Karen Page on the Meaning of Life

This article originally appeared on Excellence Reporter and has been reproduced with permission.

Excellence Reporter: Karen, what is the meaning of life?

Karen Page: I have been doing this work since I was a child, and throughout childhood, my one constant question, about pretty much everything was always “Why?”…and though I still ask “Why?” about many things, the Meaning of Life is not on the list.

I have been deeply blessed to have a career that I love, to have had the opportunity to live all over the world, and along the way, to know some incredibly amazing people from every walk of life.

Throughout my journey there have been great joys, and deep sorrow. I have been betrayed by people I have trusted and loved, have been to more memorials and funerals than I could count…Yet through the millions of tears, and endless laughter, I have never lost my sense of wonder.

What I have learned through the laughter and the tears, the joys, disappointments and heartbreaks is, that just like you, your mother, your children and your friends…I have truly experienced real life.

Over the years when I talk to people that are repeatedly angry about being hurt, betrayed, cheated on, or one of a million human reasons, I still want to know “Why?” Not the simple reason…I want to know the Real reason.

Through all of the experiences in my life, the joys and the sorrows…I have not one calorie of Anger.

We are all here for the same reason. We are born into this life to Learn, and the world is one Big Classroom.

We keep repeating the same painful experiences in relationships, both personally and professionally because they are “Emotionally Familiar.” There is an unspoken guarantee that we will never be disappointed because we know what to expect from that dynamic. We don’t realize that our unconscious is drawn to what is “Emotionally Familiar,” and will be until we become Truly conscious and Genuinely don’t want to feel that Negative emotion again.

That is when we are finally willing to step back, be honest, and ask ourselves, “What did I learn from this relationship.” Just like taking a difficult class in school, these relationships are our Classroom, and sometimes we have to repeat a class until we get the Lesson.