And the Journey Begins NOW...Vision, Belief, and Mission Statements
Part 1: Understanding the Process
The first step on our journey is to engage in a process of clarifying your vision, beliefs and mission as it relates to the Private Society that will support your work.
Whether this is a challenging process or something that comes naturally for you, it is important to take your time and truly connect with your truth throughout these steps.
Throughout our lives we've existed in the old paradigm of highly regulated structures and rules. We've been instructed, commanded, threatened, coaxed, indoctrinated, and led to live according to the dictates of rigid external sources like bankers, investors, legislators, teachers, doctors, the media, even well-meaning parents and friends. Behaving in certain ways insured success in that world (good grades, college, a good job, marriage, a house, children). Perhaps we didn't realize we had choices; perhaps we were blind to opportunities.
As we've moved into a new era, one where we can choose to live into Freedom, we face the challenge of self-determination, of perceiving the world from different points of view, of understanding that with freedom comes the responsibility and opportunity to emanate from an internal connection with our soul as well as receive an energetic spark from our spirit.
New tools guide us through this unfamiliar terrain. To write our own life plan requires us to be actively engaged in that activity, not passively accepting of someone else's plan for us.
VISION STATEMENT
Whether we refer to a vision, or a dream, or a big picture, articulating these is a foundational step into Freedom. [Note: We avoid the term "Purpose" because many relate to this as something they have to do or that was chosen "for" them instead of "by" them.] WE get to choose; WE get to imagine; WE get to set the stage. We do this free from external input, without reservations, free from rules, without "should" or "must" or admonishments, free from "can't", and without limitations.
We create a Vision from Love.
Queue in your mind The Impossible Dream (from Man from La Mancha)—think of some of the lyrics: right the unrightable wrong, reach the unreachable star, march into hell for a heavenly cause…some have considered the dream for centuries or eons. What is exciting in present time is that we now have the energies of the universe aligning with cadres and collectives of people to activate the formerly impossible.
Certainly, there have been others who have "dreamed". Consider Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech given in 1963 Washington D.C. Or, think of Keven Costner's character hearing, "build it and he will come" in the movie, Field of Dreams.
Others, too, have talked about having visions of what a computer could do, or an automobile, or railroad tracks, or space vehicles. We may have mixed feelings about Vision because some part of us may believe some of these products or projects were purely profit-motivated and for the benefit of the few rather than the good of the whole. Frankly, these are/were Visions, but with the newer energies ushered in recently, one now might be leaning towards supporting Life rather than ROI (return on investment).
What might a Freedom Vision Statement look like?
Basically, you create a depiction of how you want to see the world. What would you want the world to look like? If everything were perfect; if I ruled the world or was in charge; if I had a magic wand... How would you draw it? What would you say about it? How would it feel?
Visions are HUGE. These are not about a goal, an accomplishment, something that might take a month or year to fulfill. This is about A Big Hairy Vision. It does not have to be limited to a country, or Earth, or the Solar System.
[Note: we walk you through a process of Envisioning at the end of this discussion.]
Why do I want a Vision Statement?
- A Vision Statement is like the bull's eye on a target; it is your Heart's true north, the compass needle. Without a target, we often find ourselves doing a lot but without focus. Vision provides the center which draws you not so much outward, but inward. It's the "oh yeah, that is why I'm doing this."
- Vision connects you to your higher selves, magnetizes you to other dimensions or universes, re-ignites your soul, builds your relationships with nature.
- Vision combined with Belief and Mission Statements are natural attractors for:
- The resources you need;
- The members who want to work with you (actually self-identify themselves as members);
- Partners, complementary services;
- Synchronicities;
- New possibilities and opportunities you may not have had the capacity to physically consider.
- Vision is foundational to Freedom as it encourages you to exercise mental, spiritual, emotional muscles atrophied from lack of use in the old paradigm.
BELIEF STATEMENTS
This is a list of difficulties, obstacles, feelings, truths (particularly your truths), about the world and how it currently operates. (Vision addresses HOW you see the world in it's most incredible possibility; Belief talks about WHY it may be the way it is; Mission describes WHAT you're going to do to get closer to the Vision.)
Belief Statements might include why you would choose certain partners, how you feel people ought to be treated, or what's important to you. And these may also express viewpoints that focus on the problems of the world, what you think is wrong, or what needs to be addressed.
[Note: we walk you through a process of creating Belief Statements at the end of this discussion.]
MISSION STATEMENT
This will include the general areas where you will take action (as opposed to strategies for specific outcomes) based on your Belief Statements. And as a result, these will move you towards the Vision. The Actions in which you will engage, the processes you will develop, the programs you will create—these will combine to become your Mission Statement. This might include an area where you talk about Benefits to Members (how someone's life will transform).
[Note: we walk you through a process of creating your Mission Statement in the next section.]