Q&A: what is my life purpose?

Question: How can one know their purpose in life?

Answer: Thank you for your question, Rosequeen. I will begin by commending you for asking this pertinent question at this stage in your life. Not everyone will reach this stage, congratulations! To have the awareness of finding your life purpose is a big milestone. Know that only you can decipher and determine what your great truth is: your purpose or mission on earth. You alone will eventually figure out what you came here at this time to do. You alone, with Divine guidance, will be able to remember what you promised yourself to come and fulfill as your life purpose during this temporary earthly experience. Once born, everyone forgets what they came here to do. They must learn to walk, talk, read and write, etc. Finding one’s purpose is one of the things you must  learn how to do.

Knowing your purpose could help provide direction and give you a sense of meaning. It could also influence your behaviour and determine how you prioritize your time.

Your purpose is not static. It evolves over time. Even when you think you finally know what it is, that revelation keeps evolving because we are fundamentally here on earth to learn, evolve and grow. We could eventually become Highly Evolved Beings when we are clear on what our life purpose is.

One of the easiest ways to know what your purpose is, is to know what you are passionate about. When you identify that thing which makes you feel good and you exploit it to help others grow, help them find their own mission, that could be a starting point.  

God created you for a purpose. When you find that purpose and its related sub-purposes, you could find more meaning in life and live a more fulfilled life. Here are some tips to finding your purpose in life.

You can begin to find your purpose in the little things of everyday life. It is important to start small and then grow bigger with time. Your mission may not necessarily be something big like eradicating poverty in the world. However, you can co-create with God the circumstances of your life, by using your skills and competencies to support communities with activities that will boost their income.

Explore your interests. What are your hobbies? What brings you joy? It is important to focus on the small daily things you do that bring you joy. Is it cleaning your home, is it farming, is it talking to people, is it sending kind messages to them, is it teaching and sharing knowledge, is it singing, is it art?

Link those interests to service for others. One of the easiest ways to experience something is to cause another to experience it. Purpose and fulfilment come when you have the satisfaction that you have used your skills and talents to make a difference that adds meaning to the lives of other people.

Learning from your experiences is also a great way to know your purpose. There is a saying, “Learn from the experiences of others because you may not live long enough to make your own mistakes and learn from them”. Some experiences such as exposure to injustice can propel you to become an activist for a better world. Watch, listen to the subtle messages that come to you when you undergo both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. Always question yourself to know the lesson the universe is trying to impart on you, then act on it.

Your circle matters. The people you surround yourself with can either make or mar your life purpose. It is expedient to surround yourself with people who help you to grow and who can contribute towards your experience of a meaningful life purpose. These are people who can also help you identify what you are good at. They notice some things you may not be aware of. I share with you a personal experience in high school in 1995. Mid-year, the school authorities launched campaigns for the election of student representatives. I was not keen on applying. One of my friends, Edna, encouraged me to apply. She told me that I have the qualities to become the girls’ Senior Students’ Officer. She took out a pen and paper and drafted the application for me. Her assurance motivated me to review the application which I deposited  in time. I prepared a campaign speech with the help of an incumbent student officer, and I won the elections by a landslide majority due to the well written speech. Your immediate circle can help you find purpose. In this case, I was steered by Edna to realize I could contribute to the student government through my leadership skills. Thank you, Edna.

Volunteering is another great way to avail of your skills and competencies to achieve purpose in life. Being a volunteer gives you the opportunity to try out new things that contribute towards making a positive difference in your community and the world at large.  This is also an opportunity to meet people who share your passions and inspire you to feel that you are contributing towards a higher purpose of helping others. Note that a volunteer is moved by passion and enthusiasm, and not recompense (money).

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There are some universal laws that can help you fast-track understanding your purpose in life. Gratitude is one of the greatest tools which is tied to fulfilment and satisfaction for what we have and who we are, and it is directly linked to well-being. Grateful people are happy people. You can operationalize gratitude by keeping a gratitude journal or by having a vision board. A gratitude journal is a notebook in which you put daily entries of what you are grateful for, both visible and invisible. We are spiritual beings in physical bodies. The body is something we have, not who we are. A vision board is a collection of words and pictures that depict your gratitude for what you have and what you hope to achieve.

Nothing has a meaning except the meaning you give it. Even though I suggest a few examples of life purpose here, it is meant to provide you guidance. As already mentioned, focusing on the small things in life will lead you to find other ‘purposes’ such as showing total dedication in daily tasks, mentoring other people on career development, having a passion for karaoke and entertaining others during home and public events, becoming a researcher to contribute to better health, having a family and giving the best example to your children, learning from a good or bad experience to help others avoid them.

In line with finding and achieving your purpose, recall this popular phrase from one of the greatest masters that ever lived, Jesus: “You are the light of the world”. You are like a light that when lit, cannot be hidden under a table. A light must shine so that others may benefit from it. By discovering your purpose, you help others discover theirs. There is fulfilment in supporting others to live a beautiful and harmonious life.

Know that your life purpose is independent of other people’s freewill. For example, it would be naïve to think that your purpose is to make someone happy. You cannot control someone’s life and you cannot make them do something against their freewill. We all came into this world alone and will leave alone. No one is responsible for another person’s happiness.

To crown it all, each morning, affirm the following: I am always in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. This powerful affirmation sends out vibrations into the Universe so that things and events will reorganize themselves to bring the right people into your life at the right time, under the right circumstances, to participate in the realization of your life purpose. Life’s purpose is simply that which gives you the fulfilment of having contributed to a greater agenda that is of help to you and other people. When you do this, you do it with joy. Not constrain. Not because someone is asking you to do it. Not because you are afraid to go to a place called ‘hell’. You do it out of pure joy and the awareness that the raison d’être of life is to have joy in it.