Last weekend I was asked to do a session at the Veteran Speakers Retreat in Boiling Springs, PA. It is a select group of 60 people who have all been very successful in the speaking business–precious people such as Charlie Plumb, who was a prisoner of war in Viet Nam for 6 years; Bob Orben, who was the speech writer for JFK; Norm Rebin, a Statesman from Saskatoon, Canada; Naomi and Jim Rhode, who have founded several successful companies; Bubba Bechtol, who is a headliner at the Grand Ole’ Opry; George Morrissey, Lou Heckler, Al Walker, Don Thoren, Tony Alessandra, Jim Cathcart, Emory Austin, and Michael Aun who are all in the Speaker Hall of Fame; Ralph Archbold who is known as Ben Franklin; Gil and Esther Eagles who own a wonderful speaker’s bureau; Gayle Carson, the “Spunky Old Broad;” Bill Johnson, the first Executive Director of the National Speaker’s Association; and good friends such as Scott and Melanie Gross, Annette Dubrouillet, and Gloria Jones, all of whom have made such a difference in this world. It was a special honor to be asked to attend.
For my session, I asked everyone to do an exercise which involved thinking about the “story of their life.” I asked them:
* What would be the title of your life story?
* What would the chapters of your life story be?
I read them this quotation:
“THE PAST HERALDS THE FUTURE: the lines that you see in your past will guide you in discovering your mission. As you recall your personal story, you will be recounting the deep work of your soul and you will gradually become aware of inner calls often left unheeded or forgotten. To remember means to re-member or to ‘reassemble what had been dismembered or dispersed.’ Remembering or going back over your story allows you then to ‘reassemble’ into a coherent whole the pieces of the puzzle of your life: scattered memories, unfulfilled desires, abandoned projects, and so on. Bit my bit, you will grasp hints of your mission which, like the stitching on a piece of cloth, appears and then disappears throughout your story.
When you have finished reconstructing your past, you will examine your passions, your tendencies, your persistent interests, your dreams – realized or abandoned. You will then be better able to recognize your soul’s impulses and efforts as it strains to give birth to its mission.”
John Monbourguette,
How to Discover Your Personal Mission
Although we did not have much time to spend on the exercise, I got lots of good feedback from people. We heard words in the titles like “metamorphosis,” “epiphany,” “journey,” “mistakes,” “recovery,” “crash landing,” “emergence,” and “commencement.” One person even told me that the title of his next book came from the session!
I would encourage everyone spend some time thinking about these questions and then share your outline with family members or close friends. We all need to step back from the busyness of our daily lives and survey, both personally and professionally, what our life story has been. Only then can we look to the future with new understanding and wisdom and find our legacy and mission for the time we have left on this earth.
Barbara and part of her life story!
To learn more about Barbara’s work, go to www.barbaraglanz.com
