How do people find what they love?

How do people find what they love? How do people find their purpose? What gives them the courage to pursue their purpose, in the face of the greatest odds?

I watched Moneyball this weekend. In the movie, Brad Pitt who plays Bill Beaney goes against the grain of how "baseball" puts together a team, what "baseball" thinks about what makes a good team. He questions the norms and puts together a winning team on a shoestring budget (well, shoestring in baseball terms). His team goes on to win the same number of games as the Yankees except the Yankees have three times the amount of money. Bill, a man who is still the manager for the Oakland Athletics, used sabermetrics — baseball statistics — to put together his team. He was the first to do it and since many teams have followed his lead. Sabermetrics is now changing the nature of baseball. But when Bill did it, he was scoffed at, questioned, punished, blamed for it. But he still did it. Why?

When Bill was a senior in high school he showed extraordinary talent on the field. He had also earned himself a full scholarship to Stanford. He was heavily scouted to play for the Mets. He walked away from Stanford in the hope of fame, money and glory on the baseball field. A few years later he turned out not to be the player he and the world thought he was. It was time then to walk away from the field. Where was he to go? In those moments of anguish and failure, Bill found his personal, unique and lifelong purpose. He wanted to change how players were scouted. Why? So those that played ball got a fair chance at being good, they got a chance to play for teams that mattered and they met success. But more importantly, so that the wrong, so-called "promising" players did not get scouted.

Bill found his purpose in moments of anguish. He went on to change the very nature of baseball.

Take anyone who goes on to do something they love, something with a purpose, something revolutionary — behind them is a story. The story is grounded in a personally unique, intrinsic motivation. The story doesn't come together in a single a-ha moment, instead it is pieced together, punctuated by seemingly insignificant yet very significant moments that are periodically woven in with a few exclamations. Together simple, and yet, not so simple moments, experiences, people and places weave together a story; the inner story. This story crystallizes to define a passion, a purpose, a calling.

I wonder what it takes to notice this inner story. I imagine it takes some quiet space, some noticing, some observation, some being with the moments to notice the story as it is emerging. Or do we only piece the story together after the fact? I wonder. I also wonder how we can uncover the story for every child. This story uncovered could solve so many riddles. It could answer the eternal question — what is every child meant to do, to do as gracefully, as seamlessly as beautifully as breathing?

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