touchstone in your life - by checking in regularly you can stay connected with your Why and feel sure of the reasons for your choices and actions.
We also talk about the fact that your Why can (and will) change over time, which is perfectly OK! In fact, that's where we find ourselves at the moment, and while it's a little uncomfortable it's also important to understand that as people we change and evolve so it's fair to expect our Why to evolve too.As always, there is a brief, simple action we'd love you to try this week too. Just start thinking about your Why. What do you think it might be? What do you want it to be? What lights a fire in your belly? What is at the centre of your life already? Then just write these things down on a blank piece of paper. Mindmap them, don't censor anything, don't judge your answers or thoughts, and simply sit with these ideas for the next few days.In the meantime, have a wonderful week!
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