Let’s start with defining each of these terms;

Like-minded, according to http://dictionary.reference.com/ is “having a similar or identical opinion, disposition, etc.: a like-minded friend.”

Diverse, according to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ is made up of distinct characteristics, qualities, or elements.

Well, I guess from where I am sitting, this is what I think and have found. In my journey, I generally have an abundance of the diverse-mind group, so I am not too concerned right now that I will  not have a mechanism to challenge myself constantly on why I am thinking what I am thinking and doing what I am doing. The diverse-minded people will constantly question me for my own good and keep me humble and constantly vigilant. They will also create a space in which I have to figure out why I believe what I do and therefore fuel my continued pursuit of that path or if I find I am in error in my choice I can then simply ditch that journey. Just to clarify, I will not tolerate the naysayer extremely negative type diverse-thinker for this reason. I have conviction in my choices, although as I have stated I have no problem getting into discussions about things. I love how eloquently these quotes describe my feelings: “If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.”  by Dale Carnegie and “Do what you feel in your heart to be right. You’ll be criticized anyway.” by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Just to clarify, when I say like-minded people, I am talking about people, who like me, are on a journey to find the truth. The people I have deeply connected with have started this journey from different entry points, some from the financial side, some wellness, still others the spiritual path and of course leadership. There are others who started from human rights and liberty path as well, just seeking to know the truth, whatever it is. What fascinates me is that there seem to be these touchstones that this journey for truth takes us on. No matter where you start, you eventually reach all the stones, as long as you continue to seek. Most people I have deeply connected with are continuously thirsty for the truth and willing to journey on.

As I am relatively new in the pursuit of my purpose, living my truth, deepening my spirituality, becoming financial free, and embracing wellness in my consumption and fitness, as well as my ever growing desire to improve as a person, lover, parent and friend, I want to have mentors in my journey to help guide me, encourage me, question me as well as challenge me to grow. I seek companions to share my stories with as well as to learn from theirs. I seek like-minded people, for example, to learn from them how to overcome obstacles I am facing in my journey to live my purpose because they may have faced similar situations. I seek them to help me see that even if I fail today, someone I respect has done what I want to do and so I can pick myself up and continue on through their encouragement. I seek them for connection. I seek them to discuss how they share their unconventional spirituality with their children. The like-minded people I am attracting these days fascinate me partly because of the different and interesting journeys they have taken to get to similar places I am in (spiritually, mentally, politically, financially, and physically). They challenge me because they are ahead of me in some paths and I want to learn from them and I challenge them because they are behind me in other paths and I love to share the information which has helped me progress.

What amazes me is how quickly we connect with these people, we are on the same wavelength, traveling a similar journey. We connect, as in individually, the adults as well as the children. Also, as a couple Chuti and I have found great kinship recently. It is great to have this community.

For me, when I look back at my life, my closest friends have usually been male. I find I connect very easily with guys. I have many women friends, but only recently have I attracted deeper relationships with women who I click with and could literally chat non-stop with for months. When I say chat, I am not interested in discussing the weather or the latest trends or movies or that kind of stuff. I am meeting women with whom I am discussing spirituality, history, the Magna Carta, the law of attraction, changing careers, starting up businesses, buying real-estate, and the list goes on and on. Of course, we also discuss leadership, favorite books, and home-schooling.

Ultimately, I think you need both like-minded and diverse-minded people around you. In the choice between being a quitter, a camper or a climber in the journey of life, I choose climber day in and day out. In order to keep climbing and reaching for bigger and bigger goals, I need like-minded people to stimulate me, encourage me, show me how to avoid or overcome obstacles in my particular path, show me things I thought were impossible or unrealistic, and just challenge me to keep going. I also need diverse-minded people who question me, my motives, my thinking and push me to clarify what it is I want and more importantly why I want it. They help me extract my deepest purpose, by helping me peel off the unwanted layers I will quickly discard under their scrutinizing watch.

At the end of the day, ultimately I want to learn from both groups, so that when I am quiet with myself, I can dig deep inside and find both the encouragement and vision I need to move forward on the right path for me as well as question myself deeply and avoid wasting my time and energy on paths which do not serve my purpose. In essence, I want this journey to lead me to self-mastery.

I will leave you with link to a great blog post by one of my mentors Chris Brady on the very subject of self-mastery, a subject I hope to tackle in a post soon.

The quote I mentioned above likened death to a period, but I would like to add that death could be a period, a question mark or an exclamation point to your life. What I mean by this is not the manner of your death, but that the perspective on your end will highly depend on how you lived that life.

The way I would classify it is this:
1. Period – would simply signify an end to a life;
2. Question mark – would reflect an end with many regrets on the part of those left, wondering and questioning for what reason the life moaned was truly on earth;
3. Exclamation – would signify a dynamic life, full and vibrant, lived such that even death cannot wipe away the far reaching legacy left by that life.

What would I choose? With deep thought, I would have to say #3. I want to influence people significantly even after my death, like the late Gandhi or Jim Rohn and many others before them. Before I started on my leadership journey, I think my choices would have led to #1. I just wanted comfort and safety, nothing too risky. Unfortunately, here is the crux of the problem as well as an opportunity: life is always changing, every microscopic part of life as well as the big picture is always changing. So being safe by being comfortable would have led me to a mediocre life and then it would have inevitably ended. My journey taught me to ask these questions instead: why not embrace change (except for the deep values aligned with your soul)? and why not opt for doing something extraordinary? I decided my life is worthwhile to do something worthwhile.

Some of the things I am doing are these: teaching my children in home school. I like to say “my children are the living messages I will send to a time and place I will never be, but will have an opportunity to influence through them.” This is a variation to the quote by John W. Whitehead “children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” I am also in constant personal study on spirituality, leadership, finances, family life, couple-hood, parenting and fitness. I am also in the process of engaging in a new career path in alignment with my purpose, totally different from my previous one in engineering and computer programming. You will have to find your own path, your own purpose. A very useful, but somewhat morbid sounding exercise I did was to write my own obituary, now. It really registers what is important deep down when one puts the thought into doing this. It helped me come up with my life sentence, which is this: “I live and love to inspire others to live their truth by living mine and I do it with joy, peace and grace; I will die for truth.”. I would love to hear your life sentences, please write me with them and more importantly start living them now.

Remember, on your tombstone, there will be two dates, your birth and your death dates (you have no control over these ultimately). But wait, there will be something else: a dash between the dates, the meaning of which you have control over. Choosing your life sentence now, living it with passion and purpose ultimately means that you give meaning to the dash on your grave stone, you choose to matter to the world, you choose to make some difference, and you choose to leave a legacy.

As the late and wise Jim Rohn has said many times “Look in the mirror, there is your problem, as well as your solution.” “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction over-night.” So, what are you waiting for? Go, figure out your passion, create your life sentence, live it and love it.