Your Sense of Purpose

If you were lucky enough to find purpose early in life, you’re blessed. If you’re still looking, you’re not alone. Living a life of purpose – living fully in focus instead of living to achieve outcomes – is the path to a joyful heart.

I remember as a young girl thinking that I was meant to do something important. I didn’t know what it was and it drove me nuts. Each time I considered what I would do for a career, this thought of my ‘important’ thing would pop up and I’d thing, “No, that’s not it.”

I didn’t find out what “it” was until I stopped focusing on me and started focusing on other people. When I turned from looking for a career to helping people understand something they struggled desperately with, everything changed.

You can’t find purpose if you’re solely focused on YOU. To find purpose you must turn outwards, you must look for ways in which you can service a larger good. And then you must do.

While so many people measure success by performance and achievement, it’s a shallow outcome. Living every minute fully – enjoying your breathing, your seeing, your smelling, and your doing – is success. Stuff, which often dominates the lives of people who haven’t yet found purpose, comes to mean very little when your life has purpose.

My first step-daughter was over for lunch. Daughter to my Husband #2, we hadn’t seen each other in a while and she hadn’t yet been to visit My Little House. She looked around at my very simple life said, “You really believe in all this don’t you.” You betcha I do.

Mostly my simplicity springs from the fact that I know my purpose and I’m determined to live it fully. I am a teacher. I’ve taught a lot about money, but I’m not done yet. I also want to help people understand that life is as beautiful as they want to make it. I want to help them come to terms with the powerful force within them that will help them overcome their challenges and embrace their greatness. (No, we’re not all meant to be rocket scientists, but we all have something we can be great at.)

I’ve always believed that I can do anything that I make up my mind to do. And that’s what I want people to learn from me: Whatever you truly desire, picture it, work hard and you can make it real.

If you then take your knowledge and skills and use them to serve, you’ll have found purpose.