The top regret of the dying is ““I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” I refuse to have that regret and am devoting the rest of my life to help others avoid it too. This is how The Restoration Project came to be.
Have you thought about what “a life true to yourself” would look like? What would you do? Who would you be? How would you spend your resources? What would you learn? How would you make people feel?
To live our life intentionally takes discipline and focus. We have to think about how we think, find ways to challenge ourselves, learn, prioritize, re-evaluate, and really care. It’s hard work. Read more about 9 common distractions that keep us from fully living.
I hadn’t thought about my ideal life until a friend asked me 2 questions: How would I live if I only had 6 months left? What would I do if money were no object? Instead of brushing them off, I used them as a framework to start dreaming again. I realized I had been living life passively and by accident. Living a life others expected of me. Chasing dreams that weren’t mine. Believing things that weren’t true. Valuing things that didn’t align with who I was or what I cared about.
We all have different experiences and influences that shape us. They create perceptions, attitudes, and biases we carry. These impact how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, how we spend our time, what we define as success, what we value, and what we believe. Left unexamined, these perceptions, attitudes, and biases hold us back.
Once I started dreaming about those two questions, I committed to a path of reflection, evaluation, and intention. It was the start of a journey I will continue the rest of my life. I shed layers of influence and cultural pressures, challenged my inherent perceptions and beliefs, and opened my eyes to a whole new world with endless possibilities. You can too no matter where you are in your journey or what you’ve done to this point.
Because all people are good and worthy of love and forgiveness. Life gets to us, we make mistakes, and we lose our way. You don’t have to let fear, control, power, and money run your life. You deserve more. You can be better. The world needs you to be better.
I launched The Restoration Project to wake people up and restore their intention. Restore the goodness, courage, and honor that has been covered up by the corruption, greed, and injustice of our world. We can build organizations, schools, households, and communities that lead with love, light, energy, and hope. That produce courageous individuals and honorable work.
How much better would we be if we took time to understand ourselves, act with intention, and develop virtues like compassion, justice, forgiveness, temperance, integrity, courage, mindfulness, tolerance, honor, patience, fortitude, and peace? The Dalai Lama just posted an Op-Ed in the LA Times that speaks to this issue titled “We need an education of the heart.”
When we work on becoming our best, we can help others on their journey. I would love to help you on yours! I can help you work these ideas and principles into learning and development strategies for yourself, your team, students, friends, and family. I also host workshops that introduce these concepts and help you start the process.
You can find more information at the-restorationproject.com or email me at dreambuilder@the-restorationproject.com
Grit, Gratitude, and Grace 