I’m pretty sure you’ve asked yourself this question. I know that several people have asked me to help them find the answer in the course of the Mentoring program they do with me.
One of the important clues we have to answering this question is to take stock of how we feel at the time we find ourselves wondering about the purpose of our lives.
Almost always, there are feelings of dissatisfaction with the way things are and have been for some time.
There might also be feelings of anxiety, particularly for those of us who have reached or are approaching ‘middle age’, spurred on by the belief that we’re running out of time.
And there might be a feeling of surrender – OK, I’ve been ignoring this restlessness, this emptiness, this feeling that something’s missing for too long. Let me just pay attention to it now!
We’ve done the things that we thought we wanted to do or had to do as younger adults – got married, had children, raised them, pursued our carriers, paid off the mortgage and…now what?
Why isn’t all of that enough? After all, none of it was plain sailing. There were heartaches and crises, despair and disappointment. Surely, I should be ready to just relax from here on, now that the tide is out and learn to just enjoy life?
So why am I still nagged by this unanswered question: What is the purpose of my life?
If your child asked you the same question,’What is the purpose of my life?, what would you say?
I’d like to be able to tell you that there is one, complete, irrefutable answer to this question but I would be trying to fool you if I did.
What I do have, though, is an answer that has emerged through all my life experiences, reflections and study. The answer is simply this:
To enjoy the adventure of life!
To date, I have not found a better, more compelling answer.
Now, I suspect that this may not be enough for you because what you really want to know are the specifics. What you’d really like is a fortune-teller kind of answer:
“I see you writing best-selling novels and going on global tours to speak to hungry audiences who lap up with relish every single word that you utter”.
Or perhaps,
“You are really an incarnation of a warrior queen from over 10,000 years ago in a land then known as Axumbe. You are here to satisfy her yearning to provide for all her people. I see you working in a refuge camp somewhere in Africa…”
Or how about this:
“You’re here to enlighten people, to help them awaken through your healing power. Have you ever felt a desire to become a spiritual healer?”
Yep, that would be handy, wouldn’t it? You’re given the directions to your life, now all you have to do is follow them.
I am being facetious, of course. But for a reason.
In the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, we read that the answer to life is 42. Mmm…nonsensical, you might think, at least until you realize that the author is trying to make a point, i.e.
What is your question?
Is it, What is the meaning of life? Or, What is the meaning of my life? Or, What is the purpose of my life?
Well, who would be best to answer these questions? Some super-computer/god? Or you? And, if so, how would you go about answering them?
In fact, would this not be a more useful question for us to ask:
How do I go about determining the purpose of my life?
Through a process of sincere and free enquiry, of course. Self-enquiry, which might involve questions such as:
What do I want from life?
What do I wish to offer?
What allows me to experience greatest joy?
Ask these questions without restricting yourself in any way, without accepting as ‘given’ your present circumstances, the world as it is.
The luminaries of this world, past and present did not allow themselves and their vision and mission to be limited by what they saw and what they were experiencing. Instead, they allowed themselves the freedom of imagination, to go beyond what is….
“I have a dream…”
So, put that wondrous ability that you possess, the ability to imagine, to dream, to use. Let it work multi-dimensionally to fashion and guide you in the ‘how’ of your vision as it breaks through conditioned thinking and reaches into the magical field of infinite possibilities.
Your part is to allow yourself the freedom to imagine, to dream, to ask and answer sincerely and to remain open to the nudges and prompts that the creative force of love uses to communicate with you.
Sure, you might have an epiphany of dramatic proportions but love speaks in many, many other ways :).
Neither should you expect the answer to arrive in the form of a readily recognizable career path or profession. The creative force of love has infinite ways of giving shape and form to your life purpose. So, stay open and alert!
Love always
Lucy Lopez
Awakening to Happiness, Freedom and Prosperity!
PS
Australian Readers, are you in or close to Eumundi? Want to contribute to Harmony for Haiti fundraising event by participating in workshops Sunday, 14th March? I will be running one – see the flyer below. For more details (available from Friday), go here http://www.bellbunya.org.au/calendar
There is a video by Eckhart Tolle called, Finding your life’s purpose. In that video he simply states the obvious, although most people don’t think like this. In any event he took a sip of water and said my life’s purpose, right now, is to take a sip of water. He went on to say that most people as they are reaching for the glass already want the water inside of them. Instead of stating to yourself, now I am reaching for the glass, now I will raise the glass to my lips, now the water is in my mouth, and now the water is going down my throat, etc. To be aware and present in every moment is key. When your presence is engaged in every moment then the quality and concentration of your doing is immeasurable. I’ve done this at times and it does have a certain quality that heightens your awareness. As usual Lucy thank you for your wisdom and insight.
Larry Betson´s last blog ..Sin Moo Hapkido as a supplement to healing.
Larry, how lovely to hear/read from you! Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of wisdom, of, as you say, something so obvious. Indeed, the quality of the present-moment mind is sharp, clear and free. And while I believe that the purpose of my life is most freely and fully executed through my mindful presence, there is also the purpose of my life that is fueled by my dreams and my desires, for these too are events of, and for, my existence. To be mindfully present to these events enables my awareness to continue to expand!