PEACE TIGERS by Dave Martelon Book Tour, Guest Post & More! {Ends 5/3/24}

Review By LAWonder10:

To come later. Check Back on April 12th.

Why did you choose Purpose as one of the themes of Peace Tigers?

I’m a purpose junky. A recent survey in the UK showed that 80% of respondents believed their
life to be meaningless. This is understandable. Being human isn’t easy. When you’re born,
you’re unique. This is your source of power. Early on, we have an impulse voice that directs us, such as “I love this” and “I don’t like that,” but the world quickly drums this voice out of us. We begin to listen to notions of pragmatism and conformity. We’re meant to stay busy, following rote paths and training to be interchangeable cogs in a pre-built machine. Many enter the work world without a compass, and without a compass we’re lost. We try to fill this loss with something, many times “stuff.” Often this leads to debt and a sense of scarcity. This idea of competition causes us to choose camps, entrenching ourselves in sides and falling into the echo chambers and polarization of the media and news. Fueled by stress, our only relief is numbing—social media, streaming, hook-up culture, and drugs and alcohol. We try to “kill” time, making us susceptible to fear, self-loathing, and hopelessness. And the vicious cycle repeats.

How do we break this cycle? The change starts with each of us.

First, let’s define meaning. What are we after? We all want to be satisfied: to be part of
something greater than ourselves, to contribute, and to grow. As a bonus, we want to live in the magic. Think about this. When was the last time you had snow, sand, or dirt in your fingers or toes? Laughed so impulsively that you snorted (it’s called a chortle)? Kissed someone so passionately that they lifted their leg? Or had a full-body ugly cry? It’s possible to exist, generally in this state of bliss, to embrace authenticity, where our thoughts, words, and actions are all aligned. And it starts with reconnecting to our purpose.

Starting at the beginning, what was the first thing you ever wanted to be? Or what was the
moment when you thought, “Oh my god, this thing exists?” Most importantly, why? Try to
reacquaint yourself with that spark that pulls on you so strongly it fills your imagination with dreams and possibilities. Next, reflect on when you’re at your happiest? When can you just not stop smiling? Again, why? Finally, go to the end. Imagine you’re on your deathbed looking back on an incredibly fulfilling life. What have you done? And who’s surrounding you? The answers to these questions are the clay from which you’ll sculpt your purpose.

Once we have our compass, it’s time to get to work.

The work starts internally, initiating your search for enlightenment. Guided by simplicity, separate yourself from the “noise.” Address your trauma. We all have it, but we tend to slide into victimhood. We avoid displeasure or pain, but growth only comes from discomfort. What if we run into the spike, the hardest thing? What if our thought process was that everything that’s occurring is not happening ‘to’ us but rather ‘for’ us. We have a myopic view, but we’ll see that there’s a lesson in everything we’re going through. If we run into this and not away from it, we accelerate the learning. Our teachers are all around us. Our children, parents, co-workers, and boss are our teachers, as is the disease, the loss, and the misfortune. How we respond is the lesson. We can take the part of the victim or take it as an opportunity to grow, practicing resourcefulness, compassion, and resiliency. Most importantly, understand that the greatest lie perpetrated upon society is that self-love is selfish. It’s not. You are deserving. Not flawless, but perfectly imperfect.

Next, we connect inner thought to outer expression. The inner work is necessary, but it means nothing without external application. Take this to action. Go away from what’s not feeding you and toward what’s good for you. Seek to serve. Lower your defenses and invite others in. We’re hard-wired for love, and we hunger for something more communal. Lead with warmth, and be strong enough to exercise empathy. Look for complement, symbiosis, and compromise. This is where it gets interesting. Monitor your intuition. Watch the open windows and doors. You are guided. The universe whispers to us. We have to quiet our minds enough to hear it, and then it screams volumes. Express a childlike sense of wonder. Embrace curiosity and awe.

Remember to have fun and not take yourself too seriously. Find flow in your practice. 10k iterations creates mastery. It’s your duty to create. The cycle of life and death, creation and entropy. Your purpose is intensely personal, but it also connects to a shared purpose—a better future for us all.