Finding meaning and significance doesn't require turning your back on what you what you have in our life now.

When things are going well and on the outside all looks great, we can feel restless and discontented like something is missing and we need to sneak off to go find it 'out there'.

This is a story that I heard many, many years ago. Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing Darren Hardy relay it to someone else. I found it just as moving today.

Once, long ago, there was a man who was displeased with his life.
He had a wife who loved him and two children who adored him.
He liked his work and had friends he enjoyed, but still something nagged at him.
Daily, he found himself dreaming of an unseen place he heard about called Paradise.

One morning over a bowl of oatmeal, he stopped dreaming of Paradise and decided to go find it. Without a word to his family, he walked out the front gate with the broken latch, away from the place he had called home and never looked back. He was a man bound for Paradise.

For three days he traveled. And each night, before falling asleep, the man removed his shoes and deliberately pointed them in the direction he had been traveling, toward Paradise. Each morning he carefully stepped into his shoes and continued his quest.

Then on the third night the man accidently kicked his unofficial compass 180 degrees. When the first rays of morning fell, the man leapt to his feet, carefully stepped into his shoes and began traveling in the direction they told him to go—toward “Paradise.”

Exactly three days later, he arrived. “Paradise!” he cried from atop the hill. Though, as he stared at the village below, he thought it looked vaguely familiar… but wrote it off as coincidence. He excitedly descended the hill and walked through the village of Paradise where strangers knew him by name. Of course they did! Why wouldn’t they? This was Paradise!

The man continued until he came to the end of the road where there was a gate with a broken latch. He walked through, and as he did, he heard a melodious voice calling him in for dinner and could smell the aroma of his favorite meal. As he opened the front door the man was greeted by two children who yelped “Daddy!” as they wrapped themselves around him and a woman who kissed him like she meant it.

Ah! Paradise he thought.
Now, every morning the man eats his bowl of oatmeal and revels in his new, wonderful life in Paradise.

The desire for Paradise, for something better, for more isn't wrong. Everyone desires Paradise.

The problem is that no one seems to understand where to find it.

Paradise is a choice.
It is a state of mind.
It comes from within.
Paradise doesn’t exist unless you create it and unless you choose it everyday.

We all seek significance and meaning: That we are important, that we matter, that our life matters.

The reality is, you already are important.
You are significant. You do matter. Your life matters.
The only thing separating yourself from the knowing is your perspective.

Stop for a moment. Look inward and outward. Realize that you have had a profound impact in the worlds of everyone you've met, and continue to have an impact on everyone you meet now. And especially realize that the most impact you have is to those in our home and at your work.

originally posted in The GROW Alliance Facebook group