How to find your Life Purpose

Do you ever feel a total emptiness inside as if something is missing and you can’t work out what it is?

I’m not talking about the feeling you get when you have experienced a loss or maybe a shock, I mean a feeling that can’t be explained and won’t go away, no matter how much you try to get on with things.

The feeling of emptiness inside is a way of telling us that we are off-course and not leading the life that we want to live. It is highlighting the importance of getting on track to find the things that give you happiness – your purpose.

When you ask people what their purpose in life is, ie what gets them out of bed in the morning, I would say that the majority of people have no idea how to answer.

I know it’s different for everybody but I don’t believe that purpose has to be a calling, although I appreciate that some people do experience this. I believe that there is not ‘one thing’ that we are meant to be doing, it is a whole bunch of things, sometimes over a period of time and sometimes all at once, as in a portfolio career.

Some people know from a very young age that they want to do a particular job or live a certain way and they structure their entire life to get them one step nearer to their life purpose. Other people go through life without thinking about their purpose, maybe not ever really questioning it or knowing what they want to do or achieve.

If you aren’t sure what your purpose is, here are just a few starter questions that you could ask yourself:

• Who am I?
• What do I do?
• Who do I do it for?
• Does it energise me?
• What are the things I love doing?
• Am I doing enough of the things I love?

If the answer to the last question is no, start to take some steps to do more of what you love.

You know how both your head and your heart help you make decisions? Finding your purpose is definitely one for your heart. It’s all about finding out what your passions are, taking actions to make sure you include them in your life and through that, you will connect with your purpose.

There is a lovely quote from Mark Twain that says: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Finding your passion and taking action to do the things that you enjoy is leading a purposeful life and I think your whole being hinges on this. When you no longer have the feeling that something is missing, you have found your purpose.