Journal of Texas Women School Executives; Volume 7, Issue 1

A Purpose has Unlimited Power Dr. Sharon D. Deloach, Marlin ISD Cultivating Purpose Mariam Anderson, American diplomat and one of the finest contraltos of her time said, “If you have a purpose in which you can believe, there’s no end to the number of things you can accomplish.” Nietzsche, German philosopher, said, “He who knows why to live can bear almost any how”. In other words, if we have a sense of purpose, then we can endure all the challenges we face in getting to our goal. A purpose has unlimited power.

My purpose was cultivated while falling in love with a set of green and white books. This realized purpose morphed into the science of my life’s work, passion, and motivation. Most of us determine what we think our purpose is by our associations, family, religion, education, what we do, and economic status. When asked who you are, most people respond with their name, native city, job, or positions in life. Educational Psychologists, Dr. Inez Beverly Presser, and Dr. Kenneth and Dr. Mamie Clark, a married team, each conducted research among children that revealed how adults are programmed from childhood. During the formative years of our lives, our brain is in a hypnotic trans-like state, such that we either absorb, record, and believe things that are impressed upon from the outside world.

From birth, the socialization process shapes our sense of self identity and we behave according to the rules of our family, religion, or ideology from our associations. We adopt the cultural, political, gender, and social norms thrust upon us. Greek Philosopher, Aristotle believes we have a TELOS, “A “purpose” or “an end toward which we are pointed”. Aristotle said, “the best life is to understand what that self is and become it.” Becoming what you desire, or dream, is so vital to unleashing your unlimited power. For that reason, your unlimited power internalized articulates your authenticity. People will make observations of you and turn those observations to opinion and their reality about you. Ursula Barnes, Xerox CEO and Chairman said, “The reason they knew who I was is because I told them”. Your authenticity will tell your audiences who you are.

Authenticity along with positive building is key to building relationships that foster success toward the dream. To be authentic, we must understand ourselves. If we do not understand ourselves, dream building is hard work. Beyond explanation, relevance, and motivation, a sense of purpose gives us meaning and an understanding to our lives. Living in your purpose is to passionately pursue what you believe in and support.

In attempts to comply with Brown vs. Board of Education, teachers’ abilities to engage and connect with newly formed integrated classrooms were challenged. With years of experience as a teacher and school administrator, we still face these challenges. In the midst of it all was my beloved grandmother, Eula Mae White Jones, a fifty-year educator who today, would be deemed as a Master Teacher, guiding the helm of teaching and leading. My book, An Answer to Disenfranchised Students, addresses the historical content and research of these past and current experiences and is the fulfilled dream that lived on the inside of me.

How I got to the “Be it” stage of living the dream As a child, I fell in love with a set of green and white books. I was introduced to these books while sitting under my late grandmother’s breakfast table listening, as she and her like-minded educator 95 | J O U R N A L O F T E X A S S C H O O L W O M E N E X E C U T I V E S