The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – Nia (Swahili).

Sometimes, we may ponder whether we are truly living our life’s purpose? What’s our worth or value? It puts us in a deeply contemplative mood. Even though the meaning of what we want to do in life is never constant, this question feels too important to ignore. Our purpose may evolve or expand as we learn or grow with wisdom & intuitive insights, but the core of our calling remains steadfast. 

A useful way to approach it is to look for the overlap between four things. What we can contribute – where can our abilities actually make someone’s life, our community or the world a little better? What we love – what makes us feel really alive, curious, motivated or deeply moved? What we’re good at – what comes naturally to us or what are we willing to become excellent at? What matters to us – which challenges, people or principles do we genuinely care about?

Examining all aspects of our lives to see how these inter-relate or intertwine helps us understand our purpose. One way to do this is to draw two circles intersecting in the middle, labelling each circle with parts of our lives we would most like the most to reflect on. Then, we can brainstorm a list of words to answer the question – how does this fulfil my purpose? We can put into the intersection of the two circles any areas that each circle has in common. This can point to facets of our life that truly give it meaning, fulfilment, joy & direction.

Often, we might think that we are living our purpose, but we can easily lose sight of its meaning through perceptions, ideas, influences, circumstances or expectations all around us. Seeing where our true passion, happiness, goals or dreams overlap gives us great insights & inspiration into our life’s purpose.

Our purpose doesn’t have to be one grand mission like change the world. It might be something much more human like raising a family with love, creating beautiful things, building something useful, exploring the world, teaching, healing, serving, discovering, or simply becoming a person who makes the lives of those around them better.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – Nia (Swahili).

Read Start With Why. It creatively answers the questions – why are some people or some organisations more innovative, more influential, more profitable & more passionate than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers & employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over & over? People like Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs or the Wright Brothers had little in common as leaders, but they all started with passion & a why.

People won’t truly buy into a product, service, movement or idea until they understand the why behind it. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle. It provides a framework upon which organisations can be built, movements can be led & people can be inspired. And, it all starts with a why?

Find Your Why picks up where Start With Why left off. Shares how to apply simple yet powerful insights, so we can find more passion, more motivation & also inspire those around us. Achieving fulfilment starts with understanding exactly why we do what we do. Inspirational.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – Nia (Swahili).

We spend so long
Trying to find our purpose
As if it were a place
Some distant shore
We would finally reach
After becoming enough.

Enough success
Enough courage
Enough certainty
To call our life meaningful.

But, life keeps teaching us
That beautiful, deepest treasures
Cannot be found by searching.

They are felt.

Purpose is not a distant flame
Or some grand title, wealth or name
It lives in choices, small and true
In what we give and what we do.

Purpose is the whisper in the morning
The reason we rise when the night is gone
A little voice beyond the silence
That tells us quietly to carry on.

It isn’t always something mighty
It doesn’t need some shining fame
Sometimes, it hides in simple moments
In love, in kindness, hope and pain.

Purpose can live inside a dream
We haven’t found the courage to chase
In every failure that teaches us
To stand again and find our place.

It remembers the child
Who wanted to create
To explore, to love without keeping score
To look at ordinary things
And, still believe they were miracles.

Perhaps, it is returning
To innocence, to the person we truly were
Before we learned to doubt ourselves.

Sometimes, purpose feels forgotten
Like a distant star behind the rain
But, even then, beneath the darkness
Something in us sparks again.

We may not know where the roads are leading
Or what tomorrow has in store
But, every step can shape a meaning
And, every choice can open doors.

Maybe, it is the hand we stretch
When someone is in need
The courage to stay
When leaving would be sweet.

It’s the dreams that refuse to die
The love we cannot stop giving
The questions that keep us awake
The people whose lives, without living
We somehow know are at stake.

So, we can walk though paths may bend
And, trust the journey to the end
For purpose isn’t where we are led
It’s why we choose to move ahead.

Maybe, it comes softly
In the ache that refuses to leave
In the dream that keeps breathing
Even after we have buried it
In the strange pull towards something
We cannot yet name.

Though, somewhere inside us
Is a knowing, much older than fear.

Maybe, we will spend our whole life
Becoming the person we were meant to be.

But if, along the way
We leave a little more love
Than we found
A little more hope
Than we carried

Perhaps, that is enough.

Perhaps, purpose
Was never about changing the world.

Perhaps, it was about
Touching one tiny corner of it
With a human heart
And leaving it a little lovelier.

Maybe, it is about being present.

Being here
Fully, honestly, painfully, beautifully
And giving this one life
Everything our heart knows how to give.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – Nia (Swahili).

Nia means a sense of purpose in Swahili (African). Purpose is the reason something exists or the reason we do something. Our purpose can mean what gives our life meaning or intention, what we feel called to contribute, create, experience or become. In a deeper sense, purpose is the why behind our life. When we know our why, the how becomes clearer.

Purpose gives a beautiful direction to our talent or potential, opens the doors of new possibilities. “Your purpose is where your gifts meet something greater than yourself. If we search outwardly for our purpose we are only dreaming of a fulfilling life, it’s when we look within that we awaken our dream maker” – Cole Randall.

A purpose helps us understand what truly matters, our values become transparent. It enables creativity or decision making & keeps us strong through difficulties. A meaningful reason can make all challenges feel worthwhile. It instills strength or self-belief, builds our confidence, inspires us to feel fulfilled & connect with others.

Sometimes, purpose isn’t a destination. It’s the way we choose to walk through life. A life of purpose is not necessarily an easy life. But, it is a life that feels worth living. Perhaps, purpose is simply becoming who we were brave enough to imagine. “If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right to your purpose. There is a direct connection between finding our passion & reaching our potential.”

People with purpose walk with an air of distinction, as if they have a why in every step. “Humans were made to have meaning. A meaningless life is a life without hope or significance” – Rick Warren. “How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us & keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day, to truly be, to know what matters the most” – Stephen Covey.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – kāinga (Māori).

“Home is not a place, it’s a feeling” – Cecelia Ahern

“At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe, home is somewhere I’m going & never have been before” – Warsan Shire

“Where we love is home, where our feet may leave, but not our hearts” – Oliver Wendell

“A house is made of walls & beams, a home is built of love & dreams” – Emerson

“Home is an anchor, a port in a storm” – Holmes

“Home’s where you go when you run out of homes” – John le Carré

“Home isn’t where you’re from, it’s where you find light when all grows dark” – Pierce Brown

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home” – Gary Snyder

“One never reaches home. But, where paths that have an affinity for each other intersect, the whole world looks like home” – Hermann Hess

A home is a kingdom of its own in the midst of the world, a stronghold amid life’s storms & stresses, a refuge, a sanctuary” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Maybe, at the heart of all our traveling is the dream of someday, somehow, getting home” – Frederick Buechner

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – kāinga (Māori).

Home is not always four walls
Or a roof holding back the rain
Sometimes, it is a voice that says our name
And makes the world feel soft again.

It is the quiet after a long day
The familiar creak beneath our feet
The scent of something warm in the kitchen
The comfort of a well-worn seat.

Home is where our silences
Are never asked to explain themselves
Where we can let down our burdens
Besides the shoes we left by the shelves.

Sometimes, home is a person
A hand that finds ours in the dark
A heart that knows our broken places
And loves us there, without remark.

Sometimes, home is something
We spend our whole life trying to find
Until one day we look within ourself
To discover we’ve been carrying it all this time.

For home is not where we stay
It is where our souls can rest
It is the place, the person, the memory
That makes us feel alive.

There are places
That hold our footsteps
And places that hold our hearts.

Home is the second kind.

It is an old photograph
Faded at the edges
It is every version of us
That was allowed to exist there
The child, the dreamer
The one who got lost
The one who came back.

Home remembers who we were
When the world did not yet
Ask us to become someone else.

And, perhaps that is why even years later
When life has carried us far from its doorstep

A certain smell
A certain song
A certain sunset

Can suddenly make us homesick
For a life we thought we had forgotten.

Perhaps, that is what we spend our whole lives seeking

Not a perfect place
But, somewhere
Our hearts can finally stop
Standing guard.

Somewhere we can breathe.

Somewhere we can close our eyes
And, for a little while, feel that we belong.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – kāinga (Māori).

Building a new home or renovating? If we can implement eco-friendly features, it would be a big step to support our environment. How we power & heat our homes is one of the biggest contributors to our carbon footprint. Pre-fabricated, modular homes reduce waste with easy installations. Orienting our homes to a water view, developing naturally sustaining landscapes or bringing vegetation indoors works wonders.

New constructions can be totally self-sustaining with natural sources of energy. Made completely with natural or recycled stuff (stone, bricks, glass). All energy can be created from sources like wind & solar power (solar panels). Food can be produced by the community in or around our homes, water harvested naturally from the rain or nearby rivers. Packing our walls & ceilings with insulating materials cuts our carbon emissions & energy bills. Smart meters & energy efficient LED lighting reduces our energy usage.

A zero carbon home needs investing in solar panels, insulation, glazed windows & water pumps that benefit our environment. Growing an entire green space on our roof or walls? While it provides great insulation, it also reduces heat & noise pollution.

Our home can be flooded with light, resembling a greenhouse with floor to ceiling glass walls & windows that allow sunlight to warm our home naturally. Not only does it blur the line between the inside & out, it’s contemporary or modern with fresh air ventilation. We can easily become a green builder to save our beautiful planet.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – kāinga (Māori).

The English word home can be translated into Māori as Kāinga. In Māori philosophy, it expresses a deep relationship between people, places, memories, ancestors & belonging. Rather than simply describing a physical location, kāinga represents a living connection between people, nature & the land. Kāinga is where one’s ancestral lines are rooted, connecting the past, present & future generations. Home is defined by real relationships & mutual care within the community.

A kāinga is a place where people are welcomed, appreciated, supported & respected. It emphasises the value of interdependence, love, responsibility & reciprocity. The concept reminds people that a true home is created not only by bricks, but by enduring relationships, a sense to true belonging & shared purpose. “He kāinga tangata, he kāinga kōrero.” A home is made by its people & their shared stories. It recognises the importance of compassionate communities & collective identity. Home is where our story begins.

The word home has a wide range of connotations. Some say, home is merely a place where basic comforts & material needs are addressed. To others, home is a solid foundation from which they draw strength, abundance, joy, inspiration & tranquility. To some, home implies somewhere we can unapologetically be ourselves. Understood, accepted & loved, just as we are. However, these attributes need not be linked to a single space or any space at all. Home can also be a deeply loving feeling that we carry inside ourselves, wherever we are. Home is the starting place of love, hope & dreams.

A person or people can also feel like home. As long as the warmth of this companion or community exists firmly by our side, we can build a number of homes together. Without them in our lives, any number of mansions we build may feel empty, cold or meaningless. Since our home is so intimately tied to our memories, we may feel that we are losing a vital part of ourselves, when need to leave the old one behind. The best journey takes us home. 

However, if we carry our home as a warmly cherished & memorable feeling within ourselves, we can become our own foundation, our own home. We can then stay emotionally & practically grounded, looking forward to exciting chapters in our life, releasing all failures & fears. We intuitively know that we have found the keys to our home when who we really are, our physical space & our energetic surroundings are in soulful harmony.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – aurora (dawn).

From Dawn To Dusk is a simple & elegant guide to mastering the techniques required to take creative natural landscape photographs, covering the latest advances in photographic technology. It beautifully leads us on an hour-by-hour, picture-by-picture journey from dawn to dusk & into the night.

Stunningly structured around the available light during the different times of the day, highlights the suitable landscape types, styles of photography & processing techniques for each moment, to help us hone our camera skills. Each chapter concludes with an awe-inspiring image that demonstrates the results that are possible, accompanied by a personal & peaceful anecdote by the photographer.

We don’t always need the perfect light or the best time of the day to shoot great landscapes. There are opportunities throughout each day in nature, in different light or weather, to create fantastic images. Fascinating.

Disclaimer

The blog will pick a word of the week, to share & explore the selected word. Here’s an expression for the word – aurora (dawn).

A blush awakens in the east
Soft fingers paint the waking sky
The stars retreat with quiet grace
Like whispered hopes that never die.

The eastern sky, once deep with dreams
Now blushes into shades of gold
Each ray unfolds a tender tale
Of courage quiet, bright and bold.

The dew adorns each blade of grass
A thousand pearls in the morning’s hand
The birds compose their timeless hymn
As light reclaims the sleeping land.

The river catches molten light
And carries morning to the sea
The hills awaken, crowned with mist
In robes of tranquil majesty.

The horizon breathes a crimson sigh
Then blooms in amber, rose and gold
The morning writes upon the clouds
A thousand stories yet untold.

No trumpet sounds, no banners wave
Yet, all creation seems to know
The sun has kept its timeless vow
To rise, to warm, to help us flow.

Dawn asks for no applause
It never lingers for acclaim
It simply rises with peace and love
Unchanged by fortune, loss or fame.

We greet the dawn with open hearts
Its golden promise warm and bright
For every morning gently shares
That hope is stronger than the night.

Each sunrise bears a silent gift
A chance to heal, to begin anew
To gracefully leave the weight of dusk
And walk where endless skies are blue.

Each dawn, the sunrise softly proves
Beyond the sorrow, fear and strife
That every day the universe
Invites us back to love and life.

Disclaimer