How Important is it to Know What Is Your Why?
What is your why – in this context – is not about the overarching meaning of life.
Every single human life matters.
All lives are important. Each and every one of us is endowed with some scientifically amazing attributes. These allow us to experience our world like no other animal on Earth.
When we are first born, our lives are lived wholly in the now. All we know is waking, sleeping, and being. During this period, we’re just like the rest of the animal kingdom.
Then, as we grow, we develop a different set of sensibilities. These open us to the concepts of past and future. While they deepen our overall understanding of this world – they’re confusing as all hell.
I don’t remember a lot about my childhood. But I do remember, albeit fuzzily, spending hours at a time, alone in my backyard. But I was acting out a myriad of adventures with my Star Wars action figures in new and original stories of my invention.
I believe that I don’t recall these in detail because they existed solely in the now that was my reality, then. Sure, I continued my stories over time – but all of that was in the moment, the now of then.
As we get older, we start asking deeper questions. And while they are often intended to deepen our connections – they frequently cause more disconnect. Specifically – disconnect from ourselves.
We mistake the spiritual, philosophical question of “Why am I here?” with “What is your why?” And I would argue the latter question is the better, more important one to answer.
Why are we here?
This is a question asked by philosophers, scientists, religious leaders, gurus, and others questing for the deepest meanings.
Each person asking this question comes to it from their own perspective, biases, prejudices, beliefs, values, and whatnot. Thus, one similar answer can have two very different interpretations.
For example – How did it all begin?
The general answer a religious leader is likely to tell you is that God created it all. God, as such, is unending, can be neither created nor destroyed and makes up everything in the Universe.
The general answer a scientist is likely to tell you is that energy is the root of it all. That energy is unending, can be neither created nor destroyed and makes up everything in the Universe.
This is the same answer – but from very different vantage points.
And both often conflict rather than meet in the middle or recognize how they agree.
This is why this question isn’t the important question. Sure, having the answer definitively might be amazing and potentially life-changing. But then, frankly, the answer might not impact you and me at all.
All you have to do is look at how the world today is dominated by confirmation bias, opinion, and cognitive dissonance. Armchair quarterbacks have devolved into armchair scientists – unable to reconcile how theory in science is not unsupported opinion, but rather peer-reviewed and agreed-upon best present understanding.
Why are we here? To me, the answer to this question is simple – we are here to experience life and live.
As part of that answer, however, we get to the more important question.
What is your why?
No two people are alike. And that means that there are almost 8 billion (8,000,000,000) separate, unalike, unique individuals on Planet Earth.
While we are individuals, we are also pack-minded. No matter how far back you go in history – people were gathered in packs, tribes, and the like. Survival and growth of the individual relied on the group.
When we left behind the nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle so very long ago, we evolved. The individual became increasingly empowered.
This was less evident during Medieval times when the powerful and empowered were few. But as we moved to our current society, the ability for everyone to be empowered increased exponentially.
Some people haven’t taken that well. And this is true both for those who recognize their power and empowerment – and those who don’t. But today, given our global interconnectivity and incredible technologies, every single person on this planet can be empowered.
While this is easier for some than for others, it starts the same no matter what. It is the answer to “what is your why?”
Why do you live where you live? What is the why of your job? Why do you associate with the people that you do? What is the why behind your beliefs, values, and habits?
The number of answers available are infinite. The combinations are equally infinite.
Some people don’t know. This is for many different reasons. But everyone CAN know. We are all empowered to learn “what is your why?”
This is done via mindfulness, of course.
Mindfulness and what is your why
The only way to know what your why is is to ask “what is your why?”
This is a very powerful question. “What is my why?” can inform us of in-depth concepts including who, what, where, how, and when we are.
This is a mindful question. When you ask it, you are making yourself consciously aware.
Conscious awareness is mindfulness. It’s being in the here and now, the present, consciously aware.
Mindfulness tells you what you are thinking, what and how you are feeling, what actions you are taking, and the intentions behind them. Additionally, what is your why can be identified in that moment, too.
This might seem selfish to some. But to be honest – is there anyone other than you in your head, heart, or soul? Of course not. Thus, your why is known to you and only you.
We can share this info – but only you can comprehend and understand yourself. Thus, what is your why is not selfish – it’s self-knowledge and self-awareness.
There is one large issue about this topic I can’t ignore.
What your why is will change
What drove me when I was a teenager is not what drove me in my 20s. And similarly, what drove me then doesn’t drive me now.
There are similarities. But my why has changed. And that’s utterly to be expected.
Why? Because change is the only constant in the Universe. Change is inevitable. And that’s how come your why will change.
This is another important reason why mindfulness matters as it does. Because the past has come and gone, and the future is uncertain and unwritten. Only the now, this moment, is completely, fully, and really real.
What is your why is not a one-time, one-and-done question. It’s ongoing and ever-changing.
But you know what? That’s a good thing! Because as we grow, evolve, and change – so should our why.
Values, beliefs, habits, experiences, emotions, thoughts, and all else related to what makes you, you, aren’t set in stone. That leaves them malleable and changeable. I don’t know about you – but being who I am now versus who I was in the past, I’m super glad for this.
Your why is important because it can drive your life. And more important, by far, than the overarching “why are we here” notion. What your why is empowers you to make choices and decisions to have, do, and be virtually anything you can dream of. I think that’s pretty damned amazing and utterly worthwhile.
So – what is your why today?
This is the five-hundred and thirty-eighth exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – using mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
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