Finding Your Purpose In Life
Finding one’s purpose in life can be very difficult. I myself have to admit that I’ve wrestled with this concept so densely at times, that I found myself developing nihilistic habits. Basically, thinking that my life has no purpose. That I should just let the current carry me. It’s kind of like sailing without a map or navigation system, but wishing and hoping that you’ll end up somewhere nice, like an island paradise.
There’s a saying, “wishes and hopes are goals without energy behind them.” You’re basically spending your time in a deep day dream, hoping that eventually something will manifest and that you might find your true calling. Your purpose in life. Sometimes we do manifest the things we dream about, but most of the time, you actually have to do something to make something happen. It doesn’t have to be anything major, but setting small goals for yourself throughout the day and accomplishing them, works wonders in building up your confidence in yourself.
We often make excuses for ourselves, why we should or shouldn’t do something and by not following through with what we set forth, we strengthen our ego and weaken our will. For example, something so simple as taking out the trash. You think “I’m too tired, feeling lazy, I’ll do it tomorrow”, etc. Ultimately, you’re better off doing what you said you were going to do initially than train yourself to make excuses every time the conditions don’t suit you. It’s kind of like, if you can’t resolve to do the small and seemingly unimportant tasks, how will you ever be able to tackle anything of greater importance like starting up a business, improving a relationship or finding a new job?
I believe that to find your true purpose in life, you need to first learn to live with purpose. What does that mean? Basically, it means that rather than looking at what your highest purpose in life is, which is fine if you know what it is, you set up mini-purposes up throughout the day. It’s kind of like setting up an intention. For example, you are reading a self-help book about relationships. So instead of skimming the pages glassy-eyed, prior to picking up the book, set up a few reasons why you intended to read the book. What do you want to get out of it? Several times a day, I ask myself the question…
For what higher/greater purpose am I…?
- Reading this book
- Talking or listening to this person
- Working on this project
- Writing this post
- etc.
It’s amazing the answers I come up with. I’ll be reading a book and suddenly something will pop up at me on the page which has some kind of special meaning to me.
When talking to people, you begin to hear things in new ways. They will tell you something seemingly random and suddenly a light bulb goes off in your mind. And there is the answer to a question you had or the solution to a problem. The whole world becomes your oracle when you resolve to step out of the mundane and ask yourself questions of a higher order. Then, life becomes a sacred experience. A life with purpose.
