Designing Your Life

The title of this spiritual reflection is a direct theft!  It is the title of a wildly popular class at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.  Stanford is one of the highest quality colleges in the world---an elite school which sometimes must seem like that for the elite.  It is one of those places which almost never elicits the response, “Where’s that?”  And if you went there, you would never be asked, “Is that a good school!”             

I found out about the course at Stanford from a tweet on some site I follow on Twitter.  The article that described the course was fairly long---certainly for a tweet.  Some of the material covered was interesting to me, but not really pertinent to this inspirational reflection.  But one focus I found fascinating and, in some ways, see it to be suggestive of the spiritual journey.  I would like deal with that focus.          

Early in the article, mention was made of four areas that were covered in the course.  I admit I was a little stunned by the four areas.  I was not stunned by them, but by the fact it was being dealt with in a class like this one.  But I was simultaneously very pleased because I try to do some similar things in my own teaching.  The four areas were gratitude, generosity, self-awareness and adaptability.  Let’s deal with each of these in a spiritual fashion.           

Gratitude is a great place to begin.  There has been much written lately about gratitude and how important it can be.  Sometimes I think scholars have found a fancier word than the more simple “thanks” and ride a new wave of popularity.  If you read any of the recent literature, you find out that there tends to be a clear link between gratitude and happiness.           

That should not be very surprising because people who are grateful feel like they have been graced, lucky or maybe just rewarded by their own hard work.  Gratitude is a response, to be sure.  But gratitude can also be an attitude and, finally, a way of life.  Gratitude is a positive way to look at one’s life.  To have an attitude of gratitude probably means we tend to look on the bright side, we see the glass as half full, etc.  And the good news is, we can choose our response and attitudes.  We can learn to be grateful and to act gratefully.           

The second of the areas is generosity.  When you think about generosity, it is easy to see it in economic terms.  We can talk about generous contributions to some cause.  The opposite of the generous person is the miser---the one who hoards money, selfishly holds back any significant gift.  However, it is easy to move from the economic arena to others aspects of generosity.  We can be generous with our time and our talent, as well as our treasure.           

The whole arena of volunteerism counts on the generosity of people.  I know first-hand that some of my best experiences in life have come through giving my time to some worthy cause.  You get nothing monetarily out of it, but you get an amazing return on the investment of your time and effort.  And authentic volunteers are never doing something to get something out of it!  And often, they are surprised that they reaped some benefit.           

The third area of Stanford’s class focuses on self-awareness.  This seems like a no-brainer to me.  And it is an essential aspect of being spiritual.  Self-awareness means I am present in and to the moment.  I am awake.  Self-awareness can be broad and general.  It is a kind of openness to what is and what can be.  If I am self-aware, then chances are I will not miss opportunities.  To lack self-awareness is tantamount to being blind.           

Self-awareness can be cultivated.  In a way it means to wake up.  Our awareness can be dulled by busyness or boredom.  Awareness can be frazzled by the pace of life so many folks are living.  In spiritual areas self-awareness is a prerequisite to the ways the Holy One is at work in our lives and in our world.  To be unaware is to miss all of this.           

The final piece of the Stanford course is adaptability.  This one is so important because a chief characteristic of our world and time is change.  The fact of change and the speed of change are remarkable.  Every one of us with some age can remember “the good old days” when life seemed different.  We tell stories of times before cell phones, computers and, even, television!  All that has changed.  And the speed of change has accelerated.  And it is not going to stop.           

The only way to cope with change is to be adaptable.  Of course, this is something that Darwin figured out and offered evolution to explain the story of survivors!  While this sounds simply scientific, I suspect it is equally applicable to our spiritual journeys.  Even if someone is “saved” at some altar call experience, he or she does not finish that day with that experience.  It is more like a commencement.  Now the real living begins.           

I appreciated seeing the four areas focused on in the Stanford class on designing my life.  They were good reminders to me that they are building blocks in the spiritual process of life.  The final thing I would add is to suggest that I am co-designing my life.  I have faith that in some way God also has designs on my life.  And I am good with that!