I was forty eight years old before anyone ever asked me: “What’s Your Mission?” This was after four graduate degrees, two decades of professional life and a whole lot of life experience during which I continued to question and explore. The ask came in a New Warrior Training Adventure sponsored by the Mankind Project International. After the question was asked there was teaching and modeling of the statement by ‘initiated‘ men. The cognitive teaching is Vision + Action = Mission. A statement is necessary.

What’s the vision you have for the balance of your life? When you go deep inside, into your soulful Self what do you see? What’s the picture? Where are you? How are you being? What are you doing? What’s your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual disposition? For example, when I visualize my vision I see nature, people and all manner of sentient and non sentient beings living in peaceful harmony together. I’m being part the the wonder of creation. I’m vibrant and alive and so is everything else.   

Creating a simple Vision statement is very important as it becomes a catalyst for your  action steps thereby bringing conscious awareness to your thoughts, words and deeds. My Vision is to Co-Evolve Human Consciousness. It’s concise and tightly packed. It took many iterations over time to get it into this brief form. It says everything I need to help remind me of what I’m truly here for. It speaks to me of a co-creation which includes all that is. It presses me to keep opening, evolving, loving and awakening to it’s call…

Next comes the Action. You can have the greatest, most magnificent vision and do little to bring it forth into manifestation because change takes work. The realization is that this visionary project is a lifetime adventure. The Vision wants to be so Big that you’ll not be able to accomplish it in a single lifetime. In so doing, you share it with others who will also want to live into it. A shared vision builds enthusiasm and burning desire. A shared vision also brings collective energy that creates and draws more of itself to itself.

Each action item you list can have drop downs in them. The items are defined by you and you alone. For example the ongoing action items that help me co-evolve human consciousness are: prayer, study, service and play. Each of these concepts is defined by me alone because each of these actions have to be owned and executed by me. I therefore have to be in a ‘groove’ with how I do what I do out of the space of being who I truly am with my own idiosyncrasies. You define your Vision and Actions because it’s your designated Mission and you’ll be working on it in ways you can’t imagine. . .

For your use and as a living example, my Mission Statement is: I Co-Evolve Human Consciousness through prayer, study, service and play. Do you see how, in this simple statement of vision and action, a significant mission can be laid out. Now that you have the formula, you can begin your work on creating your own Mission Statement. Do you feel a calling to be in greater alignment with your destiny? Are you willing to work on answering this most potent and important question for new life? Is it time to definitively answer: ‘What’s Your Mission?’ If so, get to work on it. It’s yours to live . . . 

• When the time is ripe, sit in stillness and inquire within for a vision of your deepest longing. It may start with a feeling or an image or the remembrance of a past event. Sit in a compassionate presence with your Sself, your transient ego self and your infinite ultimate Self. Take note of whatever arises and feel the attracting and resisting energy.

• Wait for images to arise that feel compelling, inviting, empowering. Discern the levels of energy that you experience. Ask for that which brings the greatest enthusiasm, the most compelling fulfillment. See the vision with your five senses and those beyond. Look for a peacefulness within the picture and within yourself.

• When the vision is clear, write it down, close your eyes and look at it again. What are the actions it points to? Which ones feel compelling, enjoyable, reverent, illuminating?Stay with the observation until you have at least one concrete actionable item.

• As the Vision and Action conjoin, test them. Register the Feasibility, the Willingness, the Harmony, Love, Joy, Peace, and Passion for the Mission. Continue your discernment and practice embracing your Vision and Action until you feel your Mission’s challenge and embrace. When it comes, get to work living into it daily. It then consciously becomes part of your being, an ongoing practice of the Who that is You.