george grombacher 0:02
misalignment is a problem ever been in a car whose wheels tires were not aligned properly, you can 100% Feel it, you almost feel like you’re kind of skipping down the road, or you’re getting pulled in a certain direction. So being aligned your vehicle or if you’re a human being, like you and I are extremely important, seems obvious. But so many of us are out of alignment, or we’re missing something. feeling stuck, you feel burned out, if you are feeling depressed, if you’re overweight, if you’re broke, you just keep doing the same thing, making the same mistakes over and over again, it’s evidence that you are out of alignment, or that you are just flat out missing something. And I speak from experience and all this. So before I go any further, I’m by no means perfect with any of this. It just strikes me that. And I think it’s obvious to everyone, that there are big gaps, there’s gaping holes all over the place. And people are looking for answers. I came upon a Wall Street Journal article talking about how lots of young people are finding spirituality, they’re finding God, they’re finding belief in a higher power. After years of decline in that 2001, before 2001 18 to 25 year olds, roughly a quarter of them said that they believe that higher power. And today, in 2023, that number is up to a third. So really dramatic increase in the exploration of the belief in a higher power. And I don’t think it’s a surprise, I think that that is a pretty logical conclusion to what we’ve been seeing that is going on in the world. Fundamentally, my premise here, main idea that I want to get across is this idea of alignment. Number one, it’s making sure that you understand four key things. And that once you understand these four key things that you work to line these up. So the first is is purpose. Purpose is why you’re doing things. It’s why you are alive, it is your WHY as we’re fond of talking about. And that’s a huge thing. It’s giant, most of us, I bet that most of us have not spent a lot of time or have we ever thought about this kind of thing. If we have it’s passing, and this is for sure me got passing ideas on what my purpose is. That’s a pretty heavy lift, oh my gosh. But that’s a huge thing is we need to get clear on why it is that I’m doing what I’m doing. Our goals. So the second thing, our goals are what we want. And I know 1,000% That took me forever. I’ve known intellectually, how important goals are, since I was probably a little kid. But it took me until I was 35 years old to actually sit down and write out my goals. Now, the verdict is in that goal setting is super important. And when you actually do engage in a goal setting process that your odds of getting what you want, increase exponentially. So it’s important that we do that. It’s essential that we do it. So your purpose is why you’re doing things. Goals are what you want your beliefs. That’s who you are, your beliefs about the world about what’s true, what’s right, what’s wrong. Many of us have limiting beliefs that prevent us blind spots that are keeping us from what we’re wanting. It’s also our values which guide our decision making. It’s the filter through which we take in information and make decisions about things. So we need to get super clear on what it is is going on inside of our head and our hearts. So what we believe what our values are. And then our habits are what we actually do. So now that I know what matters, what my purpose is, I know where it is that I’m going. My values are clear, my beliefs are lined up. So I know how I’m going to get there, that my activities or my habits and my routines, that informs how I actually make those things happen. How I honor my purpose and work towards it through my goal setting and my decision making day in and day out. So if we’re deficient or lacking in any one of those four areas, if we just don’t know, well, we’re not going to it’s impossible to be aligned on or maybe we know But we just haven’t totally optimized or lined them all up. So we’re just, we have them, we understand what they are, but they’re not congruent. So they’re just out of alignment a little bit. So we’re kind of going down the road shaking like that car example from earlier to that, I think you get the idea. So the pandemic, if you look for why it is that these young people have all of a sudden come to higher power, it’s because we just went through this pandemic, or going through it or whatever’s going on with it. And it was a time where, obviously, lots of bad things happened. And it was a time where we were thinking about and questioning just about everything. Think about the big questions that we’ve been asking, over the past several years. We’re asking how we should work? Should we work at the office? Shall we work remotely? How do we educate our kids? How do we police our communities, we’ve been going through a time of, of heightened racial tensions, and conversations about racism, and, and just everything, literally, we’re talking about everything. And for many of us, it’s just breaking our brains, it’s causing us just to throw our hands up in the air. And to feel like we’re powerless, and or helpless, some kind of combination of these. But what it’s showing us is that a young lot of younger people, 18 to 25, are exploring what human beings have been exploring and figuring out for as long as human beings have been on the planet, when you start looking for answers to the biggest questions of the biggest problems that are out there, you will find them. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of the places that we’ve been finding our answers, or filling the void, or trying to fill in the missing piece in our lives have come in the form of activism. So you’re carrying, you’re picking up the banner, and you’re carrying the banner of you know, veganism, of climate change of whatever it might be. And I’m not advocating one way or another for any of these things. But this tribalistic mentality, and in group out group and virtual, that’s really what we’re seeing is that people are attempting to fill what’s missing? Or to answer questions based on ideology. And I think that what we’re going to see and what we are seeing is that it comes up short, it fails, it’s never going to do it. The answer to these big questions and life’s bigger questions are not going to be found through ideology, it’s gonna be found by looking inside and making decisions about what we believe to be true. And figuring out what our purpose is, and making sure that we are living in accordance with that and our values and making our decisions and our lifestyle choices and our financial choices and everything else, based on those things that are most important to us. So when we’re looking in the wrong places, we’re going to get the wrong answers or the wrong solutions. So I find it to be fascinating, the new trend in the we’re seeing with with young people. Now it doesn’t mean that young people are just joining synagogues, or churches or mosques. It’s not necessarily that they’re embracing organized religion, which has been unfortunate on the decline for for many years. But I’m sure that some of them are the Wall Street Journal article, which is more just talking about finding spirituality and finding a belief in a higher power. But when he look at what organized religion, or rather, what religion teaches us, it’s nothing but good things, teaches us personal responsibility, teaches us hard work teaches us generosity, and charitably charity and charity, it teaches us to be mindful teaches us to be good stewards of our most important resources. It teaches us about community and debt avoidance and detachment and moderation and, and all these things that if you’re listening to me talk about this, you’re probably in agreement are a value and are important. So it’s an interesting thing. I know that what we are for sure looking for is community. We’re looking for connection. We’re looking for truth. We’re looking for answers constantly. What’s the point of all of this? Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing?
And in a tie Were we were pulled apart and isolated. And our only lifeline to the outside world was essentially through the internet. And that’s a double edged sword, obviously, and social media, which we’re obviously all aware of the dangers and pitfalls that are present there, it’s pretty obvious to me that we’re seeing a move more towards what we as human beings have historically, moved towards, and been drawn towards, which is belief in a higher power. And no, I 100% believe in God and believe in higher power, and have been a religious person my entire life. So we are interested in as human beings, finding community and, and connection. In fact, that is one of the primary markers or drivers for what leads to happy, what leads to a happy and rich and fulfilled life, the very famous Harvard grant study, which is the longest running study on happiness, that’s one of the big takeaways was, the happiness and quality of your life is going to be a big part of that is going to be the quality of your connections. So we’re constantly searching for our art our people, we’re looking for connections with people who are like minded, that share our same values and principles that share common belief in an ideal. And it doesn’t mean that we agree on everything, quite the opposite. And the most fruitful opportunities, and really what the most positive type of diversity is, is when a group of people who share a common belief in an ideal come together, and are able to have conversations and debates and disagreements about things that are going on in the world. What makes that impossible is when it’s just people that have no common belief in an ideal arguing and disagreeing, and debating. That’s where the divisions get driven further and further apart. So that you share it belief in a higher power is a that’s kind of the linchpin for why religious communities and communities of faith are so sustainable, and so successful and have stood the test of time. So, does that mean that it’s right for you? No, not at all. Certainly not saying that. What I am saying what I am advocating for is that you find out for yourself is that you start to dig in and you start asking yourself these questions. What is my purpose? Why am I doing this? What is the point of it? What do I believe to be true? What do I want my life to look like? What do I believe? What are my values? And am I acting in a way that is in accordance with all of those things? Am I making my decisions that are aligned to my purpose, to my goals, to my beliefs. And what I know for sure is that there are constantly opportunities to be getting better at that to be the closer to that version of you that you really want to be. But if you’ve never considered these things, if you don’t spend any time thinking about who it is that you are what you want, well, that’s not going to be possible to get there. So main ideas again, get clear on why you do things, get clear on what you want, get clear on who you are, and get super clear and make sure that your behaviors, your habits, your routines are in service of that. And perhaps you are like some of these young people who are moving more towards a belief and higher power and looking for community with like minded kind of people like minded kind of people. That sounds kind of funny. You get the idea. So if you’re struggling, you feel like you’re a little bit of out of alignment. Just look inside. Start asking the big questions. Start find the big answers. Remember, do your part by doing your best
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
