One third of your life, about 90,000 hours, is spent at work.
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In order to find more clarity around your career, it can be helpful to spend time contemplating the bigger picture of your purpose in life, your calling. Reflecting on what is most important and how you want to use the limited number of hours you are given, can inform your everyday decisions and your vocational path.
One way to discover what you want out of life, what you value most, is to imagine you are at the end of your life, looking back on all that you have accomplished, the places traveled to, people met. By picturing your funeral, and envisioning the people who would speak on your behalf, you get a vision for how you can plan your days.
What do you want your loved ones to say about you?
Consider the kinds of traits and values you want to be known for. Reflect on the contents of what you would like included in your own eulogy, the words on your tombstone. And then begin to craft a life that is on target with your deepest desires and dreams and the legacy you want to leave.
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This is just one tool we use to connect people to a sense of their calling and deeper purpose as they seek to make shorter-term decisions. If you can take time to imagine what you want to look back on in 80 years, the kind of person you want to be remembered as, then you can begin to create a life, a career and vocation that are in alignment with your true north.
Benefits of Counseling
​People with a strong sense of purpose also show psychological and social improvements, including:
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Better sleep,
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More fulfilled sex,
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Greater ability to relax, and
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Less vulnerability to depression.
At the Come Alive Counseling and Coaching Collaborative, we assist you in clarifying your calling and career focus by first exploring what matters most to you. We follow a Japanese concept of helping you find and live by your 'ikigai' or 'reason for being'. Through a series of inventories designed to help you identify your interests, strengths and well-being needs, we guide you in the development of a project that will not only bring greater fulfillment and clarify to your life now, but will also allow you to look back on a life well-live.
Welcome
Dr. Dave Stefan
Hello, my name is Dr. Dave Stefan. I’d like to welcome you to the Come Alive Counseling and Coaching Collaborative. I have gone to extremes to figure out my life, including trekking up Everest, walking alone into the Cascade Wilderness on a solo vision quest, and volunteering with the United Nations World Food Program in Nepal.
You can learn more about my journeys around the world and how they helped me find my calling through my "12 Months to Live" documentary and "Gratitude Project" podcast series.
If you are wrestling with your purpose and direction in life, I can work with you to find focus. Whether you are just starting out in your career or transitioning into your second chapter and next phase of retirement, we can work together to design the life you want.
Based on my personal experiences, educational background, and training, I strive to create an environment that offers compassionate understanding, challenging encouragement, and research-based solutions.
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What others have said about our work together...
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"Dr. Dave helped me clarify my goals, organize my steps, and follow through for success."
Steve
Not only is Dr. Stefan somebody I can receive great counsel from, but also someone with whom I feel very safe in sharing my heart and being myself.
Nick
"Dave has been a non-biased sounding board helping me to look deep into my desires in life and then pointing me toward paths and opportunities to pursue them."
Jeff