Most of us live our life unconsciously. The daily routine of work keeps our mind busy. There is always the next vacation or party to look forward to. Then one Sunday afternoon, when we are lolling in our bed, it suddenly hits us? What is my purpose in life? For some this question arises when they are stuck in a meaningless job or a dead end life situation。
Living life with an external purpose can be quite satisfying but it's not so straight forward to come up a fixed purpose by which you define your life. Most people come up with a purpose just for the heck of it and then they find out that they are not really passionate about it in the first place。
It helps to have a solid foundation in reality, or the truths of life, before you sit down to finding your purpose in life. Here are a few pointers that can help you in this process。
Check if you already have a purpose
If you find your present life purposeless just look again. In the totality of life there is no purpose that is too small or too big. Even a street sweeper fulfills a very important purpose in his life. Even if you are working in a small firm you are fulfilling a vital purpose in the link of life by the service you provide。
May be you are supporting a family, or raising kids, that's quite a significant purpose. If you think your life is meaningless right now, it would just show that you are not really paying attention to your present role。
Your true calling need not be magnanimous
Some people get really famous while some live a private life. There is no real difference between the two. Each person fulfills a specific role and no role is more important than the other。
Your inherent talent might just define your life's purpose? It's surprising how many people go through life with some incredible talent within which they don't convert to a career or service. If you have a talent, it's life's gift to you. Try to find the best way possible to convert your talent to something which gives service to people. There is no better way to live a purpose, and make money, than through an inherent talent。
Listen to your heart rather than your mind
Heart and mind are just metaphors. Heart denotes your intuition while the mind stems out of your conditioning patterns. Get in touch with the inner voice in your heart and see if there is a deep seated desire that is recurring. May be all along you have just ignored this desire。
Your mind might find several excuses to tell you what your heart wants is impractical, but that's just your conditioning speaking. The voice of your heart is always true and it points to your deep seated yearning。
Write up an essay on what type of life you want to live
It's amazing how many insights you can get simply by writing down your thoughts. There are millions of thoughts rushing through the mind each day and it's difficult to make sense of it all. When you sit down to write, the thoughts become more organized。
Without much ado just start typing or writing down what type of life you really want to live. Just write freely without involving the mind too much, let the words just come out of your subconscious. You might have to write for a few minutes before you really get into the groove。
It helps to write for a few hours even if your mind stops churning out ideas. It's precisely when the mind gives up that the heart starts talking. When you read this essay you can find your purpose in life in some of the words or sentences that came out subconsciously。
Let the answer come from stillness
Our intelligence operates at two levels? One is the noisy mind and the next is the silent space of stillness within us. The space of stillness is far more intelligent than the conditioned mind and this has been proven by several creative geniuses who speak of entering the zone of no-mind before creating their master pieces。
To access this space of stillness, just sit in a relaxed position and get in touch with your inner body. When you place you attention on your inside of your body, the mind tends to stop. Feel the sensations and energy passing through your body. After a while all these sensations will subside and will give way to stillness. Ask for your purpose in this state of stillness without expecting a verbal answer from your mind。
Sometimes you might get your answer immediately as a sudden burst of intuition or you might get your answer later in your dreams or waking state。
Follow up on your intuition
Whenever you get an intuitive hit to do something just follow up on it. Sometimes it's important to take a few risks to find the true purpose in your life. Just make sure you are in tune with your intuition while making these decisions. In the end there is no such thing as a failure, it's just an opportunity to learn。
It might take a few failed attempts and dead ends before you finally hit upon the true purpose of your life. You are likely to make fewer mistakes if you are in touch with your inner voice of intuition. Always remember that the emotion you feel in your body is the true indicator of what you really feel about your decisions rather than the thoughts in your mind。
R Have an aim in life, or your energies will be wasted.
沒有目標的一生註定庸庸碌碌，確定一個目標吧。----- R.Peters
R Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass.
生活沒有目標，就像航海中沒有羅盤。---- John Ruskin
R One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.
人犯錯誤最危險的一種就是忘記自己的目標是什麼。---- Paul Nitze
R High expectations are the key to everything.
遠大的理想是開啟萬物的鑰匙。
R What makes life dreary is the want of motive.
缺少動力將讓生活無聊乏味。----- G.Eliot
R If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.
如果你只是等待，發生的只是你變老了。---- Larry McMurtry
R Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.
不要試圖去做個成功者，寧可做個有價值的人。---- Einstein
R Hope deserts us at no period of our existence.
在我們一生中，希望從來未遺棄過我們。---- R.L.Stevenson
R Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
希望是頓美好的早餐，但卻是頓糟糕的晚餐。(立志要趁早，別拖延)---- Francis Bacon
R It is not by the grey of the hair that one knows the age of the heart.
白髮並不能告訴你一個人心靈的年紀。---- Edward B.Lytton
R If you do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.
如果年輕時不培養知識，年老時將沒有乘涼的樹蔭。---- Chesterfield
R Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow.
進步乃今日之努力，明日之保證。---- Emerson
