In the pursuit of happiness the majority of people fail to recognize one very important aspect and that is the fact that happiness is a relative concept.
Your own happiness and sense of fulfillment is deeply rooted in your spirit and is unique and special to you alone.
Without knowing it, most people pursue goals in life that is handed down to them by society. Things that we all think will make us happy. Money, fame, looking a certain way, having a certain job ec.
Have you ever stopped to really think what it is that you want and what will make you happy?
This will most often be in direct opposition to what others expect of you and even what society and the culture dictates will make you happy.
Finding your true calling in life and to express it in all of who you are is the foundation of living a truly fulfilled life. In many ways this is the reason why we are all here – to express and experience the highest and most sacred part of ourselves.
Discovering your life purpose is ‘deep water’ and only through introspection and maintaining a sense of spirituality about your life can you make contact with this aspect of your Self.
History has left us with plenty of examples of extraordinary people who managed to realise their potential by living their lives on purpose and expressing who they really are.
These are the people that left behind a legacy and managed to advance humanity by simply being themselves.
They key things to remember is that to live your life on purpose does not require you to become something that you are not. It’s simply about looking deep within – looking at your inner most desires, your talents, your passions and then finding ways to express this in service of humanity.
With this in mind, here are three lessons in living your life on purpose from three great people who managed to somehow do it – people who discovered and lived their life purpose. Needless to say, they were all people who left behind a legacy and still inspire us long after they have left.
Lesson 1…
“Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With sufficient passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.”
– VINCENT VAN GOGH
So many people go to work everyday only to make a living. Their lives are driven by a paycheck and even though they hate it, they still do it. It’s true that we all have to make our way in the world, BUT you deserve to make a living doing what you love.
If you have a full time job, then you will spend approximately 70 percent of your waking life at work.
Regardless what your passion in life may be, you can make a living doing it. There is never a lack of support for your passion, but there is almost always a lack of resolve to take the risk and to step up to the ultimate challenge in life: to live on purpose and to become the kind of person you were destined to be.
Lesson 2…
“Where your talents and the needs of the world cross lies your calling.”
– ARISTOTLE
Every last one of your talents came as part of the package called You. Everything that you are good at and everything that you are bad at are part of your purpose. We all have at least one thing that we are great at – something that’s just effortless to you?
By design, these talents speak to us when we express them and often we feel joy when we express them.
When you take these talents and express them to serve humanity, you open yourself up to the abundance of the universe.
Expressing your talents for the sole purpose of sharing yourself and your gifts, you are in harmony with the highest power in the universe and (ironically) you will find that this is when the blessings of life start showering down on you.
Don’t hoard your talents. Don’t deny your talents in favor of what you think you ought to be good at in order to be successful or famous. Express who you are and do it only to help, to serve and to give the gift of You to the world.
Lesson 3…
“I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.”
– THOMAS A. EDISON
Working only to make a living is nothing but slavery. Your purpose will free you.
As long as you are doing something that you do not love, you will never get to experience the true meaning of life and the sense of joy that comes from doing what you love.
Life was meant to be a joyful expression of who you really are. When you are on purpose there is no such thing as ‘work’ and you are able to move beyond the usual categories of life where you have to place different parts of your life in different categories.
