Are you Living Purposefully?

One of the ways in which we can live a fulfilled life is to ensure that we are living on purpose. To live life on purpose is to discover what you were created to do and to do it with passion.
Celes of www.personalexcellence.com  has correctly observed that when you lead a passionate life you are living life on purpose. She argues that Passion + Daily Action = Purposeful Life. Many people have defined a life purpose simply as a message you wish to drive in the world during your existence here on earth. What do you want to be remembered for?

To say that each of us regardless of our sex, race or background has a calling to fulfill here on earth is not cliche. This is because scripture says \”we are God\’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.\” This verse points to and confirms the fact that we each have a specific purpose to fulfill in our lifetime.

Some of the rewards of living a purposeful life are:

1. You gain clarity about the direction your life needs to take. When you live with purpose you are clear about what it is that you want your life to be about. In addition, a purpose acts as the criterion upon which you base all the major decisions concerning your life.
2. Living purposefully inevitably generates happiness. This is because you are able to define success. This saves you from accepting all the definitions of success the world throws at you; which in most cases are superficious and discourage instead of inspiring you on the journey of life.

 You Need to Do The Work

People who have done the work and discovered their life purpose attest to the fact that they are having their cake and eating it at the same time. This is because they are able to do the things that bring them joy and satisfaction and in some cases, generate income along the way .

Although the soul aim of discovering your life\’s purpose need not be to make \’big\’ money, your life purpose should be able to provide a means of sustainence.

The key therefore is to ensure you establish the point at which your skills and abilities (which often makeup our purpose) intersect with the needs of society so that you can profit from your purpose. Although you are bound to encounter some ups and downs as you live out your purpose, the fulfillment that you get everyday makes it all worthwhile.

In order to establish your life\’s purpose you need to begin by establishing what your values and the principles upon which you anchor your life are.
The road to discovering a life purpose is one most people are afraid to take. This is mainly because it entails going into the depth of our core beings. The late Stephen Covey called this going into your Deep Inner Life where you explore your motives and examine your thoughts and desires.

The Four Human Endowments 

According to Covey, as you go into the deep inner life, you need to tap into the four human endowments which are:
1. Self awareness: it is the ability to examine our paradigms (lens in which we view things) and determine whether they are real and based on sound principles or if they are as a result of set conditions.

2. Conscience: it is the deep inner awareness of what is right and wrong. It is our consciousness that we can rely on to help us discover who exactly we are and what principles we anchor our lives on.

3. Creative Imagination : it is the ability to create in our minds something that is beyond our current reality. Effectively using our creative imagination is what will paint the picture of what we desire our ideal life to be.

4. Independent Will: it is the ability to act based on our self-awareness free of all other influences. It is important that you ensure that your life purpose is personal to you and resonates with who you are as a person and captures your skills, abilities and other personal attributes.

The Discovery Process

The internet is awash with exercises that you can use to discover your life\’s purpose. What is important is to remember that the process is a journey to be taken with a lot of patience and reflection.

A good amount of introspection is also needed in order to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. Perhaps that is why Lysa Terkeurst has correctly noted that \”finding our life\’s purpose does not come in one assignment with a big title and complete job description. Discovering our purpose unfolds slowly, it is more like a seed planted  deep in the ground\”.

 

In closing, it is imperative to note that life purposes come to us in all forms; to some people it maybe a certain profession or career while others it is a way of being.

What matters is to always remember that although as human beings \”we make our plans it is only the LORD\’s purposes that prevail\”. This in essence means that you should treat the exercise of discovering your life\’s purpose as a sacred one to ensure that the end result is actually a purpose that God created you to fulfill.