Where There's Smoke is my favourite podcast. The creators look at self-development through an interesting, quirky and topical lens. The episode I was listening to today was called Scratch that Itch (Purpose).
It tried to help answer the age old question about what we're supposed to be doing. I appreciate their view in terms of our purpose being something that we can only uncover through action. It is something we need to figure out on our own for better or worse. Along that path we'll try lots of different and often wrong things. The whole journey matters though and it is only via all of these cumulative experiences we can find the joy we're looking for.
Ken Robinson defined it as being in our element. Which is when we are doing something we have a natural capacity for and love it.
The podcast did a great job of taking the crux of what the creator of the Podcast and their guest wanted to do as a child and showing how the essence of that linked to what they were doing now. Our element can be broader than we might think.
It really got me thinking about the various career paths I've been on in my life. Was I in my element in all of them? What's the thread between teacher, musician and now fund/community developer? I can see it's there, though it is a little cloudy. Just need to spend a little more time finding the right thread that links all of these parts of my journey.
Being a Force for Good 