Finding Your Life's Purpose

 “Your time is limited; don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

In essence, nearly all people work towards an ultimate goal towards being happy in life. With such a simple and beautiful thought that can help you achieve your dreams and ambitions, why is it that being happy is still a farfetched idea for some of us?

Often we convince ourselves that life will be better after we have graduated from college, or sincerely dedicated ourselves to a job that we truly enjoy, or get married and so on – the cycle can be endless. In doing so, not only are you escaping from the beauty of the small moments life has to offer, but you are delaying your happiness – from experiencing blissful happiness right now AND even in the future!

Sit back. Close your eyes. Breathe. Think again.

If this is true, do you feel like your life so far has not been as fulfilling as you imagined it to be? What is it that you should do in your life? This is a powerful question most of us ask ourselves at some point in life.

Well instead of burying yourself with a vulnerable feeling of doubt and uncertainty, ACT NOW. There’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, then when?
The power to unleash your happiness is within yourself. You’ve heard that one before.

Find your purpose, do what you love to do the most, live with passion, search for what gives your life meaning. It's about being in tune with who you really are because having a purpose in your life is almost like a spiritual experience.

For starters, it is common for people to associate their life as an equation with their jobs (Life = Job). Letting go of your personal interests, pursuing a hobby or even dedicating time for yourself can be such a self damaging act in the long run. Let’s change that equation to Life = Risk. Live your life, explore your passions.  It’s okay to take risks along the way and learn from challenges that come with them. It will only lead you to grow into a beautiful human being brimming with experiences of a life lived fully.

As the Bhagvad Gita quotes “It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection"

To avoid landing yourself in such a rut of not finding time, first off on your check list should be to prioritise and re-define yourself by WHO you are vs. WHAT you do.

Think about it and ask yourself these core questions. Both these circumstances speak volumes about your personal sense of identity. When faced with the question, “What do you do?” most people automatically respond by stating their 9 to 5 occupation. Wouldn’t it be nicer if you tell people who you really are rather or what you enjoy doing the most, rather than automatically reciting your job title? You’ll be surprised at the impact that it can have while interacting with other people with varying interests and tastes. And it will surely leave you smiling with a huge sense of satisfaction every time.

You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”  - Steve Jobs

How often have you been a victim of consideration between:

a)    being employed by working your mundane job, which may not give you the satisfaction or the motivation to work at your desk but gives you the security of a steady monthly income

Or

b)    Kick-starting a fantastic business proposal that you have been developing over sometime, giving you a sense of achievement, leadership, innovation amongst other superlative merits;  but not actually putting these plans into action owing to lack of initiative or that driving force!

It has been my observation that so many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security. However, you have to take risks and allow the unexpected wonders to happen...only then will we understand the miracle of life fully. A calculated risk of course, not irrational ones, for there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

The truth is, we see in life what we want to see. If you want to find fault with other people, your career, or the world in general, you'll certainly be able to do so. But the opposite is also true. Depending on your perspective, if you search for the ugliness or beauty in anything, you'll find plenty of it – that’s for sure.

Of course, it’s easier said than done. Now that we know the destination...the path isn't impossible to find. So ask yourself, understand what is it that you are seeking for, fine tune that intuition and follow your gut feeling. Whatever it is, procrastination isn’t going to get you anywhere! Go ahead, lift your spirits and embrace today as a gift from God, that's why we call it the PRESENT.

You are the storyteller of your own life and you can create the legend or not.

Mahek Shahani  J

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