In school? Just starting a career? Mid-life crisis? Retired and searching? The feeling of not quite knowing your purpose in life hits almost everyone at some point. You can check any self-help section of a bookstore and you’ll see a variety of suggested ways to find meaning in your life. Google ‘purposeful life’ and you’ll find even more advice. My colleague, Ingrid Peschke, writing for the June 22, 2015 edition of HuffPost GPS for the Soul, weaves together two sweet stories which show that job titles and credentials have little to do with real purpose in life–there’s something more spiritual at work. Here’s Ingrid:
Not many people can say they’ve worked the same job for 75 years. Add to that such a deep affection for the work that it never grows old.
This describes Japanese sushi master Jiro Ono.
On two separate transcontinental flights recently my seat mates mentioned the film, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” a documentary about Jiro Ono and his tiny sushi-only restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, unassumingly tucked away in a Tokyo subway station.
My fellow air travelers were headed to Japan and had plans to dine at Jiro’s restaurant, which has become a sort of pilgrimage. With only 10 seats, reservations must be made months in advance and diners pay top dollar (starting at 30,000 Yen) for an experience compared to a symphony in its composition.
He’s earned his success. Each day, even at 85, Jiro heads to his restaurant to strive for ever purer expressions of his art. But he doesn’t give a hint of being burned out, stressed, or ready to retire……
A friend of mine changed jobs many times throughout his career. He’s a Gen-Xer, between a baby boomer and a millennial. His multiple job changes, while supporting a young family, were at times extremely challenging both financially and personally. He wondered where he belonged and what his place was in the world.
As a deeply spiritual person, my friend is in the habit of finding answers through prayer. So he prayed….