GRC garden view
New Years Resolutions come and go – they last for the first fifteen days of January while the spirit of newness is still in the air, but as soon as that dissipates so does the promise we made to ourselves. ‘Purpose’ on the other hand stays, lives and breathes on.
Your purpose has to come from deep within your soul. Making a commitment to lose some calories and jogging around the block every morning is not exactly your ‘purpose’ in life. But respecting your body, self, time and energy are – after all a healthy body can be of more service to the world than a weak one.
If you are not living your purpose then someone else is. But not to worry; in life there is always room for more… more craftsmen, more artists, more musicians, more inventors, more scientists, more happy people! We just need a little determination and courage and we can be doing what our heart is truly set on.
The aim is not to create, but to detect your purpose. The questions below have been derived from a few sources: personal enquiry, a book called The Path by Laurie Beth Jones and Brian Bacon’s Self Management Leadership Module. Play some soft music, sit quietly and see what answers appear before you.
Look at your lifeline up to this point of time and note down what have been the main motivating themes or preoccupations at each stage. Example. Ages 6 – 12 years: Need for love and recognition. Ages 13 – 18: Quest for identity and adventure. Ages 19 – 30: Pursuit of Wealth and Importance. Ages 30 – 40: Search for meaning and understanding. etc.
Now define the present stage of your life. Example ‘Consolidation of New Learning’ or maybe ‘Confusion and Abandonment’, ‘Search for Truth’ or perhaps ‘Winning at Last’.
What do you sense is the next step for you right now? What do you feel is the next important phase in your life?
When you look back at the bleakest or darkest moments of your life, what was it that enabled you to get through them?
When you look at the highest peaks, the best periods of your life, what was especially working for you then? What qualities or talents were you exercising at that time?
If you only had six months to live how would you spend those six months?
If you became an instant millionaire what would you do differently than what you are doing today?
What have you always wanted to do, but have been afraid to attempt?
When you think of yourself, what image immediately comes to your mind? And now draw that image. Perhaps you see yourself like an eagle, or a bridge, or a lighthouse, a punching bag, or a doormat!
One of the reasons we don’t recognize our gifts as gifts is because they seem so natural to us. What is the gift you bring to the world to share with everyone?
Hopefully answering some of the above questions will give you insights as to where you are at currently and where you should be heading in the New Year.
Finding your purpose means you have found your joy to live. It has been well documented that when children leave home to attend university, mothers lose a sense of purposefulness. Or if one partner in a marriage dies, the other loses his will to live as well. We must create a purpose independent of others for it to have a deeper personal meaning, one that does not hinge on or depend on the purpose of people closest to us.
It’s time… before the New Year to take stock of our lives and to take a deeper look at our patterns of behavior and whether we are really living out the purpose we were born to fulfill. Purpose gives life and meaning to the soul – a new sense of survival. With this new discovery, we will be energized, motivated and excited. The New Year will be so much more meaningful if we have taken all these important steps before cracking open the champagne!
© Aruna Ladva 2012 (www.ArunaLadva.org)
