Living a more fulfilled life is not about having more ‘stuff’ or achieving more but having a deeper sense of knowing that life is joy and that ultimately your life is aligned with your purpose.
Living a more fulfilled life is about knowing that you are contributing, making a difference and touching other people’s lives in a positive and uplifting way.
We are all in pursuit of happiness. In some shape or form we are constantly moving towards what we believe will make us happy, either in the short or in the long term.
You might say that we are designed for happiness and since the beginning of time human beings devised countless ways and means of creating happiness.
“The important question is not what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.”
– JOSEPH ADDISON
For the majority of us, happiness comes in the form of what we call success; by achieving certain ‘things’ that we believe will make us happy.
We live in a culture where the trappings of success is running rampant. Ironically we can see the so-called icons of our time, who appears to have everything, dealing with immense inner struggles.
We tend to pursue the symbols of success whereas what we really crave for is that inner feeling of being a successful human being.
Dignity does not consist in possessing honours, but in deserving them.
– Aristotle
Aristotle noted that true success lies not in possessing things, but in that inner knowing that you deserve it.
This knowing is a deep inner conviction that is the cornerstone of living a truly happy and fulfilled life.
When you are fulfilled your life is one of the deepest joy because you feel like your life is fully worth living and that you are fulfilling a greater purpose. You feel that you are realizing the reason why you came here.
With the pursuit of the symbols of success we tend to get trapped by the belief that we will be happy in some future time ‘when’ I have the perfect job or the money, or the relationship or the health.
To be truly happy we need to detach ourselves from events and circumstances and learn to live our lives on purpose – and to find happiness within.
This can be easier said than done, especially when you are trapped in a relationship you hate, or a job you hate or with a body you hate.
We can look at this in 4 categories of experience and many of us move in and out of them throughout our lifetime.
An awareness of these categories can help us to come to the realization that we are never stuck and that there’s always another way.
The First Category is When You Do What You Hate:
On a deep level we all know what we love and what we hate. Yet, so many people are stuck in careers that they hate or stay in relationships with people they will never be in harmony with.
In this category, you know that you hate it, but still you do it and often you have ‘good reasons’ to do so. The truth is that as long as you are in this category you will never be happy because you know that what you are doing is something you hate.
The Second Category is to Hate What You Do:
You might be doing something you quite like, but somehow that are things you don’t like about it and consequently you hate doing it.
The problem is not with what you are doing, but in the actual doing. You might be in a relationship with someone you love, but still you hate it. You might be doing something you love(ed) but you hate doing it.
The Third Category is to Love What You Do:
We’ve all met people in some of the worse jobs ever who seem to always be happy. These are people who have learned a secret to life which is to love what you do, regardless of what you are doing.
No matter what you do in life, there will always be aspects of it that you dislike. Learning to love what you do eliminates almost all problems. This is an attitude and a mindset that is ultimately responsible for happiness.
The Fourth Category is to Do What You Love:
Although we all know what we hate, somehow it seems much harder to find what we love to do. Doing what you love is probably the greatest gift you can give to yourself and one that will reward you with life’s deepest joy which is true fulfilment.
We all find ourselves in one or more of these categories in different areas of our lives and we are constantly moving in and our of these categories as our experience of life shifts.
It’s very useful to analyse your life according to these four categories as it can help you to get on the life path called fulfilment.
True fulfilment can only come from a life path where you love what you do, and do what you love. Until and unless you reach this point you will never live life at the highest level.
Here are the 5 timeless principles of living a more fulfilled life:
1. You Are Utterly Unique
Realise that you are unique and special and that you have a higher purpose in life. You are not an accident. You are here for a reason and part of your mission is to find out why you are here.
By just being yourself you are already unique and special. Don’t try an imitate or be what you think you should be to reach success or achieve something.
Those who are the highest achievers – who achieve beyond success are those who are simply focussed on being themselves.
2. Find your bliss
Find what you love in life and do it. Do it as often as possible and be kind to yourself by doing that which brings you inner joy.
Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.
Joseph Campbell
You may not (yet) have the privilege of doing it full time for ‘a job’ but that should not matter. If you truly find your bliss in doing something you simply won’t be able to avoid it.
You will feel an inner calling to do it. Don’t try and silence this inner calling. Do it!
3. Love what you do
Doing what you love is only one half of the story. You still have to love what you do and this is an attitude.
Even if you are doing something you hate, you can still love doing it and once you do this you start to shift the focus of your life and more of what you do love will start showing up.
Love is something that you bring to everything you do. This is a fundamental choice you have to make in your life and it will permeate every aspect of your life.
4. Keep growing and expanding
Without continual growth and the expansion of yourself you will soon get bored and start ‘hating what you do’. Personal growth is an essential ingredient in being fulfilled.
Don’t allow others to prescribe your happiness for you. Listen to that still small voice within that only you can hear. Ultimately you are the only one that can make yourself happy.
5. Giving and Sharing
The greatest sense of fulfilment does not come from accumulating or serving yourself and your own needs.
It comes from serving others. Every great success does this to some extent.
Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.
– Tony Robbins
This also calls on your to create a fundamental shift within yourself. When you start thinking about and looking for ways to be of service, then everything you think and does look different.
