Do you have a Manifesto? How about a Personal Mission Statement? I’ve been a fan of mission statements and manifestos since I was in my early 20’s. I think it arises out of my deep desire to know myself well.
One of my 2016 Goals is to write my Manifesto. It’s nearly mid-January, and I worked on my manifesto, and I finally finished it. I read it out loud. I felt a rawness, a vulnerability that at the end of reading, brought tears to my eyes. I have worked hard to arrive at the truth of this manifesto. It has been a long journey to sift and sort and identify my calling and my values.
There have been many lonely, dark nights of the soul, where I have been swallowed up in the isolation that humans can feel. I’ve dug my fingernails into the dirt and slowly, inch by inch, pulled myself up and through and out of the terror of my childhood and through the terror that has existed in my family lineage for generations.
Like the lotus that is a symbol that has spoken to me since the first time I saw one, I am at long last blooming into the beauty and fullness that is meant for me and for all humans. I feel a confidence that I wondered if I would ever know, and a heart openness that I only dreamed about. I finally understand that I am a member of a community. I do have a circle of people around me who love me and who I love in return. Through my tears, I feel relief, a knowing that I do belong, I do matter.
I wrote my Personal Mission Statement in June 1997. I followed the Franklin Covey method of writing one’s Personal Mission Statement. It took me about four months to write it. It went through countless drafts, because I wanted it to accurately reflect who I was and who I envisioned becoming.
In the last part of the mission statement, I wrote, “I regularly spend time assessing, imagining, searching, asking and visioning why I am here and what I am called to do.” In 1997, I was 32 years old. I was an assistant principal at a huge high school in Aptos, California. I was finishing up my master’s degree. I had not yet discovered endurance sports like cycling and triathlon. I had lots ahead of me, I wasn’t sure who I was.
In creating my Manifesto, I realized, now I DO know why I am here, and what I am called to do. I spent 18 years assessing, imagining, searching, asking, visioning and best of all, experimenting!!! In essence it boils down to two things: I am here to write and teach. From those two, stems my desire to speak publicly. My very best speeches emerge from my passion to teach! That was a wonderful a-ha moment!!
Over the next few weeks, I will dig deeper into my Manifesto, to share more with you about my calling and my desire to be of service to humanity and the world.
Please leave a comment and let me know how you’re doing with your manifesto!!
So awesome Mari!! When I begin my doctorial program we had to write a This I believe statement. That statement made me identify with who I was, who helped me become that person and how important it was to me to fulfill my goals. At the end of my program we were asked to write another This I believe statement or reread the first. I cried like a baby. I read my statement to my 12th grader who are challenged to write their own statement. I now will start on the Manifesto. Thanks for sharing.
Kewana,
Thank you so much for this beautiful, thoughtful comment!!! I am excited to hear that you are going to write a manifesto for yourself!! And I get it, getting emotional reflecting and reading This I Believe statements and Mission Statements!!! They are emotional indeed.
You are a courageous woman!
~Mari