Mastin Kipp | CREDIT: Courtesy Subject
Can we all agree that the world needs healing right now?
There’s no shortage of collective and individual need on this front, nor is there a dearth of self-proclaimed healers.
But Mastin Kipp is making a name for himself in the society of self-help, landing on one of Oprah Winfrey’s vaunted lists. In this case, he sits alongside the likes of Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Brene Brown, and Eckhart Tolle on Oprah’s Super Soul 100 Leaders, and has been dubbed by Oprah herself as a “spiritual thinker for the next generation”.
In case you were wondering, I did not make this list. (I can’t even get into the local country club.)
Kipp has a multi-million-dollar life-coaching business, a #1 best-selling book (Daily Love) as well as another book coming in October (Claim Your Power — endorsed by Dave Asprey and rising power broker Arianna Huffington among others).
I observed Kipp on stage and quickly understood his appeal: lightning-fast thinker on his feet, a skilled empathizer, a ball of positive energy, engendering accountability with authenticity.
A remarkable transformation from someone who once lived in the pool house at his girlfriend’s parents place, so poor he had to bum non-password protected Wi-Fi outside of neighboring homes.
The driving force behind Kipp’s evolution, you ask, other than attending a life-changing session by his friend and mentor Tony Robbins?
Purpose.
Finding it in his own life and helping others find (and act) on theirs.
As Kipp told me:
“Purpose is the centerpiece upon which you build success–no purpose equals nothing. To not have it is like saying I don’t have a skeleton. So many problems today can be traced back to not knowing your purpose because knowing your purpose means you focus on serving others. It gives you focus. When you know your purpose, you bring to life aspirational qualities and end the blame cycle.”
It turns out there are clear signals if you haven’t really found your purpose.
Kipp pointed out with zeal culprits like feeling overwhelmed and/or feeling like you’re caught in the rat race, living a marriage as roommates rather than as partners in love and passion, feeling like you never have enough money, or constantly blaming others.
This all points to the root cause–not knowing your purpose.
Which leads us to the $10,000 question: If you don’t know what your purpose is, how do you find it? And how to do so without ten years of therapy?
Kipp illuminated for me the fact that purpose is actually a simple concept. But alas, he warned me, simple and easy aren’t the same. You have to ask yourself, “How do I want to feel?”, “How do I want those I serve to feel?”
The life-coach reinforced this by pointing out that The Force Awakens director, J.J. Abrams, asked himself “How do I want the audience to feel?” as he created the blockbuster.
Kipp excitedly told me that if you want true healing, you’ve got to be tuned into the emotions you want to feel and understand what’s blocking them. Purpose is an adept healer as it is the emotion you generate in service of others.
To find such purpose takes presence of mind, something Kipp clearly has and an attribute that he holds in the highest regard, as indicated by a story he told me about having lunch with Oprah Winfrey:
“So my girlfriend and I arrived at Oprah’s house for lunch. What do you bring the woman who has everything–literally? A hug? We decided on flowers–hydrangeas. Back to that in a minute.
We were walking with Oprah along her tree lined driveway when Oprah pointed out one tree in a dense grouping of trees–it wasn’t doing well. But with some care and attention the tree was going to make it now.
With all that Oprah has and is, she noticed that one tree to begin with, and cared enough to save it.
Now those flowers–turns out Oprah had all kinds of hydrangeas on her property, and yet she made a point to tell my girlfriend she would put the flowers by her window so she would think of the visit for weeks to come.
That’s the kind of humility and presence of mind Oprah has. That’s who I want to be–I have the success but I still care about the flowers.”
That’s mindfulness we can all strive for.
A la J.J. Abrams, it’s a force awakened in Kipp and one that he hopes to bring to a theater near you.
This article by Scott Mautz also appeared on Inc.com. To read more Inc. articles by Scott Mautz, click here.
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