Reflections and Manifestos
At times, our lives just stream by, and we fail to pause and reflect on whether we are where we want to be or just where our lives have brought us. Responsibilities, obligations, commitments, or any other tag we put on the “stuff” that fills our calendars and days have become more like strictures rather than structure.
That is why it is essential to take time for quiet reflection even before we may believe we need it.
However, a critical lesson I have learned about time spent in reflection is that we need a frame of reference for it. We need to know what we want our time of reflection to tell us.
At first, I thought the answers would be about happiness or satisfaction. But I’ve come to understand that those are just choices, decisions we make every moment. So our reflection time needs to reveal how our daily decisions align with who we want to be now and in the future.
That’s where time spent creating a manifesto can be helpful. It won’t be rules to live by in the strictest sense, but they serve as a guide, a touchstone that can help ground us and give us that place of reference for our reflections.
I review my own each year, and it changes and evolves as I do. Here are some of the guideposts that have been in mine over the years:
My vision for the future is my decision touchstone for today. I recognize that what I do today is forming my tomorrow. I do not think about what might have been. I act on what will be.
My internal and external worlds reflect each other.
A curious nature is my most valuable resource. My most powerful tool is the right question.
I do not think in terms of success or failure. I think in terms of action and effort.
I invest time as a resource. I do not schedule my time; I create space for my priorities and what matters most right now.
To move on to what is next, I must be willing to be a beginner. To be valued as a teacher, I must continuously seek deeper value as a student.
Whatever path I choose is just that, my choice. I must first embrace myself before I can truly embrace the world and influence others.
Regardless of what I choose as a form of measurement for any goal, the desired result is the same: Mastery – Being the absolute best I can be.
Living from a state of gratitude, a state of grace, is living from the purest form of energy available to me.
I aspire always to honor God in my thoughts, words, and deeds.
I have a responsibility to take care of myself and to live well.
Beyond all else, I am here to make a difference and enrich the lives of others.
When you need to reflect, what guides you?
What would you put in your manifesto?
