Jul 28 2008
Finding Your “Forever Purpose”
Last week’s Question of the Week addressed the idea of the “forever job”, by which I mean a job that is aligned with your purpose and is a perfect fit for you, now and always. When I answered the question, I noted that–while I’m not convinced that there’s a “forever job” out there for me–I do believe that I have a “forever purpose”, a single message that I’m here to express in this life. Put simply, my message is “You can do it!”–or more accurately, “WE can do it!” (After all, I want to help me too!)
I think most of us could reduce our life message to a single word. For me, it would be “empowerment”. For you, it might be compassion, growth, honor, passion, justice, joy, mystery, strength, empathy, or… well, you get it. The possibilities are endless!
Here are a few ideas to help you hone in on your “forever purpose”:
- Identify three words that resonate with you when you think about your purpose in life. Check out Steve Pavlina’s list of values for inspiration. My three words would be Empowerment, Creative Expression (for my fellow sticklers, yes, I’m counting that as one word for the purposes of this exercise), and Contribution.
- Define those words. Look them up in a dictionary if you must, but better yet, write your own definition to capture what those concepts mean to YOU.
- Empowerment: To me, empowerment means helping others and myself come to believe that we truly can do anything we set our minds to, and recognize that the only limits we have are the ones we set for ourselves. It means reclaiming our true Power, the power we’ve always had even if we’ve forgotten about it.
- Creative Expression: Creative expression refers to a way of communicating that makes concepts more concrete, facilitates understanding, and affects attitudes by involving the emotions as well as the intellect.
- Contribution: Contribution means giving back. Plain and simple.
- Identify the what, the how, and the why. My “what” is my message–empowerment. It’s what I want to communicate to the world. My “how” is my medium–creative expression, which for me, means some form of writing. My “why” is my motivation–contribution. I truly want to help others and give something back to the world.
Now, unfortunately, knowing your what, how, and why doesn’t magically “fix” everything. We still have to figure out how to incorporate those concepts into our lives and how to get from point A (where we are) to point B (where we want to be), but it’s an important step on the path to living a purposeful life.
Have you identified your what, how, and/or why? Please comment or email me to share!
This article was included in the Personal Hack Personal Development Carnival–be sure to check out the other great articles!
Clarity, expression, impact.
youre always so timely for me.
Ive been working on my words…
Hmmm, I’m not sure what mine would be.
Off the top of the dome, they would be:
strength, creativity, change
I think “service” would be one of mine. Not sure about the other 2, though.
Interesting…initially I read the post and thought I knew what my three would be, however once I read the article and printed the list(per your link) I noticed the words that jumped off the page were anything but what I thought originally. As I worked to put them into an order I realized that one word held a different words meaning for me, such as acceptance = love. I have always felt ‘loved’ if I felt accepted, I mean whole heartedly accepted without any false front.
It is easy to spout off a few words, but to actually see them in print gives them a whole new meaning. I’m had never quite looked at it that way.
My 3: acceptance, independance, learning