Ignite Your Soul

Living Your Purpose

Are you living your true purpose or are you living someone else’s? Or are you just reacting to what happens during the day?

Do you want to do what’s most important for your journey during this life?

What Is Living Your Purpose

When you know your purpose in life, you feel an incredible joy. It’s easy to wake up and get going on your day. Plus, those problems that used to stop you before are just small pebbles to be stepped over.

When you’re living your purpose, you are becoming the best you that you can.

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

Living your life’s purpose isn’t the same question we were asked constantly when were were growing up.

It may be that we choose a career or life path that works well with our life purpose, but they don’t have to be one and the same.

You Can’t Please Everyone

Many of us live our lives trying to keep everyone around us happy at the expense of our own true happiness. We’re so busy setting up our lives based on others’ expectations that we never discover that beautiful spark within us.

The path for finding our true purpose won’t be easy. It’s like if you chose to change your diet for better health. There will always be those people who will question your decision and try to get you back into their pigeonhole of expectations.

When you set out to find your life purpose, you hold yourself, your set of beliefs, your values, your likes and your interests as your top priority.

Finding Meaning In Your Life

Your journey will have confusion as well as some misunderstanding and lots of doubt along the way.

It’s important to meditate and journal as you reflect upon choices you’ve made over the years. Ask yourself if you would make the same decision if you knew then what you know now.

You’re doing a deep cleaning of the mind. Dare I joke about doing a Konmari of your mind?

Where to Start

First, start to live your life more consciously. With every task and decision that you make, ask yourself what the purpose is.

Then start to evaluate what brings you genuine happiness. Certain tasks must get done or else we wouldn’t have any clean clothes to wear or meals to eat.

But take an objective view of the rest of your life. Maybe you take great joy in doing research or in writing blog posts.

What activities make time stop because you’re enjoying it so much?

What Do You Stick With?

Are there certain activities or hobbies or thoughts that keep popping up throughout your life?

Is there anything in your life that you enjoyed so much that you kept sticking with it as you mastered it even when things got tough?

For example, an artist has to be confident enough to handle rejection or criticism. It doesn’t make hearing it any easier. But if their purpose is to express themselves through their art, then they have to learn how to push past the discomfort to achieve their goal.

Think about what brings you absolute joy. Even if it’s reading books. Maybe your purpose is to write reviews to share your love (or dislike) of a book with others.

Then maybe that morphs into volunteering at a library helping build the love of learning in other people. Or perhaps you teach reading to others.

There are many ways to express your true purpose.

Happiness Vs Fulfillment

Is there a difference?

Well, yes. When you’re living your purpose, you feel happy because you’re fulfilling your soul’s needs.

You have a better sense of the meaning of your life.

Things to Avoid

When you’re living your purpose, you have better clarity and focus. You know better what your boundaries are, and how your values are defined.

You need to be aware that it won’t be easy. Here are some of the most common pitfalls.

Living Someone Else’s Purpose

You’re an adult, and it’s time you lived your life. It’s time to let go of your family’s expectations and societal influence.

What if your purpose is to be the next genius like Steve Jobs or Albert Einstein but you stick with a job that’s not fulfilling nor creative because you don’t want to disappoint someone?

I do understand having responsibilities. And you don’t want to throw the good out with the bad.

Spend some time finding out what you enjoy and what are other people’s opinions. Then you’re making a conscious decision to stay rather then a reaction out of fear. You’ll find yourself feeling happier.

Low Self-Esteem

If you think you don’t deserve to be happy or live a good life, you should go read my articles on Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence.

You absolutely do deserve to be happy and fulfilled. You have a spark of divinity within that should be shining brightly.

Getting Distracted

Often we decide on one thing to master, and it starts to get difficult. That’s when we have to be careful of the Bright Shiny Object Syndrome.

We see someone else mastering their purpose and we think that we should give up our purpose and try to achieve theirs.

Remember, we don’t know all the hard work that went in to their mastery. We have to learn how to stay focused on our true purpose and push through.

As with all things in life, as we “level up,” we will keep running into new areas we need to master. We will keep making mistakes, and that’s when we need to dig in and truly focus on the end result of living our most passionate life.

Thinking Mistakes Are Bad

Don’t let yourself stop along your path because you made a mistake. If embarrassment stops you, then maybe you need to reflect on if you’re working towards your true purpose.

If you are, then it’s time to focus on how the mistake is just part of learning and mastering your purpose.

My Final Thoughts

We see people all around us who have no sense of direction or purpose. They have no idea what’s truly important to them. Instead they make things important that really aren’t.

It’s time to turn away from negativity in the world. The best way to counter that is by being positive and living our best life. We were placed on this Earth to find our meaning, and then achieve it.

That is the best way to ignite our souls.

And I think we should help others where we can by being supportive and happy for their achievements.

I learned a new word today – Mudita. It’s essentially finding the joy in someone else’s good fortune. Imagine what this world would be like if we encouraged others to succeed instead of being jealous and pulling people down when they are successful?

So go out there and spend some time finding and refining your purpose. Then go live consciously and help others find their purpose.

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