We want to spend our lives in a meaningful way, doing what we love, helping others, or helping the planet… In short, we all want to live our purpose and do what we love, right?
But if we all come with a life purpose, why is it then so elusive to find? Or at least that’s what it looks like, since the most common question people ask me is this: “How do I find my purpose?”
The reason why we have such a hard time finding our purpose is that we are
confused about what “purpose” really means. So we think we are searching for one thing, when in fact we are looking for something different. No wonder it’s so difficult to find!
Let me give you an example.
Imagine yourself on a grocery shop looking for a papaya. And now imagine you’ve never seen a papaya before. In fact, you think papayas look very similar to plums. How many probabilities of picking up a papaya do you think you have?
None!
So let me here clarify what “purpose” really is and what it’s NOT.
We think our purpose is the same as our career title, or our business niche or our “specialty” as a therapist or practitioner.
But that is just one small facet of what our purpose really is.
What you do as a career, or what your business focus is, (as long as it’s aligned with who you are, with your passions and talents), it’s just a channel of expresion for your purpose, but its not “It”. Don’t worry if you are confused, it all will become clearer in this article series.
There are many definitions of life purpose: The Dalai Lama says your purpose is to be happy. others say its “that thing you came here to do” .
The truth is, your life purpose has much more to do with who you ARE than with what you DO.
My preferred definition of Life Purpose is this:
Your purpose is 3 fold:
1) to be in congruency with who you really are,
2) to learn, grow and evolve into everything you can be and
3) to contribute to the life of others in a way that makes you happy.
The best way to understand this is by looking at your purpose as a 3 different paths you are wlaking in your life.
In the next article, I’ll describe what those 3 paths look like in your real life. But for now, let me ask you this question.
What’s your definition of “life purpose”?
Let’s continue the conversation on the comments below.
Till next time, to your Purpose, Prosperity and Inner Peace.
Charo
Charo
I love this article and look forward to hearing more about this very important topic. I agree entirely with your definition of ‘life purpose’ and I also think that it can take a very long time in life to discover what it really is!
Thanks Nicla.
Well, it can take a long time if you try to find it on your own, by trial and error.
That’s what happened to me, and I paid a high price in disappointment, sadness and even loosing my health. But once someone has a proven method that can help you know yourself deeply, why would you try to find your purpose on your own?