When I first started therapy I was given homework assignments to complete. These were more like emotional and mental homework assignments than the scholarly type most people associate with when they think of the word homework.
Since trauma at such a young age can create cracks in an individuals foundation, my therapist, through the use of these homework assignments, was helping me find and stabilize my own foundation. They were tremendously helpful!
One of these assignments was to create a mission statement for my life. I basically laughed out loud! Like, what? Who does that? But he was serious and since he could see that I had no basis for which to begin this process, he also gave me a list of 10 questions to answer. The purpose of these ten questions was to help me zone in on what things were most important to me so that I could more easily write a mission statement that reflected who I was and what things were important to me.
Once I had that, he told me, I could refer back to my mission statement when I was faced with tough decisions or daily problems, whether they be big or small!
1. Who has influenced your life for good? How? What qualities in them/these person(s) do you admire?
2. What are some of your talents?
3. What have been some defining moments in your life?
4. What are some of the most important things to you?
5. How do you feel about important role models in your life?
6. What kind of person do you want to be?
7. What are some important things you want to do in this life?
8. Who would be in your ideal day? What would you do?
9. When you pass away, how do you want to be remembered by your family and friends?
10. What contributions do you want to make to your families life? To your community? To the world?
I went through my old journal and found my mission statement that I wrote:
I fight each day for a connection to God, a lasting marriage and a strong family. I strive to find God's joy and peace through nature and service.
For years I referred back to this about every decision I made! Did this house align with my new mission statement? Did doing this, saying that, acting this way, etc ... align with my new mission statement? That may sounds silly but it was my foundation and after so many years of NOT having a foundation, I needed the stability that this mission statement provided.
So now it's tour turn! Take some time and answer these questions, you can use the answers to help form a mission statement! It's a great way to hold yourself accountable!
コメント