FIND YOUR FUNCTION?
Your only function is to ‘find your function’ the one that God gave you and it’s in the identifying and the application of  it that you will find happiness.  Often we’re told, you must find your purpose! However I believe it better to say you must ‘find your function’ … I will use the analogy of a jigsaw puzzle to explain this.

When we think of a jigsaw puzzle, we see an image comprised of many pieces.

In Wikipedia a jigsaw puzzle is defined as …
‘a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often oddly shaped interlocking and mosaicked pieces. Typically each individual piece has a portion of a picture; when assembled, the jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture’

YOU ARE A PORTION OF A BIGGER PICTURE
It’s useful to look at yourself as a ‘jigsaw piece’
Sometimes, like a jigsaw piece, especially in a career choice, you can force yourself in a position that doesn’t feel like quite the right fit, it feels uncomfortable. The position doesn’t feel like a match for the gifts and skills that come naturally to you. In fact it diminishes your gifts and does not allow you to develop them, it causes you to shrink.  Similarly, the same is true of romantic relationships.

However when we are correctly positioned we fit effortlessly into a position and not only that; that which is around us will fit effortlessly too. All pieces fitting perfectly together to form a beautiful cohesive mosaic.

YOUR FUNCTION DETERMINES WHO YOU ATTRACT
When you find your function and place yourself in the right environment, you won’t have to go out looking for the right people to work with, they will find themselves inextricably drawn to you; as this allows them too to operate in their function; and they will not only fit with you effortlessly but also give room for you to BE and excel in your function. Their strengths allow you to focus and excel on your strengths. Your ‘weakness’ allows them to plug into your world with their God given talents and for them to focus and excel in theirs too.

Therefore your only job is to find your function and to be it! And it’s in the drawing of these individuals that you will have collectively found your purpose. Like the fingers on a hand that each have a function but collectively work together to achieve a purpose.

We are all inter-dependent and were not created to operate solo on this planet. Like the jigsaw pieces we were all designed to connect and form a mosaic. Sadly many are not in the role that they were pre-destined for and so do they do not get to experience the joy in operating as such.  You must allow Higher Intelligence to guide you.

ASK HIGHER INTELLIGENCE
Lean not on your own perspective of what you think your function is but ask Your Creator in periods of stillness and meditation to lead you in the right direction. Your perspective will only have you see so far i.e see part of the picture for which you have been designed and designated. However your Creator sees all. Some of your gifts and talents will be obvious, others obscure. It’s a useful exercise to ask your closest friends to describe your positive attributes, you may begin to see an emerging pattern, something you didn’t see before as pertaining to your ‘function, something that perhaps you took for granted because it comes to you so effortlessly.

MAXIMUM IMPACT THROUGH EXPANSION
Another reason you need to find your function is, not only will it dictate where you place yourself but in the correct placing of yourself you will find that is where you make maximum impact.

You see to make maximum impact requires focus on your strengths and expansion. Whilst in your function the people that you effortlessly attract around you will expand you, they will not diminish you…now that’s a powerful indicator of whether you’re placed correctly! They expand you as they allow you to become more of yourself they expand the picture in their collaboration . It is a win-win as their function slots in with yours and expands you as you expand them. It allows them to feel truly useful and you to feel truly useful as you put yourselves into circulation. Like they say it takes team work to make the dream work.

There is no other route to happiness than to find your function  and be it!  Stop chasing money and start chasing your function. Search yourself. If you know what your function is you will know your business industry, who your target market is and generate many ideas on how to impact them. In the same token, if we’re talking romantic relationships, you will know what you want in a partner and support one another and dare I say it  your ‘brokenness’.

Like a jigsaw piece that we could describe as broken, we are incomplete and yet whole. Finished and yet unfinished. Why? because we were designed to fit into others. Designed to plug into other peoples’ worlds – perfect and yet imperfect for our positioning on the board.

When we say we are ‘whole’ – this means not only the embracing of our strengths but also our vulnerabilities and our weaknesses, as it is all of our attributes that make us whole. We are perfectly imperfect. In the sight of our Creator we are perfect for our function, according to His plan.

FIND YOUR FUNCTION’ ALLOWS YOU TO WORK COLLECTIVELY
So looking at that jigsaw piece again, you will notice that each piece is irregular shape, has parts that project out and parts that depress in. Let’s have the depressed parts represent our weaknesses. Because you were not designed to live independently, you will attract somebody whose strength will fit effortlessly into your ‘weakness’; you will attract people who are complimentary to yourself so as a whole you can work collectively.

So when I say ‘whole’ I mean you must bring yourself as a whole person, bring your weaknesses and strengths to the jigsaw puzzle and recognize that without your input the mosaic as designed  is not possible.

Recently I studied with Ken Honda ‘money EQ’; the study of the emotional intelligence around money. He talks about spenders, savers, risk takers and gamblers. Now one may find oneself looking negatively on say a gambler because of the negative connotation. However, it’s interesting to note that as each type come together on the jigsaw puzzle that all are necessary for the economy to work efficiently.

I know of a couple, the wife is a saver, the husband is a spender. She secretly craves fun and he brings this to her. He secretly craves stability and she brings this to him.

I love a good vocal and have often wished I could sing like the greats! However, if I had the wrong mind-set, I could focus in on that as a weakness and want to develop that which would cause me to take my eyes off of my strengths. I’ve watched many a contestant on X-Factor and sometimes I cringe. I think do you not have parents or friends that can tell you the truth!? because it is a discredit to a singer who is deluded because they are delaying that person from finding their function. Those that find their function will find they are key to the effortless opening of doors, that only they can unlock.

IT IS WHAT YOU ARE ‘NOT’ THAT DEFINES YOU

You know what’s beautiful and I want you to catch this. IT is your weaknesses that define your function. Think of a cup, a cup is defined not just by the material by which it is made but also by by what it is NOT. It is what you are not that defines you . Focus on your strengths and allow another to plug into your world and you in theirs with your strengths. You were not meant to be strong in all areas, you were not meant to focus on your weaknesses.  It is this symbiotic relationship that will allow you to grow in your strengths.

TWO WHOLES COME TOGETHER VS YOU COMPLETE ME?

Have you ever heard the saying, this person completes me? OR perhaps you’ve heard it said ‘you have to come together as two whole persons. What if I said both are right and both are wrong depending on the meaning you attach to it.

I actually believe it to be better to see yourself as an incomplete person and be ok with it. My reason is, I have witnessed how seeing yourself as ‘whole’ can cause self-sabotage; how it can lead to the arrogant belief that you do not need anyone, that you are self-sufficient…but are you really? How deep does that resonate with you? The truth of the matter is… you must accept yourself as incomplete and accept that. But to see yourself as incomplete enables you to see you can expand yourself by being a strength to some-ones weakness.

The reality is we are co-dependent. The cause of our pain is in believing we are separated and thus walking in the delusion of that.  Seeing yourself as whole, of course has its benefit, depending again on how you look at it. For example if you attach the meaning that your cup is wholly full i.e. you have found your function, and therefore you pour into or fit into others; then it is in the act of your pouring into someone’s incompleteness that you feel useful. Your cup will never run dry when you are in your function as you will always passionately replenish it when you serve your skills/gifts as a solution to someone else’s problem.

So to see yourself as a whole and yet ‘incomplete’ jigsaw piece is extremely useful.  Find your function and focus on it . The projections on your piece will allow you to turn the key and penetrate into another’s world. We’ve got to break down those doors that stop us from uniting with one another. A jigsaw consists of many pieces, know that you are one of them.  Do not be afraid to show who you are. Rid yourself of the illusions that hold you back and be all that you were designed to be.  Find your function!