What is Real? asked the Rabbit

“What is Real?’ asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. ‘Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”Real isn’t how you are made’, said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you….. .’ ”

First published in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit is a book for all decades and all ages. One of my favorites. I often muse about the meaning of Life Purpose as revealed in your finger prints looking for ways to explain it.  What is Real? The Skin Horse offers wise counsel to the Rabbit. To me, he captures the essence of the journey to discover, claim and live your Life Purpose.

Although you don’t have to wait until you get shabby or an eye falls out, you do have to consciously experience trials and tribulations. All of us are being tested in these times. Perhaps it is for us to get real. Stay true to our beliefs. And practice kindness along the way.

And AH HA! moments on your path to becoming REAL Sometimes those AH HA moments come from pain and loss; sometimes they come from the joy of an experience that made your heart sing. I have come to believe that all of our experiences are the stuffing that makes us real. And it takes courage to embrace all of it so that you can live your Life Purpose full on, every day. So that you can contribute in your special way. That’s what it means to become real!

This is Part I of this “mini-series” on On Becoming.  Go to Part II: Who Was I and Who am I Now? for an AH HA moment of mine using a process I came up with to track my journey to date.