Juanpablo Barrantes
Leader’s approach
(3 minutes read) Life is something similar to a trip, a journey. We are the travelers, the passengers. On this journey, some people travel comfortable, others not so much, and many others travel way uncomfortable. Why is there a vast majority who doesn’t travel so well? Since some people start the trip, they probably start it wrong. They don’t have the right stuff for the journey, a quest that is aggressive and long - it’s especially long whenever suffering prevails. It also happens that some people are not nearly ready for the trip, or even worse, they never reflect on the causes to take action to improve the circumstances during life’s journey. Others usually start the journey so well, but then suddenly go down, until ending up wrong. Don’t they know how to live ...? What about those who know how to live better, how do they do it? Does suffering and difficulty do not reach them? They’re definitely also reached by struggle. Life does not distinguish between those who do well and those who do wrong... the difference lays in the attitude by which suffering and struggle are faced. Those who travel for life comfortable have an ultimate purpose, any struggle faced during the journey is less than such purpose. In some way, suffering ceases to be a difficulty when it’s confronted to a purpose for which such suffering is understood and accepted. We all deserve a decent and pleasant life, a safe journey through life. A life with a meaning. How to achieve it? Here are three milestones that follow those who fully enjoy the journey through life: First milestone: A good attitude towards life, a motivation. To have a good spirit despite any destiny might be a feat, indeed you need to know yourself, accept yourself and love yourself; then know how to accept and face life’s struggles. I may not know so far a quote that summarizes in a better way this first milestone of a good attitude towards life: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually.” - Victor Frankl. Second milestone: A good reason for life, someone for whom to live, an inspiration. Who does inspire a significant reason of why are you willing to give everything in life? Who does move your most deep and sincere feelings and makes you strive to be a better person today, than whom you were yesterday? People whose journey is successful are very clear on their inspirations, such presence or such person who shakes them day by day towards an ultimate purpose in life. Some people relate their “life’s meaning” with their “life’s truth”. I quote Frankl again for his deep concept of life’s meaning: “The truth—that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.” Third milestone: Having a life project, something to live for, an aspiration. When you face life with the right attitude and you also have an inspiration that moves you in the direction you have set, then you most likely will close this virtuous circle with an aspiration. A destination through which you move, demands discipline and personal growth. You will have to dedicate time and resources, perhaps at some point you may doubt whether you should continue with it, because it is not easy, if it were easy anyone could strive to achieve it. And once you reach it, it gives you a state of self-realization and leaves you with such a good taste in your mouth, that you will probably be thinking about the next aspiration that you are going to reach. I’d like to finish up this post with a last quote from Frankl, from his masterful aspiration “Man’s search for meaning”:
“Which choice will be made an actuality once and forever, an immortal “footprint in the sands of time”? At any moment, man must decide, for better or for worse, what will be the monument of his existence.” By Juan Pablo Barrantes www.jpbarrantes1973.wixsite.com/leadersapproach