For the secret of a man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for.
Dostoyevsky
Photo by Helga Birna Jónasdóttir
The beginning of a new year is a wonderful opportunity to welcome the magic of clarity into your life.
What motivates you? What principles do you live by? What values are central to your life? The answers to these questions will shape and form the year ahead.
As with any good spell, the achievement of clarity requires focus and dedication. What better time than now, at the cusp of the New Year to pull away from the often frantic demands of daily life. Take a moment to slow down, pause, and reflect.
A Visit With Clarity
In The Book of Qualities, writer J. Ruth Gendler paints an evocative and colorful image of clarity:
My visits to Clarity are soothing now. He never tells me what to think or feel or do but shows me how to find out what I need to know.
It was not always like this. I used to visit other people who visited him. Finally, I summoned the courage to call on him myself. I still remember the first time I went to see him.
Was I surprised.
He lives on a hill in a little house surrounded by wild roses. I went in the living room and sat down in a comfortable chair by the fireplace. There were topological maps on the walls, and the room was full of stuff, musical instruments and telescopes and globes, geodes and crystals and old Italian Tarot decks, two small cats.
When I left, he presented me with a sketchbook and told me to draw the same thing every day until the drawing started to speak to me.
Finding Your Personal Clarity
Beginning your own journey to meet clarity, take a few blank pieces of paper and, drawing upon your life experiences, write down the answers to these questions:
- When were you at your creative best? These may have been times when you created something (an event, product, artwork—even an ephemeral shift in another’s mood.)
- When were you totally committed? These would be times when you were deeply involved, emotionally steadfast and filled with determination.
- When did you know exactly what to do? Recall times when you were decisive, deliberate and confident (possibly even in the face of opposition).
- When you were so absorbed in your undertaking that time become nonexistent?
- What would you consider to be your greatest achievement or accomplishment?
- What is the most exciting thing you have done?
- When have you taken the strongest stand in your life? What were you committed to?
- What has been the most important lesson you have learned in your life? Why?
Review your answers. Pay special attention to any recurring patterns or themes. Now, with these in mind, can you better answer the opening questions:
- What motivates you?
- What principles do you live by?
- What values are central to your life?
This is your clarity, your mission statement, your life’s purpose.
Shape it into a few succinct sentences. Display it in a special place in your home. Re-read it frequently. Let it become the magic that creates the year ahead. With focus and dedication your daily life will reflect your clarity, bringing success and joy.
It is the primary point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.
Desiderius Erasmus
Further Reading
The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler
