Achieving goals and living a life of purpose and meaning is like being in the Matrix.
Boy: “Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.”
Neo: “What truth?”
Boy: “There is no spoon.”
Neo: “There is no spoon?”
Boy: “Then you’ll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”
I love this scene. I find it a powerful metaphor for a lot of challenges in a person’s life. In the context of this post, the spoon represents rules, social constructs, belief systems and other people’s expectations.
The point being, there is only one rule to living a purposeful, meaningful life: There are no rules.
To be happy, fulfilled, and successful (whatever you define that to be), you cannot live by other people’s definition of your world. That makes no sense. And frankly, you will never meet the expectations of those around you because you are not invested in those expectations, nor do you have a clear understanding of what they are.
When you are grounded in core values that define your existence, it is then that the world becomes a favorable place to be yourself. Then you’ll see that it is not the world, society, or other people’s expectations of you that bends, it is only yourself.
(my apologies for what appears to be Croatian subtitles…I couldn’t find a clean version to embed)
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