The Oughts of Life

I just finished reading Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak. It's a wonderful read. There are many beneficial, helpful things in the book. One is that Palmer speaks about the "oughts" of life. Many of us live by the reasoning that there are things we ought to do in life. We define those things and then go do them, many times at the expense of what we really should be doing.

This is a really interesting way of looking at things. Many times, the things we ought to do are not what we really should be doing. Parker is speaking specifically about vocations, stating that we often choose our jobs based upon what would be good to do for others, whether or not it is good for us or fulfills what we really want to be doing, deep-down inside.

To quote Parker: "Despite the American myth, I cannot be or do whatever I desire . . . There are some roles and relationships in which we thrive and others in which we wither and die . . . There are some things I 'ought' to do or be that are simply beyond my reach. If I try to be or do something noble that has nothing to do with who I am, I may look good to others and to myself for a while. But the fact that I am exceeding my limits will eventually have consequences."

Challenging words to live by.