purpose | David M Masters

Awakening There is More to This Life

Every moment of every day, someone wakes up from the sleepwalking daily routine we call life and recognizes, in that moment of clarity, that something’s not right.

Do you remember being asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up? ” as a child?

Ever notice how your answer changed as you grew older? Chances are, when you were younger, you were more optimistic and fanciful about your future… (Most likely) by the time you were ready to finish school, your dreams had been reduced to feeling as though the only hope in life for a glimmer of happiness was to:

Go to college to
Get a Good Job
End of story.

Did you know when you were born, your life had meaning? You came into being with a message and a special purpose. As you began to communicate and articulate your thoughts, you doubtless knew your message and your life’s purpose.

In your younger years, you would do things that were congruent with your message and purpose, and it would amaze those who witnessed you exercising your gifts. However, as you aged, the same people who encouraged you in your youth by saying, “That’s amazing,” were now chanting, “But you need to forget all that and think about getting a good job.”

Slowly but surely, your mission (your message and purpose) was quashed (regarded as fanciful childlike dreams that would never come true) as you were groomed to be nothing more than a cog in the machine of life. You felt like denying your true calling was a good thing, to find a place to fit in society and survive with little impact, as the inner voices that were beckoning you to fulfill your mission faded away and were lulled to sleep.

The Awakening

Then, at some point in life, there is an awakening. That moment when you look in the mirror and say,

Who Am I?
How did I get here?

Surveying your surroundings of the life you’ve succumbed to, you say to yourself,

There must be more to my life than this.

This is the heart (which always holds the key to your highest and best) breaking through to communicate with your brain (which has been reprogrammed to protect you from your heart). Your heart will make the best of the life you allow, but true fulfillment and heart-felt satisfaction can only be realized when you are living in harmony with your mission; until then, there will always be a degree of dissatisfaction or longing for something more.

This awareness (even if in brief moments of clarity) will alert your consciousness that something’s got to change. Then you have to make a choice:

Recoil or Reposition

You can second-guess, let the haunting voices of the nay Sayers overcome you, or talk yourself out of taking action, recoil, and continue to block yourself from your mission, or you can begin to reposition yourself for something new, readying yourself to take action and find the answer to

What is my mission?
How do I start?

At this point in the awakening process, people are attracted to me (and others in similar fields) for assistance in finding purpose, increased quality of life (including health and wealth), and help to achieve your highest and best.

The more open you are, the less assistance you need; you don’t need anyone’s help if you can remember back to your childhood—or already have an intuitive knowing—recalling your message and purpose. Then, you can…

Take Action

You owe it to yourself to take action every day—no matter how small—to engage your purpose and share your message. As you begin to embrace who you truly are (not the mediocrity society has come to expect from you), you will find, see, and make new opportunities to exercise your gifts and talents to maximize your mission.

Resonate and Celebrate

This is the satisfaction that I receive in my line of work: being there in the moment, celebrating with a client who resonates with their true sense of empowerment in aligning their lives with their calling. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Of course, this is MY calling, helping people achieve their highest and best, so little could be so thrilling. (See, it affects me the same way.)

Congratulations!
You’re YOU is coming through.

If you’re reading these words, you’re either awake or in the process of awakening…

How exciting!
So happy for you
Great things are coming your way…

4 Steps to Specialize On Purpose

When you come to this planet with a specific purpose or calling, it is important to:

Determine your purpose, calling and/or message

In my working with individuals, most of them feel a strong disconnect with their higher purpose, calling and/or message to share with the community at large. When you arrive on planet earth, you are keenly aware of your special attributes/purpose, but by the time you’ve reached the age of seven, you’ve been re-programmed to make you a more logical person, less likely to embrace the thought of fanciful ideals. You are taught to believe that to be a more productive participant in our society you must dumb yourself down (though we refer to it as smartening up) and accept that your school grades and playing well with others will secure you a good enough job to get by.

There are many methods that I use to help someone re-discover their purpose. In my practice, the most effective is thinking back to your earliest recollection of what someone wanted to do or be, then weighing that against what types of people and circumstances have been attracted to you throughout your life. In many cases, the results of this collection of data will help you remember your mission.

Define by reducing to qualifying statements

Create a list of statements that help you to define your purpose, mission and/or message in this life. This can be as long a list as you like. I have a long list and a short list of statements that qualify who I am, like:

I have a desire to help make the world a better place
I help others achieve their highest and best
I work with people who are upwardly mobile (on the upswing)
I work with people who take responsibility and action
I allow others to compensate me for my efforts
Love is the most important thing

This short list of six items (it’s actually five items with a Love trump card) helps me to quickly pre-qualify the people that I work with.

Everyone’s calling and short-list is different. You have to determine what works best for you. Once you have your list, it will help you…

Determine your audience

Who are the people whom you were sent here to interface with the most? You are only one person, you are limited to time and space, so defining your audience will help you keep on-track.

This could also be your target market. Your life’s data collection will help you determine who to keep an eye out for so that you can quickly identify them. I start with reducing my clientele into a single individual representation of the group.

What’s he look like? How old is he? What does he like to do in his free-time? What is his relationship status? Etc… Then I give him a name, like Tom. Though Tom can take many forms, knowing who he is will help me quickly identify him, maximizing my time and space.

Commit to, “specialize on purpose”

Specializing on purpose refers to staying true to your cause. Frances Hesselbein tells Jerry Porras, there is “a powerful synergy when you combine service to others with passion for your own mission, your own work.”

Society has tried to keep you from exercising your gifts, abilities and delivering your message. Now that you are back on track for the greater good, other forces may try to dissuade you from staying in resonance with your truer self or accomplishing your mission.

Using your list can help you to laser-focus on your mission and the people that you were meant to serve, helping you to

a. Eliminate distractions

Inevitably you will be interrupted by people, circumstances, projects and ideas that will break your concentration and commitment to achieve your highest and best in the most efficient manner.

b. Increase effectiveness

Maximize your efforts by being able to quickly determine, “This is a distraction,” or, “This is not my ministry,” (my favorite). Which allows me to be able to defer the distraction to someone whose life’s calling is to specialize in that area of expertise.

Just some ideas in the event that you feel compelled to achieve your highest and best and dare to do so.

-Love, love, love

Anything is Possible… Everything Is

I’ve spent most of my life in the personal and professional growth industry, surrounding myself with clients and mentors who are striving to be on the leading edge or have a burning desire to help make the world a better place. I have been blessed to work with some of the best minds in the mind sciences.

One common theme that runs throughout the waves of thought that permeate the sea of higher consciousness, is the belief that, “anything is possible.”

Under normal circumstances, people are programmed to doubt their own sense of value – even though they came to this planet with a unique set of skills, abilities and unique message to share with the local community or the world – feeling as though they were not qualified to be a worthy messenger.

Usually, when I begin working with someone they are already on the path of achieving their highest and best or at the very least they have knowingness that their life is beckoning them to a higher calling and sense of fulfilled purpose.

Personal performance coaches start with the tenant of getting the client to a baseline understanding that there is ample well-documented, verifiable proof of things once thought to be impossible became possible starting with the thought that anything is possible.

This is not a new concept, as even New Testament’s Jesus proclaims that all things are possible for he who believes (Mark 9:23) and many have gone on since to spread these words with different themes attached to it for clarity in certain situations, such as:

“If you believe in yourself anything is possible” or “Impossible only means that you haven’t found the solution yet.” A scientist-and-engineer friend of mine (referring to a quote by Henry Ford) says, “Anything is possible, with enough time and money.”

Celebrities have chimed in with their varied view about anything being possible:

“With self-discipline, most anything is possible.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
“The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance – the idea that anything is possible.” ~ Ray Bradbury
“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible’.” ~ Audrey Hepburn
“If you lead with passion anything is possible.” ~ Paula Abdul
“Once you chose hope, anything is possible.” ~ Christopher Reeve
“Anything is possible, if you’ve got enough nerve.” ~ J.K. Rowling
“When doubt is banished, abundance flourishes and anything is possible.” ~ Wayne Dyer

Even when Alice in Wonderland says, “This is impossible.” The Mad Hatter counters with, “Only if you believe it is.”

All this to say, anything that has ever been conceived, discovered or achieved was birthed in the thought that anything (currently believed to be impossible) is indeed possible – and someone believed it with enough fortitude – and had undertaken the task of making it so.

Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

We believe that anyone – yes, even you – have everything that you need to bring this thing to pass; and for some of us, it is our mission in life to support the efforts of an inspired individual to achieve the impossible.

But wait! There’s more!

Believing that anything is possible is only the beginning. Yes, it can get you from here to there and beyond.

There is a superior concept that lies ahead in the horizon, that once it is truly grasped, changes everything and the belief that all things are possible begins to fade as one begins to understand:

Everything Is

I’ll let you ponder that one…

Anything is Possible (you’re almost there)… Everything Is

Sing Your Song

I grew up around music and was constantly singing to the radio or vinyl recordings as a youngster. From 1974 to 1994 I was chronicling my life’s journey in song as Dave-Michael Valentine. I started playing professionally in nightclubs at a very early age. Overhearing instructions by the nightclub owners, “You can only play songs that are BMI licensed,” and seeing musicians being sued over music rights in the news put the fear of the music industry in me.

So, I thought the only way not to get sued for playing music, was to write my own songs (originally fear-based songwriting). As I embraced the process, these songs became my musical scrapbook, the soundtrack for the stories spanning twenty years of my life.

I always knew – even as a young child – that I had a message and a mission, and though it has taken many forms along the way, I have stayed active and true to my life’s calling; and sometimes my message is sung. I never claimed to be a proficient singer or songwriter, only a man with a message burning inside, aching to get out in any way possible and I didn’t let my ability (or lack of ability) keep me from singing my song.

You came to this planet with a song to sing. What is your message, your song? Your message/song is unique to you. No one can tell you what song you should sing because it is your song, and your song alone.

Managerial structures that govern the publicly accepted views revered by our earth’s inhabitants would like you to think it is okay to sing a song, as long as it isn’t too radical or upsets the status quo. Plus, just like anything else, only individuals “qualified” should participate in such activities.

This underlying philosophy will keep most of the individual song-singers in check and when you’re trying to find or sing your song, you may start to interrupt yourself due to doubt propagated by the idea that

- I’m not good enough
- I’m not educated enough
- I’m not strong enough
- I’m not qualified enough
- I’m not a good singer
- I’m not from a musical family
- I’m afraid to sing in front of people

And any other barrage of self-doubt and excuses to keep you from singing your song. If you don’t sing, they win; your message is stifled, your candle light is snuffed out and the community at large suffers.

Believe me, there is someone who needs to hear your song. I have countless stories of people who were moved by particular songs that I’ve written and/or performed… some have truly amazed me. Because even though I wrote a song with a specific subject matter or purpose, the listener was moved in an impactful manner; and when they explain to me how the song spoke to them, I can’t even imagine how they could have interpreted the subject in such a way.

Obedient sharing will bless others in ways you could never expect

It’s like being obedient to sharing your message, will bless others in ways you could never expect.

If someone is drawn to you, they may need to hear your song… If you are singing, the universe will bring people to you to hear your song. It may be only one person, a small group of folks or thousands of people; it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you sing your song. So sing.

Be or Do Anything You Want

I’ve been in the business of helping others achieve their highest and best most of my life, it’s my life’s mission and it permeates everything that I do or say; it is who I am. I am so thankful that I was raised in an environment at a time when everything was questioned and I was given carte blanche for personal freedom and expression… and I reveled in it.

Momma always told me I could be or do anything I want (as long as I didn’t terrorize my younger brother or burn the house down).

Early on, I knew that I was a more sensitive, loving and caring person and I preferred the company of others who shared and contrasted my personal views, keeping an open mind, maintaining a certain set of beliefs while allowing others to share their views without ridicule and encouraging them to continue to share their ideas with all who can hear them. (Even at an early age, I knew that it would be a waste of time to share ideas with someone who could not understand what you were trying to say.)

Later in life, people referred to me as a “manifestor” for my ability to make any idea or passion come to life. People think that I am a fearless and masterful creator, when in reality, I am just like anyone else – maybe more inhibited, self-conscious and/or frightened – but refuse to let anything get in between me and my desires. So, I find the wherewithal to man-up and do what I have to do to make a thought (or dream) a reality.

People are drawn to me in search of their “reason for being” on this planet, like I would know the answer. Truth is, if you’re like me (and you are), you are accomplishing your life’s mission every day, though you may not realize it. All you have to do is to look back at your life and review (amongst other things):

• What kinds of people are attracted to me?
• What kinds of assistance do I offer others?
• What activities have brought me the greatest sense of pleasure?
• What do I love to dream or fantasize about?

This will give you an idea about what your purpose is (you can’t help but do it, even if suppressed).

In this moment it is occurring to you that you are not completely in-tune with your specific calling, certainly you could do better, and you can. You have all the skills necessary to perform at a higher level of effectiveness as you were born with the ability to be your highest and best.

You may be feeling the social twinge related to the idea, “but I have bills to pay…” Not a problem; nobody’s asking you to quit the life that you’ve built for yourself ‘til now. This is not the time for reckless abandon. But it is the time to start performing your divine function (I refer to it as my ministry) at a higher level, moonlighting part-time, and you will notice something amazing to begin to take place.

The things that you thought were only far away, distant dreams, without the possibility of being realized for you, will begin to appear, first as possibilities, then as you continue to do your work… will become more and more attracted to your current circumstance.

Then before you know it, your dream (the first of many) has come true as you realize the you can be or do anything you want. This is true self-empowerment, becoming the creator you were meant to be. After a while people will begin to call you a manifestor, and you can help others to do likewise.

Becoming your highest and best… Making all your dreams come true… Will prove to others that they can do the same… even better. That’s a gift only you can give.

Help others to believe that anything is possible.

Who Are You?

What do you want to be known for?

Isn’t it time that you started thinking about how you would like to be known or remembered for? What would you like people to say about you after you’re gone?

Now is the time to start establishing yourself as the person you’d like to be known as.

You’re a wise world walker and as such, you have the ability to see and perceive things unencumbered by the social restrictions that confine other earthlings with limiting beliefs.

The first step in establishing the person that you would like to become is to take stock of where you are currently. Evaluate how you see yourself, how others think about you, and if possible, try to get honest third-party perceptions about the kind of person you are.

Having an objective opinion about one’s self is the first step of wisdom.

I’m a list person, so I would suggest getting a piece of paper and start jotting down what other people’s opinions of you are as well as how you think others might perceive you objectively.

We tend to see ourselves from within and consider the person who we are to be the most intimate and trusted person we know. We know our thoughts, motivations and inner feelings. So, we know how deeply we feel about certain people, circumstances and topics but no one outside ourselves knows how we feel.

Decide which inner feelings you’d like to have recognized for by your family, peers, coworkers, community and possibly the world at large.

So, here’s the next list: Who I Want to be known as?

Go ahead; go crazy. This is your life. The impression you leave on others is all that remains of your life’s journey.

It might help to relax and imagine what you might like to hear people saying about you at your funeral (avoiding the morbidity of the idea). You need not go as far as writing your own eulogy, though some people like doing this as part of the process.

This is not a one-time affair. The wise world walker is constantly evaluating his or her life, being aware of where they are in their journey and intentionally putting their sights on other destinations to engage with.

As a matter of fact, as I write these words, I too, am reflecting deeply… and have just uncovered something that brought me to tears. Though too intimate to share publicly, the basis of it is simply:

I have sincere, deep feelings about something.

The public (exterior) sense of others might have no idea about how passionately I feel about this thing.

If I ask myself, “Would I like to be remembered for how I feel?” or, “Would I like the world to know how I feel?” and the answer is, “Yes.” Then I have a great deal of work to do.

It is not always comfortable work – and in most cases it is not – but thank God you have the wherewithal to realize the separation that exists between

where the perception of you lies

and

what you would like to have known about you.

Your challenge – if you decide to accept it – is to think of ways that your true, authentic self can be seen by others and start taking action.

Who are you?

Let people know who you are.

I want to know you for everything that you would like to be remembered for.

Don’t just tell me; show me.

Go to college to Get a Good Job End of story.