Author Karen Eddington, says creating a landmark list can help you find meaning and purpose in daily life.
Many people know their goals, or keep a bucket list, but often do not know what to live for on a daily basis. A Landmark List is a written guide of what brings meaning to your life. It can help you recognize and develop a sense of daily purpose.
Why Create a Landmark List:
When we are hiking in the mountains or running down a path we use landmarks to determine where we are and where we are going. We may need to see a rock or a tree ten feet ahead so we can find the strength to keep moving. A landmark list takes the same concept and applies it to your daily life. Just as writing down goals can help program your mind to accomplish them, writing down your daily landmarks can help you find the strength to live to the fullest.
Starting Your Landmark List:
Get out paper and a pen and write down the answer to these two questions: What do you look forward to? What makes life good? Start this list focusing on one day.Put the list on a mirror, in a journal, or on the fridge and continue to add to it. As you write down your daily landmarks, you will begin to recognize elements that personally bring you energy, excitement, and peace. This list can also expand from a day, into a week, into a month, into a year. Just as you can create specific goals, you can also create specific landmarks.
Finding meaning in daily life:
These are the top five responses on how we can find purpose out of daily life. You can use these examples to create your landmark list.
1. People: We can derive meaning from our relationships. Family, friends, and loved ones are usually the first things we think of when we talk about what makes life good.
Your landmark list may include: Talking to my best friend on the phone, dinnertime with my family, visiting with a loved one, working alongside a co-worker.
2. Taking Action: This includes the activities that fill our time, hard work, professional careers, or hobbies. Even though some elements of work are unpleasant, they produce natural results of accomplishment. We can include both leisure activities and things that take effort. We may have to try something in order to discover what brings us energy and a sense of renewal.
Your landmark list may include: Gardening, going running, cleaning the bathroom (because cleaning the bathroom can make life good), watching a favorite television show, going to a basketball game.
3. Simple Joy: These will include things like traditions, favorites, participation, and enjoyable quirks. There will be times that both spontaneous involvement and established traditions give us energy. Learn the little things that you get excited about.
Your landmark list may include: Watching the sun rise, eating ice cream, the smell of freshly cut grass, singing in the car, putting on lotion when your skin is dry, or starting the day with a hot shower.
4. Culture: Art, literature, nature, music, learning, sharing in customs, and creating something new can bring a sense of meaning to life. Instead of focusing on being entertained, look at how the arts can refresh you.
Your landmark list may include: Reading a good book, discussing great ideas, attending a play, getting an education, supporting your community, or listening to your favorite song.
5. Values and Determination: Recognizing values, understanding motives, and creating yourself can bring more meaning out of life. Feelings of worth don’t go very far without developing a purpose to go with it. It will also be difficult to find purpose out of life if you don’t feel like a person of worth.
Your landmark list may include: Being self-accepting, taking time to laugh, being optimistic in the face of struggle, honesty, or being on time.
The Landmark List is written by Karen Eddington and available at your local bookstore. Karen is founder of the Cauliflower Retreat Self-Worth Outreach Center and wrote the book after interviewing women and teens on their daily struggles. For more information on worth and purpose outreach you can go to www.selfworthretreat.com
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