We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shawn Greenleaf a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shawn, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Finding purpose is critical to living a content life. My purpose in my 20’s was teaching children and fostering their love for learning. Now, my purpose in life comes from finding a passion that fuels my heart and mind. Something you awaken and go to sleep knowing you have not only fulfilled your own passion, but utilized your purpose for something greater outside of yourself. Fostering purpose is through finding a focus to invest one’s energy and heart. Whether, it feels difficult to maintain, financially or emotionally, find others to share your passion with. I found my purpose in Africa, in a remote village, when I lived with the Maasai for 8 weeks.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As I retired educator, I now run a nonprofit project in Kenya, Africa. Photographing the traditions of the Maasai, a humble and peaceful culture of Africans, has been on my bucket list. Their land inhabits the wildlife of Africa’s majestic elephants, elusive cheetahs, leopards and the elegant giraffes of Kenya. Most people travel to Africa and visit the luxury tents, seeing the wildlife from a land rover. My most exciting adventure happened after that experience on a safari. I returned a year later to live WITH the Maasai. Their existence is similar to America’s Colonial Period. They live on a savannah without drinking water or electricity. Their lifestyle is barren but beautiful. My project grew one year after I lived with them. I funded building a primary school for the village and added a classroom of an existing school, so that the Maasai Children could have an opportunity for an education. I realized, if I shared my photography of their lives, I could possibly support them on a larger scale. Blending my photography and my love for the Maasai has given me the ability to maintain the project with not just food and water, but a chance to provide an opportunity for the children to love learning and gain an education.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Most impactful on my life journey is resilience, looking outside of oneself to find ways to nurture individual purpose and passion. Developing resilience takes patience. To effectively embrace another’s traditions, we must still nurture the life force inside our own heart. On my journey, my love for the Maasai, while living in their village, eating their food and sleeping in their home, gave me introspection on the importance of how to live simply with joy, love and compassion. Yet, focusing on how to be most impactful for their needs and lifestyle, was critical.
The second most important impactful quality is wisdom, finding ways to maintain what makes your own heart sing. Even whhen you feel weak or defeated, don’t give up on your dream. Lean on other’s strength and gifts to improve yourself and keep focused on your journey.
Finally, staying connected is important. Once you find your resilience, wisdom and strength, remain connected to the goal you have been called to. I call this GRACE, following the heartbeat of your passion. Give it your all. Yet, take great care of yourself to promote and grow with this grace that you have been called to in your heart.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The book that most recently encouraged me is, The Well-Lived Life by Dr. Gladys McGarey, a 102 year old doctor’s secrets to health and happiness. She opens her story with the secrets of a long and happy life stating, “In the last quarter century of my life, gleaning ideas and secrets and healthy life styles, was pivotal and intriguing.” In her opening statements, this paragraph grabbed my attention, “Each of us came here to do something. And as I see it, true health has nothing to do with diagnosing a disease or prolonging life just for the sake of it; it is about finding out who we are, paying attention to how we’re called to grow and change, and listening to what makes our heart sing.” Dr Gladys, in her book, states that, “if she could distill her life’s work – and purpose in writing her book, the Well-Lived Life-into one sentence, it’s this: To be truly alive, we must find the life force within ourselves and direct our energy toward it.”
Contact Info:
- Website: Nashipae.com
- Facebook: @Shawn Greenleaf
