It takes time to realize our life purpose. As we get older and wiser, that realization gets a bit easier.
How do you know if you are living your life purpose?
In my opinion, signs of living one’s life purpose are ease and pure joy within.
Many people do not believe they have lived their life purpose if it is not supported by external metrics such as number of followers, amount of wealth or approvals by friends and family. Imagine trying to be at ease and at the same time controlling chaotic and unpredictable external factors!
What do you think life purpose of beautiful flower is? Is it being the best it can be in its magnificence or worrying about how to attract people to adore its beauty?
What is life purpose of a beautiful flower in a wilderness with nobody there to notice?
Sometimes we confuse the side effect of life purpose with the purpose itself. The flower is noticed because it is living its life purpose not because people adore its life purpose.
The only true metrics for knowing if you are living your life purpose is internal. It is not dependent on how many people appreciate you (they may do it because of your ease and authenticity). If we focus on getting appreciations from others while living our life purpose, we will side track from our life purpose all together.
The internal metrics of checking on life purpose are as follows:
- Am I following my heart?
- Am I honest with myself?
- Am I enjoying what I am doing?
- Do I have attachment to how people judge success of my life purpose? (If yes- it is a red flag)
Remember, following your life purpose is easy and enjoyable.
The most difficult task of living your life purpose is awareness to challenge old habits and programs on how one should measure life purpose’s success.
Copyright .2018 by Shervin Hojat
As part of my doctoral program, I was asked to clearly state my purpose in life. I made it broad and simple: "To do something beneficial for humankind."
As a result, I have lived a life trying to do the best I can to help people think on a higher plane about their lives and what they are doing. Now, in retirement, I find that I can best inspire people through my writing.
Ron