Do You Like Your Pain, Are You Ready for Change?

April 2, 2004.
I was standing in my kitchen staring down at the parquet floor; it was a late evening. The sun was setting in the west. I hated my life!
I had lost purpose, passion, meaning, and I’d lost my way.
I’m Scott Hammond, the father of nine.
I’m going to share the process I went through to identify my personal dysfunction, get connected with my life purpose and meaning, and translated those passions to get back on track.
I’ll share the evolution of how I got back on track and how you can, too.

In my journey, I’ve known three types of people…
1. Wally the walking dead… well, he represents the defeated life. He is hopeless, lifeless, listless, and dullness marks his every moment.
Wally is hollow, empty, and lives a routine driven life.
He has given up, given in, and quit life.

2. Wendy the walking wounded… Wendy represents the victim’s life.
Hurt, tragedy, pain, and loss are marks if her life. She is self absorbed, full of self-pity, anger, and frustration. She lives the coping lifestyle; dependent, codependent, and she plays the enabler.

3. Donald the walking wonderful….he lives the empty life of denial. He is the overachiever, type A+, competitor, super dad, super boss, and super guy in general.
He looks good on the outside, but he’s empty on the inside.

The question is this, who do you relate to the most when things are going well and what don’t you like about what you see?

What you find a satisfying in life?
Sometimes we don’t like our pain, dysfunction, and we want to change her priorities. So let me ask you a question…

Pretend with me for a moment you’re up 50,000 feet in a jet airliner and the captain comes on and says, “Ladies and gentlemen. We have a problem… you have 30 seconds to dictate a message to a loved one, your meaning of life and what you find important. It will be saved in our blackbox for posterity. Ready… began now…”
So, who did you write? What did you say? Are you living it? If not, why not?

What do you find satisfying?
What is really important? And what is a waste? Are you now doing what you find satisfying? If not, why not?

We can identify our passion. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
What fills you up?
What gives you meaning?
What does it for you?
Is it God, people, creation, coffee?

We become lost, busy, confused.
We live in the fog of war, and we fail to identify what’s truly important to us. We need to go to 50,000 feet and take a look at our lives.
It’s easy to get off track, living life, paying bills, raising a family.

That which fills me up helps me to help and serve others. You cannot pour from an empty jar.

So what is that one thing for you? And how does it feel to not be doing it? What is getting in your way? Why are you not effective in this area? Are you busy, lazy, or procrastinating?

When I realized I didn’t like the pain and my path to dysfunction, and I could change, I did! You can too!
We all can!

We can all identify and partake of that which gives us life.
But we need to be attentive to personal responsibility, positive attitude, accountability, and taking control to live an intentional life.
We need a plan of action, goals, animation in life to live it on purpose.

Once we connect with our passion, priorities, and purpose we will be happier, more joyful, and fulfilled.
You can leave a heritage, and a legacy for those you love.
You can make a difference and live life on purpose!