If your child was 3 years old and knew all of their colors and could count to 1000 you would be very impressed wouldn't you? Now imagine if that child was 15 years old and still only knew all of their colors and could count to 1000, would you still be impressed or horrified?
Consider our own adult lives and the way we accept what we allow to be our idea of living. Awake up at 7 am, hit the bathroom routine, get the kids off to school, get into the office by 8:30am. Whatever your routine is at work probably doesn't vary too much week to week and it is what you have accepted as your lot in life, your routine. Out at 5:30 pm, fight traffic and get home. Dinner, put the kids to bed, watch some TV and in bed yourself so you will be well rested to do it all over again.
Does this, or some close variation of this, describes the last 20, or 30 or 40 years of your life? Have you accepted living only one year of your life over and over again 20 or 30 or 40 times? Regardless of how much money it pays you, if it becomes a mindless drone of an existence without a purpose or mission in life maybe it is time to ask yourself if you are missing out on a purpose to your life. If your are content with the routine and it is all you want, nobody will bother you.
However, as I sat at my desk in a sales office year after year living in my own routine, I spent a lot of time tinkering on the internet seeing what the rest of the world was doing. After a visit to Latin America for vacation several years ago and seeing how children were living in unimaginable conditions, I was moved with a disturbing sense of grief. Then compassion. Then I began considering ideas, options and ways to make a change in their lives. Just ideas and thoughts. I couldn't do anything for them yet because I had to get back to my routine, back to my desk in my office. Making a living. For many compassionate people, that is about as far as most will ever go. I thought back to that experience often and re-experienced it over and over again. "Somebody should do something about those children and others like them.", I said on many occasions. Without action, without getting out of my chair, my compassion was nothing more than idle babbling into the wind. After some interesting occurrences altered my routine, I made a break for it. There are hundreds of ways to put compassion into action and I chose the most radical one. I packed up, moved to Peru and several months later started Changes for New Hope which was designed to reach out and help the children living in desperation, destitution and despair. And I didn't have the slightest idea how to do it. But I learned. I found that many people will live out their lives in their mundane routines because they have no idea what to do differently that would give their lives purpose, ignite inner passion and make a huge difference in the world.
As well as helping the children of this project, I have made it a point to open the door wide to reach out to people who want to live in passion and purpose. Why? Because I have seen and experienced a transformation within myself over the years by abandoning my daily routine which cleverly disguised itself as real life, and began living with passion, action and watching incredible changes among the children that we work with as well as within myself. As I have shared my life with the children, I also feel compelled to share my life as it is now, with those of you who wonder within yourselves during those quiet moments, "Can my life be more fulfilling, meaningful and make a difference in the world?"
At Changes for New Hope, we reach out in a multi-pronged approach to help children living in despair and destitution but also reach out to share the message across the globe that we are all part of this human race and we can all do something, big or small to make a difference every day of our lives. Contact us by email at [email protected]. Let your adventure begin today.