The Purpose of Life, Your Life

For years, sometimes a lifetime, so many people live out their lives, day in day out, without discovering their true purpose of life. But a life without a discovered purpose is like going on a road trip without a map. We all have one, tucked away and gathering dust, but I can guarantee a life lead by one will be far more fulfilling than without. Remember that everyone is important and everyone is different.

Your contribution is unique for a reason, because the world needs you just as much as you need the world. There’s an ocean of possibilities out there waiting for you to dive in, so many paths that we neglect each day, so why is it that we often settle for simply asking ‘Is there more to life’ when we could be out there living the answer. If you want more? Go out and get more!

What is the Purpose of Life?

Whats the meaning of life? Life purpose

Sounds like a daunting question doesn’t it? Now add the word ‘you’re’ in front of ‘life’ and there’s something you can answer, trust me. And I can guarantee that your answer to this will be unique to anybody else’s.

My own purpose and spirituality in life has always been something that I have been deeply aware of. I’m not heavily religious but I do consider myself to be heavily philosophical and, for as long as I can remember, I have always questioned life to bottomless extents so you can imagine that when I was creating this page. I was not only excited but exerting facial muscles that I didn’t know I had.

It has taken me until now to realise that I was asking myself the wrong questions. It’s much more useful to discover what your world is all about, than the world as a whole. What you can bring to it that no-one else can? Your life purpose. Maybe even finding what your life means to you, and fighting to live this way, is the very purpose, the very test, of life itself.

Exercise: On a piece of paper write down ‘Life is like a…’ twenty times. On another piece of paper write down ‘My life if like a…’ twenty times. Finish the sentences. What do they say about you?

“Your life purpose is not to be an accountant, a writer, a coach, or an airline pilot. No. Those are mediums with which you can express your life purpose. Your life purpose is more about who you are at your core and what you are here to learn and give than it is about what you do for a living” – Erin Pavlina

So now you know what the purpose of life is, what your talents are, your strengths, and you may even know where your going in the future. But do you know what your life mission is? And why its important?

Your Calling & Life Mission

We all know that we experience the same stages and emotions in life. The good (Sex, friendship, love), the bad (Guilt, Fear) and the variables we have no control over (betrayal, working to survive). But not all of us know that we were put here, at this time and place for a reason. And that we should spend this time wisely. And by wisely I mean, wisely to you and only you as a person. Knowing your purpose, your direction, your life mission will help you leave the world fulfilled.

Legacy over life, a life driven by results and remembrance, is something that many of us, including myself, believe in… but it’s not for everyone. Big or small, driven by talents, legend, others or values, our purpose determines how we spend our lives and what we are motivated by. It should make us happy. Your calling is the answer to why you are here…

“My purpose? To look after the family… It’s not a very exciting purpose, and it won’t set the world on fire. But it’s my purpose.” – My Mother

I suggested from the beginning of the Discovery section that you keep a rough journal throughout the process of achieving success using this website because, as a writer, I believe that any deep and clever thought is wasted if not recorded. So when you think about the questions I am about to ask, I suggest that you jot down what you come up with.

You could write down you answers in anyway you want, in a spider diagram, a list… even in pictures if you wish, but in order to reflect on what your calling is it’s important that you are able to remember the thoughts you have. Referring to your values is particularly important when finding your direction.

1) Look at your values. Particularly the top of your prioritised list; In my eyes, to leave the world fulfilled, we should try to live by our personal values everyday. What is important to you? Do these values echo what needs to be done on earth? For example, if ‘Creativity’ was a top value on your list, consider it from the opposite perspective… Why were you born creative? Who does this help and how?

The answer maybe to inspire, to motivate. Why not consider ways in which you could apply this to everyday life because there maybe more ways in which you can fulfil this value than you think. By looking at the reverse side of your values, at what other people value in you, you may understand your drive much more clearly or see a decision making process more clearly mapped out.

2) What role do you currently play? Think about the skills you’re using in the activities you enjoy, your lifestyle and your job. What opportunities does your life (setting, era, relationships) currently provide that are distinctive to you? There was a reason you were born this way, consider why that might be.

3) How are you unique? Look at your strengths; the matchless combination of strengths, weaknesses and talents you were born with and listed earlier. How have they helped you in work? In your relationships? How and what have you achieved with these strengths and what have these achievements brought to the world? Your world? What is your gift? Always ask questions.

4) How do you decide? To make strong, beneficial judgements in life it is best if we weigh up the situation. But sometimes we know exactly which path to take, or which not to. Write about a time when you were given a decision to make and you knew exactly what to do. Think about why this may have been your great purpose intervening… who did this decision benefit?

5) How would your success benefit the world? After thinking about what success means to you, what you want to bring to this world, think about why this success echoes other peoples and how it could help the way in which the world works.

You may not want to dedicate your life to being a Nun, but there are other ways in which you can use your talents for the good of others E.G to inspire or to motivate or to lead. What have you already brought to the world? Big or small, every action you consider an achievement is an expression of your inner purpose. Were you rewarded in anyway for this achievement by the outside world? How?

6) Do you enjoy helping others? Who in particular? How? Why?

7) Where do you feel most like yourself? Has there ever been a place that you have felt drawn to? Why do you think that is? New York City is inspiring in every way to me. I love the nature of the people with their succeed or die attitude. I love the height, I love the shapes. It’s a place that I often try to recapture artistically.

But to my mother New York City is… hell, really. And that not only demonstrates a differentiation in values, but also in our life purpose; mine being to create (so I naturally seek obscure places) and her’s being to care for others (being in an environment that is safe and domestic).

8) What would you like to say you had done before you leave the world? If we were all created to bring more love, more inspiration, more knowledge into the world… what else do you think you were brought into this world to do?

9) Where does your unconscious mind take you? When you dream and day-dream, that’s your spirit taking over – your purpose having it’s say. What excites you? When you see or hear about someone doing something and you feel inspired by it, what are they doing? Often we neglect our reoccurring ideas and dreams as we deem them as impossible, but we shouldn’t really, for these unconscious thoughts are the ones that often give us the greatest insight into ourselves and what we truly want. Shut your eyes from time to time and let yourself think about the future. Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with?

Types of Life Calling…

‘In every situation you find yourself, you have been sent here to do whatever you can -moment byoment- that will bring more gratitude, more kindness, more forgiveness, more honesty and more love into this world. There are dozens of such moments every day. Moments when you stand -as it were- at a spiritual crossroads, with two ways lying before you.”

It might be ambitious of me to try and factorise life purposes into a list as there are so many people, so many personalities and so many gifts out there. But i’ve tried any how. You may only fulfil one of the below, or you may fulfil all of them, in different aspects of your life. But trying to understand each purpose in life will help you to accept others and to understand yourself more.

Healers- Often have a desire to improve peoples lives and their situations.

Explorers- Are excited by new findings and discovering new information that builds on from other people’s ideas and discoveries.

Teachers- Enjoy providing knowledge, opportunities and inspiration to others.

Creators- Try to capture the world and bring enjoyment and knowledge to it’s people.

Innovators- Do things differently to design, build and create something great.

Leaders- Motivates and inspires others

In the centre of a large piece of paper write ‘Why am I here?’ in the centre, ringed. Branch off from this considering your talents, the above catagories and the elements of life.

Often we are as unaware of our purpose in life, as we are of our future. I saw proof of this in a close friend once. We were talking about the future, and never the optimistic type, I found it a surprise to see her face colour as it did when she began to speak. She’d been getting herself worked up over all the possibilities available to her, but now, when I asked her ‘so what would you like to say you have done with your life?’ she was beaming.

“I wouldn’t care,” she said, dreamily, “If I earnt no money at all. As long as I got to act…” She realised, with one statement that she was willing to live alone and as basic as humanly possible just to perform for people. It was her calling. Her calling wasn’t to change the world but to inspire and entertain others. The next day, she knew exactly what to apply for, for her secondary education. Performing arts.

Executing Your Mission & Purpose in Life

‘We need in the first Stage to unlearn the idea that our mission is primarily to keep busy doing something (here on Earth), and learn instead that our Mission is first of all to keep busy being something (here on Earth)’ – Richard Nelson Bolles

So you know what your mission and purpose in life is now and it’s time to act upon it. If life really is just one big test then, how do you go about passing it?

Unfortunately, I cannot even attempt to provide you with a straight answer to this question. In fact, even Philosophers who have studied the universe for their whole lives cannot provide you with this answer either; only their theory. The only person who knows how you can leave this world fully fulfilled is you and there is no right or wrong way to use this information, only a rough guide.

These guides often come in book form and are preached in places deemed as holy… but sometimes they can come from an nudge from a unlikely source in the world around us, the people that inspire us and our own experiences.

Conclusive Pointers – The Purpose of Life

1) Discover yourself and your life purpose in all the ways available; no-one wants to feel like just another grain of sand, just another kid in the class, just another life lost. So ensure that you are always thinking deeply about your higher purpose and the fact that you were put on this earth to fulfil your own unique contribution. Everyone’s bodies are the same, we all need to eat, to breath but our souls are very different; it’s up to us to decide which role we take on the stage.

2) Talk with other mission makers about your higher purpose; meeting people who have a similar purpose to yourself can be inspiring and educating.

3) Consider the ways (big or small) in which you are working towards your higher purpose today, with every decision you make, even the little ones. Remember that even if your life purpose isn’t to change the world, you could still do and be something amazing everyday.

4) Consider the changes you could make to your life that would help you to work more towards your higher purpose.

6) Write your ten commandments for the way in which you should live according to your personal values.

7) What does your life have to offer? Take advantage of the opportunities that arise around you, but only the ones that will help you achieve your higher purpose or your ideal self.

8) Exercise your talents and strengths and take delight in the fact that you have those strengths.

9) Live in the place that you feel you belong.

10) Do what you can everyday to take steps towards your purpose.

11) Enjoy what you have been given, but remember that humans were given the ability to create and feel for a reason, and that’s because we don’t simply exist to survive; but to live and improve both our lives and our world.

Next Page: Your Values