Brilliant One:

Lately I’ve noticed myself use an unusual phrase several times in my morning writing practice. Several times in the last week, I mentioned “something-MONGERING”, mostly in the context of exploring how the media impacts the people in my world: fear-mongering, hate-mongering, war-mongering and grievance-mongering, among them.

But I hate to let powerful words go to the dark side. And I love to take powerful words and flip their connotations around, contrarian-style. So I did an exploration of what “MONGERING” really means. My original thought process was that it would be a super-fun exercise to write something about what “love-mongering” might mean.

But with the tiniest bit of research, I saw that the strict dictionary definition of “monger” is just “to broker or to deal in”. There’s nothing inherently negative about it at all.

In fact, in Shakespearean times, fish-monger, cheese-monger and ale-monger were way more common uses of the monger than war-monger or fear-monger. One of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, William Nashe, was even more prolific and creative with his fill-in-the-blank-mongering, deeming astrologers “star-mongers” and the devout “miracle-mongers”.

This was probably the beginning of the connotation we all now know. Monger doesn’t just mean “to sell” anymore. When you “-monger” something in 2018, you could be doing any of the following:

• Fostering
• Advocating
• Instigating
• Encouraging
• Urging, or
• Stirring up.

As I thought about what it might look like to stir up and foster love on a daily basis, I found myself writing with great clarity about my life’s purpose through this new lens: the lens of what I know that I’m here on this planet to “monger”.

I’d recently heard a guy I respect say he is very focused on his legacy. And he defined legacy as “people remembering my name for 100 years”. That struck me as arbitrary and probably not true. Consider all the people whose names are on buildings you pass everyday, about whom you literally know nothing.

But the conversation did serve to spark my own thought process about what legacy means to me. Right then, a woman walked up and told me she’d read a book because I’d recommended it. She said that book had changed her marriage and her life. At the same event, some leaders I’d worked with a long time back told me they’d started their own morning ritual or started free-writing, with my guidance. And that they were feeling in control of their experience of life, more confident and less anxious as a result.

That, I thought, is what I want my legacy to be. That’s what I want to monger.

I’m a clarity-monger.

I’m a possibility-monger.

I’m a transformation-monger.

I’m an expansion-monger.

I’m a purpose-monger.

I’m a joy-monger. A calm-monger. A freedom-monger.

I’m a wellbeing-monger.

I monger upliftment.

I know what my purpose is and have coached many others to clarity on their, so I know that -mongering is just one of many steps down the path to clarity on the overarching life purpose questions of who you really are and why you’re really here.

But this is a fun way to take that step. And if you’re already clear on your purpose, consider this an exercise in dwelling in the energy of that for as long as you can stretch it out.

Here’s your prompt of the day: What do you want to “monger” in your life?

What are you stirring up, now or in the big picture?

NOTE: You don’t have to have a world-changing life vision for this exercise to work You might be here to monger upliftment in the handful of people you touch every day. Maybe you’re a smile monger, or maybe you want to monger truth in your communications or beauty in your home or love in your children.

Honestly, if we all got clearer on what we’re here to monger even in our own households and relationships, and got serious about doing it that would change the world. Mr. Rogers said “we are all called to be tikkun olam, repairers of creation. . . bearers of light.” If that feels too large to wrap your head around at the moment, I’ll add this coda by another of my teachers, CPE: “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.”

So here’s an edit. What do you want to monger in the part of the world that is within your reach?

Feel free to hit reply and let me know.

P.S.: I’ve just set the date for my next Writing Challenge. This one has a plot twist: instead of a 30-day deep dive, this one is a 10-day sprint. We’ll be super focused on de-chaos-ing our nervous systems, building a grounding morning ritual, finding freedom from our past limitations and moving forward in life with ease and flow.

This first-ever 10 Day Writing Challenge (10DWC) begins July 9, 2018. As always, it’s free. Sign up here: 10 Day Writing Challenge Signup

Please share this link with anyone you know who is willing to spend 30 minutes a day for 10 days taking a big first step toward getting clear on their purpose and changing their life.

Head up + heart out,

TNN

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