Why is it important to live your life purpose? This might seem like a straightforward question with a clear answer, but it isn’t. Certainly, it’s important to live your life purpose so that you can be fulfilled. But what exactly does that mean? And how do you ensure that you live your life purpose?
What is life purpose?
Let’s start by talking about what life purpose is.
Life purpose is what you came here to this earth intending to do. It’s something that you decided on even before you arrived–your soul, that is. Because your life purpose is tied into your soul purpose. And your soul purpose is all about growth and expansion and learning and understanding in myriad ways.
We all have life purposes
We all have a life purpose, and in many cases, life purposes. And we all come to know those life purposes in different ways at different times in lives. Our life purposes always feed our souls. It’s a cycle which involves tapping into life purpose and then living into the life purpose and then feeding our souls and propelling our soul journeys.
Some people are simply born knowing their life purpose. You know the type. They have been playing the piano since they were 5, and now they are a renowned pianist who entertains people throughout the world. Or they have always been good at soothing people who are sick and are now a doctor saving lives.
What is my life purpose?
But what about those of us who aren’t quite sure what our life purpose is? It’s hard to live it, if we don’t know what it is.
Let’s consider first what life purpose isn’t. Life purpose isn’t being something–like a movie or sports star. Life purpose isn’t necessarily being good at something. However, your life purpose could very well be what you do with what you’re good at.
Let me give you an example.
If you are good at making people laugh, then your life purpose could be to lighten people’s moods and ease their burdens and make them feel better. Or say that you have always been good at fixing just about anything. Perhaps your life purpose is to fix things so that people can live productive lives.
So now that you know what life purpose is and isn’t, let’s talk about some ways that you could determine your life purpose. Here are some questions that will help you do that.
What to ask yourself to determine your life purpose:
- What do I really love to do? What makes my heart sing? What do I like to do that if I did it everyday wouldn’t feel like a single drop of “work?”
- What do other people say that I’m good at? What do they praise me for being able to do? What do they enjoy that I do? What do they find comfort in that I do?
- What have I thought I might be here to do? In those quiet moments, what have I suspected I came here to do and to be? We often know our life purpose, and may always have secretly known it. It just may be that we thought our life purpose had to be more complicated or more work. When the answer has been right in front of us all along.
- If I could do and be whatever I wanted to be, what would it be? And what do I think the purpose of doing and being that would be? That will tell me my life purpose.
Now that we’ve unearthed your life purpose, let’s talk about why living your life purpose is so important. We touched on this a bit in the beginning when we discussed how our life purpose is tied into growth and expansion of our Soul.
Soul purpose = life satisfaction
When you think about it, if our soul isn’t being fed in some way, then we aren’t satisfied at a soul level. As a result, life won’t feel satisfying. Yes, we can go about our business and get things done and even enjoy ourselves along the way, but we won’t be truly content at a soul level. There will always be that missing ingredient in our lives.
So if you have been feeling as if something is missing in your life–as if you are not doing something you’re supposed to be doing–then it is likely that you haven’t been living into your life purpose.
As I mentioned before, there is no need to fret about the fact that you haven’t been living into your life purpose. We all start on our life purpose journeys when it is time for us to do so. For some it may start at birth–though that is rare. It is more likely that we start on our soul purpose once we’ve done some living. For some people that could be during college or when we embark on our careers or start families, while for others it could take decades.
Just know that when it is time to venture along your life purpose path, you will know. And you will make the journey with purpose and passion.
Dr. Dowling has spent years helping people live richer, more joyful lives. She has seen firsthand the magical pairing of psychology and life coaching, which allows people to access their happiest selves.
View Dr. Dowling's articles on Mindbodygreen
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