Are you living a life that is full of passion, joy, and meaning? Or, like many people, are you experiencing a Groundhog Day state of limbo and struggling to create your dream life?
As human beings, it’s our dominant driving force to have a meaningful life and find our purpose.
What A Meaningful Life Means
Living life with purpose is an entirely different experience from the one that you’re currently enduring. Although we’ve been led to believe that chasing incentives like money, fame, and status will reward us with the purpose we seek, sadly, most people discover that this achievement only gives you a small amount of happiness, satisfaction, and success.
Why does purpose impact the quality of life, and how do you actually find it?
What Does The Quality Of Life Mean?
Well, life purpose is intrinsically enmeshed with your core self-mastery. Once you find it, you can perfectly align all areas of your life so that you transform your experience into a passionate, joyous, and meaningful life.
Before you can find your purpose in life, you first need to figure out who you are. Without diving deep into self-discovery, you’re unlikely to unearth your true calling in life.
Who Are You?
Unless you were lucky to turn your childhood dreams into your adult reality, you (like most people) have probably grown up focusing on establishing a career, a relationship, and a place within a community. But, unfortunately, in the process of living life, you lost touch with what you dreamed of becoming when you were young.
Your 7 or 8-year old self believed that life is magical and anything is possible. They didn’t worry what other people thought about their wonderfully crazy dreams. But, Unbeknown to you, the child version of you was tapped into your core self and able to identify what makes you tick.
To help you reveal who you really are, it’s helpful to ask yourself questions that inspire, motivate and empower you.
- What sets your heart alight?
- What activity makes you lose all sense of time?
- What gives you a feeling of overwhelming joy?
- What would you be if it was impossible to fail?
As you ponder over these questions, it’s important to clarify why you have the beliefs you do.
- Why are you following the path that you’re presently on?
- What limiting self-beliefs are you holding on to?
- Who do you really want to be?
If you loved to draw and paint as a kid, why did you stop expressing yourself creatively and end up with a career as an accountant? Was it because someone told you that your artistic talents were not good enough?
It’s also worth considering why you gave up your passions early in life and what you swapped them for in adulthood. At some point, your quality of life goals changed, but why? Again, it’s important to understand the reason.
Finally, take a look at your strengths… Make a list of the things you love and what other people compliment you on the most. This could be your ability and willpower to get things done, your integrity, or the fact that you can solve any problem.
All the information you have gathered will help you to rediscover the real you.
Why Meaning And Quality Are Important to You
Life’s purpose’ means different things to different people.
Some people seek to find a meaningful life and purpose in the world of business or contribute to making a difference to the planet’s problems. Others find theirs in creative endeavors or educational or sports pursuits.
Regardless of the self-discovery path, you are walking, and there is one sure thing about ‘purpose’ that everyone agrees on… A life lived with purpose is a life that is in alignment with your beliefs and core values. It’s a life filled with color, positivity, and energy and makes you feel happy and fulfilled.
The primate part of your brain (where all of the thinking is done) knows that it’s essential to have meaning in your life. Without it, every day feels like you’re on a treadmill looking out into a colorless and uninspiring world.
Although there’s no doubt that ‘purpose’ should be entwined with passion and joy, it also needs to have a ‘why’ meaning. When you understand the reason behind why you strive to overcome struggle, relentlessly pursue something, or never give up, you are within touching distance of discovering your meaningful life purpose.
To identify your reason, make a list of:
- The challenges you had to overcome growing up
- The obstacles you have encountered on your career path
- The hurdles you have faced in your relationships and personal life
Are You Happy With Life?
At some point in your life, you’ve likely had the incredible experience of being so absorbed in an activity that hours flew by in no time at all. Being completely lost in the moment is a sign that you’re following your passion.
Your passion is the activity you are doing and the desire to be good at it and keep on improving.
Explore the cognitive learning principles (the acting on what you know) behind the activities you most love and enjoy applying them in new ways in other areas of your life.
If you’re having a hard time trying to figure out what you’re truly passionate about, stop thinking and start doing. Be productive with something every day. You need to do an activity before you can discover how it makes you feel.
Once you have identified where your passion resides, it’s time to throw your core values and strengths into the mix.
Make a list of your:
- Core Values
- Strengths
- Passions
Next, explore how you can combine all three to be of service to others or a cause.
The result = your purpose.
What Can You Do Today To Live A Life With Purpose?
To wake up every morning with a feeling of excitement and joy, anticipating what the day will bring, you need to take action steps towards having a fulfilling life with purpose.
- Create intentional goals that align your daily activities with your core values and beliefs, and your passion and purpose
- Look for ways in which you can make the best use of your time and energy
- Do the things that make you feel good
- Achieve balance by living in the moment