Purpose Of Life Pdf

[Carolina Schmalzried]

Everythinginvolves sacrifice. Everything includes some sort of cost. Nothing is pleasurable or uplifting all of the time. So, the question becomes: what struggle or sacrifice are you willing to tolerate? Ultimately, what determines our ability to stick with something we care about is our ability to handle the rough patches and ride out the inevitable rotten days.

What unpleasant experiences are you able to handle? Are you able to stay up all night coding? Are you able to put off starting a family for 10 years? Are you able to have people laugh you off the stage over and over again until you get it right?

When I was a child, I used to write stories. I used to sit in my room for hours by myself, writing away, about aliens, about superheroes, about great warriors, about my friends and family. Not because I wanted anyone to read it. Not because I wanted to impress my parents or teachers. But for the sheer joy of it.

Embrace embarrassment. Feeling foolish is part of the path to achieving something important, something meaningful. The more a major life decision scares you, chances are the more you need to be doing it.

So pick a problem and start saving the world. There are plenty to choose from. Our screwed up education systems, economic development, domestic violence, mental health care, governmental corruption. Hell, I just saw an article this morning on sex trafficking in the US and it got me all riled up and wishing I could do something. It also ruined my breakfast.

Luckily for them, having a purpose in life is associated with all kinds of benefits. Research suggests that purpose is tied to having better health, longevity, and even economic success. It feels good to have a sense of purpose, knowing that you are using your skills to help others in a way that matters to you.

A similar process is recommended for older adults by Jim Emerman of Encore.org, an organization that helps seniors find new purpose in life. Instead of envisioning an ideal future world, though, he suggests posing three questions to yourself:

Sometimes it can be hard to single out one or two things that matter most to you because your circle of care and concern is far-ranging. Understanding what you value most may help you narrow down your purpose in life to something manageable that also truly resonates with you.

There are several good values surveys to choose from, including these three recommended by PositivePsychology.com: the Valued Living Questionnaire, the Portrait Values Questionnaire, and the Personal Values Questionnaire. All have been used in research studies and may be helpful to those who feel overwhelmed by all they want to change.

If we need help, a survey like the VIA Character Strengths Survey can be useful in identifying our personal strengths and embracing them more fully. Then, you can take the results and think about how you can apply them toward something you really care about.

There are many ways to cultivate awe and gratitude. Awe can be inspired by seeing the beauty in nature or recalling an inspirational moment. Gratitude can be practiced by keeping a gratitude journal or writing a gratitude letter to someone who helped you in life. Whatever tools you use, developing gratitude and awe has the added benefit of being good for your emotional well-being, which can give you the energy and motivation you need to carry out your purposeful goals.

Sometimes the people we admire most in life give us a clue to how we might want to contribute to a better world ourselves. Reading about the work of civil rights leaders or climate activists can give us a moral uplift that can serve as motivation for working toward the greater good.

However, sometimes looking at these larger-than-life examples can be too intimidating, says Bronk. If so, you can look for everyday people who are doing good in smaller ways. Maybe you have a friend who volunteers to collect food for the homeless or a colleague whose work in promoting social justice inspires you.

I have a job as a legal aide, which is pretty interesting and pays fairly well. But my real love is music. I love to play my cello, and I practice a few hours a day. I especially love to perform for others and bring beauty to a special occasion, like a wedding.

A few years ago, my father was very sick in the hospital. I was so impressed by the nurses there and how they made such a difference to my father and our family that I decided that I wanted to have a job like that. So I went to nursing school, and now I work as an RN in a local clinic.

Our life can be seen as a nautilus that adds new chambers to its shell as it grows and needs more space. Likewise, as people grow into a different phase of life, their old chambers can feel cramped. They begin to ask what they can do to expand their space.

Moving into new chambers opens up the way for new possibilities to emerge, allowing our life purpose to evolve. But this can also prompt physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual transitions and even sometimes a chaotic period as we begin to ask new questions.

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Purpose can be explained in many ways, but simply put, your purpose is what makes you happy! It is what you love to do, what excites you and makes you tick; the essence of who you really are! It is your compass which provides direction and meaning in your life.

Your purpose is unique, specific, and personal; it springs from your identity and will influence your behavior and guide your life decisions and choices; it will define your goals and explain how you chose to spend your time, your most precious asset. It is where you get your energy from, what compels you to take a firm stand and what inspires you to keep going and stay committed in the face of adversity. It is who you cannot help being!

However, in reality, purpose and occupation may not necessarily be the same thing. Research has shown that only a very small percentage of people find actual purpose in the work they do. For most people, work is simply a job, a source of income.

For me, I find purpose in my children, my spirituality/faith, my professional work, spending time with my friends, making others happy, challenging myself physically and intellectually and recently certainly I find purpose in my writing.

Undeniably, professional work is just only one component of my life purpose and for me it is a means to influencing, empowering, and helping others, including their families and communities, to achieve their potential and live happily!

Your purpose may shift and change throughout your life, reflecting your evolving encounters and priorities, and that is okay! You have many lessons to learn, people to meet and experiences to live that will shape who you are. If, you are open and willing to expand your worldview, your life purpose will certainly evolve.

As I reflect on my own life and leadership journey, I can see a clear distinction between my drive/efforts to climb the corporate ladder and reach certain individual career milestones early on, and my focus/desire on making an impact and influencing my family, friends, and teammates as a leader, which came later.

Indeed, my focus and sense of purpose has shifted and evolved over time. My sense of purpose as a student or a trainee/intern is dramatically different in many ways to what it is now. My career goals and aspirations were less oriented towards my life purpose but rather towards success.

I discovered, the hard way, one might argue, that to live happily, my view of success should align with my sense of purpose . . . I feel that writing these articles is a manifestation of where my current life/leadership purpose is heading.

This first step is naturally the most difficult, but you must take some time to contemplate, to soul search. Have an honest reflection on your life journey and your experiences thus far. What have you learned about yourself?

Discover your skills and talents and exploit them. These are where you find peace and relaxation after finishing an exhausting 12-hour workday. These are why you wake up at 6am on a weekend . . . to pursue/practice them. For me, unless it is an early golf tee-off time, I will only get up to read and write.

People who love you and care about you. People who share the same values as you and who motivate you. People who are on similar soul-searching paths, who understand your struggles and fuel your passions and skills. People who will tell you not only what you would like to hear but will also give you constructive feedback.

There is something very powerful when you actually write down your purpose in life on a piece of paper. Somehow, it becomes more real and tangible. I cannot explain it . . . as if you own it more, as if you make a promise to yourself that you are forced to keep. It is proven though, that finding the motivation to pursue your goals or, in this case your life purpose, and channeling it into reality, is easier when you explicitly articulate what you want to achieve!

It is true, this process would essentially be stressful because you are admitting your life purpose (wow!), but at the same time it is liberating. In some way, this provides a conclusion to your soul-searching process. But what if you are wrong . . . what if you did not get it right?

So, while you can, cultivate their hobbies and interests. Help them discover their strengths, their gifts, and their talents. Their talents are clear indicators of what they will ultimately be passionate about. Encourage them to develop their talents into skills . . . and keep pushing them to experience new things and get out of their comfort zone. There is no better feeling for us parents to see our children fulfill every bit of their unique purpose in life.

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