New Year's Statement of Purpose

I like my New Year's resolutions served with a twist. I've come up with quite a few variations over the years. Back when I was the Event Planner for my co-housing community, I dreamed up a NYE activity that involved getting everyone at the party to write a resolution on a slip of paper, after which all the slips of paper were collected and put into a hat (or maybe it was a mixing bowl?). Then everyone took turns drawing a resolution – which had, in all likelihood, been penned by someone else.

I will never forget the look on my neighbor Carl's face when he unfolded the little slip of paper he had just drawn from the hat (bowl?) and read aloud, “Have more multiple orgasms.” Know this: if you look up “curmudgeon” in the dictionary, you're gonna see a picture of Carl. He gave a little snort. Then he held up his hand as if he were being solemnly sworn in before before the Grand Erotic Court, gruffly pledging to us all, “Hey – I'll do my best!”

This year, the plan was to come up with a statement of purpose rather than a list of resolutions. I borrowed the idea from a presenter at the IEA conference I attended in 2010. Flemming Christensen was a soft-spoken Dane with bold notions, one of which was that a personal statement of purpose (as in, “What is my purpose in life?”) should be phrased in such a way that it takes into account your natural strengths, is clearly in line with your values & beliefs, and points to a few specific focus areas. Naturally, composing such a statement is no simple matter, so he developed the following brainstorming exercise:

Complete the following statements:

1. I am a _____, a _____, and a ______.
2. I am dedicated to _____________.
3. My ambitions are to ___________.
4. The work I take on myself is to ___________.

Back in 2010, I took a crack at filling in those blanks, and here's what I came up with:

1. I am a doer, a connoisseur, and a teacher.
2. I am dedicated to improving my understanding of myself and others.
3. My ambitions are to enjoy & accept myself and others.
4. The work that I take on myself is to let go without giving up.

This time around, everyone in the small group gathered around my dining room table took 10 minutes to come up with a long list for #1, and then we solicited others' opinions on which descriptors we ought to adopt. My longer list was eventually winnowed down to confidante, frog catcher, tale-teller, unfolding fern, lover, and soul gardener, all of which I stand by, but I eventually went with a slightly different list for #1.

Here's my 2012 version, in rough outline:

1. I am a lover, a catalytic confidante, and a wordwanderer.
2. I am dedicated to exploration and expansion (a.k.a. “personal growth”).
3. My ambition is to learn how to BALANCE – naturally, without effort.
4. The work I take on myself is to teach others how to free themselves into creativity (or, as my friend Dave rephrased it, to inspire others to “buy locally” – i.e., from their own brains...).

Good luck with all that, eh?

I may end up making a list of regular ol' resolutions, too – one of which probably ought to be, “Finish putting together my 2012 Statement of Purpose”!