Mission Statement

Mission Statement

One of the deepest human needs is to have our life mean something. Having a sense of one’s purpose in life is even extremely important for one’s very survival. Victor Frankl in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning” describes that for survival in a concentration camp under the Nazis a purpose was necessary. Those that had no sense of purpose quickly succumbed to despair and death.

One can have enormous material success, but if one’s life does not have a meaning or purpose this success usually feels hollow and empty. For this reason I am placing a lot importance on the need for you to define a mission or purpose for yourself.

Many people when confronted with writing down a mission statement find it extremely difficult to know where to start. I would like to share with you some of my thoughts around my mission or purpose in life.

As far back as I can remember I always had an intense curiosity about what led people to do the things that they do and to understand their character. I remember in my teens reading popular books on psychoanalysis and attempting to use my very crude understanding of this to figure out those around me. I was probably not very successful at that time. However, I paid close attention to the people around me and became a keen, if ignorant, observer.

I was led into the study of medicine, probably influenced by identification with my father. I remember that when I got to medical school one of the first books that I got out of the library was Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams. This did not mean very much to me at the time.

I found the study of medicine fascinating. Puzzling out a diagnosis was a very simulating intellectual challenge. However, when I first had contact with patients as a clinical clerk, I found that I was able to establish a rapport with them. People found it easy to talk to me about what was troubling them inside, things that they had not shared with the other physicians.

As a result of this I was drawn into a career in psychiatry. In psychiatry what particularly interested me was the field of psychotherapy. I have been privileged for more than 40 years to have had thousands of patients share with me their most intimate thoughts and secrets. I believe that for many people I have been an instrument of healing. But one has to keep in mind the famous saying of Ambrose Pare “God heals, I merely dress the wounds”.

There are many techniques in psychotherapy, many schools of thought about how to proceed but many studies have concluded that the most important element in healing is the personality or character of the therapist.

As I look back on it now my purpose all along has been that of a healer. Through this program I want to share with you any wisdom I may have gleaned and assist you in overcoming the obstacles that may have prevented you from leading a full and successful life.

As you consider your own mission, try to free yourself from other peoples’ expectations about what you are supposed to be. Recover your dreams of childhood, the ambitions and interests that you had been naturally and look at how those have materialized in your life. But also look at those that have not as yet materialized but up wasting their as a potential.

Nietzsche has a powerful metaphor for us. He says that we start life as a camel, loaded down with everyone’s expectations. As a camel we go out into the desert where we can become transformed into a lion. As a lion we are confronted by a dragon. On every scale of the dragon are the words “Thou shalt”. As the lion slays the dragon he liberates himself and becomes human. He is able then, in the words of Joseph Campbell, “to follow his bliss”.

As well as looking back to one’s childhood dreams, you should look forward to what kind of person you want to become. You might even imagine your own funeral and ask yourself what would I like people to say about me.

I believe:

I am a co-creator of the world we live in.

What kind of world do I want it to be?

A world that is

• Guided by love rather than ruled by power.
• Where co-operation has replaced competition.
• Differences are settled by negotiation rather than warfare.
• Where tolerance is the norm.
• Where every child grows up in a secure home with proper nutrition, clean water and a loving family.
• People are self-reliant and responsible rather than self-indulgent, dependent or busy being a victim.

Can I bring this about? — no.

Can I contribute? — yes.

We will I see it in my lifetime? — no.

But since I am a co-creator I must embody the values I espouse.

My Mission therefore is to be:

• Totally responsible for everything in my life.
• Nourishing love by being loving to family, friends, patients and to all I encounter.
• To be an example of integrity to my children.
• To celebrate life with joy.
• To make whatever contribution I can to move the world towards my vision

Robert Louis Stevenson

“To have lived well,

laughed often and loved much;

to have gained the respect

of intelligent men

and the love of children;

to have filled a niche

and accomplished a task;

to have left the world better —

whether by an improved poppy,

a perfect poem or a rescued soul;

to have appreciated earth’s beauty

and not failed to express it;

to have looked for the best in others,

and to have given the best of yourself.

That is achievement.”

David Whitby