The name of my company is Life To The Brim and my tag line is “The Courage To Live Fully”.

Dictionary.com defines “Brim” as full capacity, to be abundantly filled or supplied, often overflowing, to fill to the brim.

My company name actually was birthed through a branding process by DreamBox Creative. The entire essence of my brand defines my life purpose. I have often been told I am eccentric and I do not deny that fact. Living life to the brim represents our individual ability to live life to the fullest. I am not referring to waking up in the morning, drinking your coffee, and meandering to work. “Life to the Brim” is about drinking up all that life has to offer. We all have the ability to live life to the fullest. However few have the courage to live fully.  I may appear to have a Pollyanna mindset and actually I am not far from it. I believe in people and have the hope and belief that each person’s life can brim with happiness, success, joy, purpose, physical well being and the satisfaction that they have achieved their dreams. If this is eccentric then I would prefer to live in an eccentric world rather than a world of woe, mental pain, and dismal hopelessness.

I work for the largest Federal Prison in the United States of America. I suspect most people would call anyone who enjoys working inside of a Federal Penitentiary eccentric. My facility houses men who will never see the outside of the perimeter of their concrete home unless they require medical attention that necessitates emergency transportation to a hospital.

Purpose

For 17 years since my separation from the military, I have worked with incarcerated men, women, and youth. I have enjoyed being a conduit of change within the bowels of each facility I have worked. I have tapped into my true purpose. I understand my first purpose is to worship God. However, there is a secular or earthly purpose that each man, woman, and child is entrusted with as well. Unfortunately, a high percentage of people do not know what their purpose is: do you?

I firmly believe that until a person realizes their unique purpose, they will not impact this planet as they were created to. People may make a lot of money, socialize in the best of venues, have the greatest of stature, raise and have loving families, do outstanding work on the job, be loved by subordinates and supervisors alike, become the CEOs of large corporations, pastor churches, coach football, etc. Yet, the majority are not fulfilling their purpose. Some miserable people, on the other end of the spectrum, find no fulfillment in anything they do because of selfishness.

One of my hobbies is watching people and their idiosyncrasies. While working in a correctional setting, I observe both inmates and staff. I drew a parallel between the incarcerated and free: free meaning those people who go home every day. The lesson and wisdom I gleaned from my observation is that freedom is not necessarily a physical phenomena: freedom is a state of mind. An incarcerated man, woman, or youth is physically restricted to their confined space. However, I have observed many of them demonstrating a state of mental freedom above some who are not incarcerated.

Many people in our society are imprisoned in the mind through self-imposed limitations that keep them from living a life of purpose. They fail to believe in themselves and allow others to dictate their lives. They have surrendered their passion for living for and exist in simple neutrality. Life was not meant to be neutral: life is meant to be lived.

Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years. Throughout his incarceration, he maintained his psychological edge. Even though he was physically imprisoned, he was free in within the confines of his mind. So free that when he was released he became the President of South Africa and selected the man who had incarcerated him as his Vice President.

Is someone within your sphere of influence a prisoner within their own mind? We see them on the news, millionaires, movie stars, simple people, and grand people. All of these represent individuals who are not living a life of purpose. Many, sadly, will go to their grave never realizing their purpose. Our purpose is aligned with our passion, and our passion is aligned with our dreams. This unique trinity of purpose, dreams, and passion is what gives life meaning.

Each individual should have a purpose statement explaining what they were created to do. My purpose statement is to “Inspire, Impact, and Empower those in the space I occupy”. No matter where I am, my purpose is serve those around me. As a Dream/Life Coach I utilize principles of coaching and provide free coaching groups to inmates sentenced to life or who have spent one quarter of their life behind bars and are now preparing to be released. I use my speaking abilities to inspire at-risk youth or simply engage an elderly woman in the store with wholesome conversation. I endeavor to be consistently aware of what I say and how I say it. My objective is to strive for excellence.

In the future, I will provide insights on purpose and how I tapped into mine. In conclusion, I would like for you to answer this question:

“What is your personal purpose statement and are your living a life of purpose?”

Please contact me to learn more about discovering your unique purpose.