Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter for LiveOnPurpose.info. Live On Purpose is about helping you become conscious of your thought patterns, so you can make better decisions in your life. Don't live an accidental life! Live on purpose. This month's focus is personal responsibility for your future.

But first, an On-Purpose maxim:

My purposes are the geography that marks out my line of travel toward the person I want to be. ~Alice Koller

This month's wallpaper in five popular screen resolutions has been archived on the main wallpaper page. It says, "With every deed you are sowing a seed, though the harvest you may not see. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox"

The image for this wallpaper is my own winter photo of cattail plants (Typha) shedding their downy seeds.

Our actions today will determine our future. This wallpaper will remind you to think of your everyday decisions as seeds, the harvest of which you'll see in the future.

So, working on your future from a backwards perspective like this, figure out what kind of seeds you want to sow now. Do you have discontent now? Stop sowing the seeds of discontent and start looking for something to be happy about. Do you have anxiety? Start sowing the seeds of gratitude. The secret is consistency. Each day you must remember to embrace gratitude in order to have contentment later. Make it easy on yourself, and post reminders where you will see them. Put this wallpaper on your desktop so you can see it at every startup.

I attended the 2009 Colorado Regional Future City Competition, where about thirty teams from eight Colorado middle schools presented their design for a city in the future. It was an enthusiastic display of the students' knowledge of today's ecological issues, and I took the time to ask a few teams a question. I read the quote on the wallpaper and then asked,

"How do today's actions determine your future?"

Since I was surrounded by ecological model cities, most of the answers revolved around eco-issues:

From a 7th grade girl:

If we don't take care of our Earth and find ways to harness our natural resources, then the Earth won't be as energy efficient. We'll want to make electric cars to reduce CO2 emmissions...If we don't improve conditions now, then in the future we'll have a big problem.

I asked her to bring the answer down to a personal level; how do your own actions determine your future?

Well, as 7th graders, we can't go into an advanced solar technology class or anything, but we can recycle. We can reduce our own water use, and use greywater systems.

Here is an answer from an 8th grade boy:

Teamwork helps me to work with other people. Teamwork definitely helped me [in this competition].

From a 6th grade boy:

Wars might affect your future because they start other wars. It changes your future if someone you know dies in the war.

From an 8th grade girl:

You have to work hard to make sure you have a promising future. If we mess up the planet now, it may not be there for us [in the same capacity as now] in the future. That would be difficult for everyone. For now we have to focus on water purification and fuel efficient cars.

From an 8th grade girl:

Today we learned about what it takes to build a city. Even if I don't realize it now, this experience will help me in the future [for the knowledge I gained.]

From a parent:

If I can plan for my son's future, he can become a rocket scientist and I can retire well!

And, my very favorite response, from an 8th grade girl:

Say you do something now. If it doesn't affect you personally, it will affect someone else. Everything you do has a ripple effect.

A single question can be interpreted in a variety of ways, according to the filter of life experience adopted by each person. One can look at the question from the macrocosm point of view, as in protecting the Earth's resources so we will still have them in the future, or from the microcosm point of view, as in how my daily decisions affect the others around me.

Try this with your family and see how many different responses you get. Open ended questions are a great way to understand anothers' point of view, and you may even have insights about the nature of the differences between you. The differences are okay. Don't let the differences in your family push you apart.

Until next time!

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All past issues of this newsletter are online. You can see them at the bottom of the newsletter signup page.

Holosync is an excellent way to guide your personal growth and increase your ability to be creative, to learn, and to cope with life's problems. I have used this CD program since about 2004 and I completely recommend it to everyone. If you have never tried Holosync, go see the web site for yourself.

If you are currently suffering any kind of abuse, please refer to National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) in the USA.

Thanks for reading,

Jessica A.
http://www.liveonpurpose.info

337 S Tucson Way, Aurora, CO 80012