There are many clues we can look to when it comes to discovering your purpose. We can learn to know our talents and skills or better understand a cause we are drawn to.
Maybe there is a certain kind of suffering of mankind we want to alleviate. Even asking yourself powerful questions such as “when you have finished your life on earth, what do you want there to be more of?” Which is what Richard N. Bolles author of What Color is Your Parachute likes to pose. He viewed this as the main question you can ask yourself to reveal the answer.
A professor at Yale School of Management and a leading scholar on meaning at work said that she notices a great deal of anxiety with her students and clients. They believe they must have a strong feeling to be called to a career. “They think their calling is under a rock,” she said, “and that if they turn over enough rocks, they will find it.” If this doesn’t happen they may feel like something is missing and that they will never find a job that will satisfy them.
While we can examine how we fit into a life based on our design and interest, there is one common element a life with purpose must-have. Studies show that it doesn’t need to feel like a strong calling but it does need to be a feeling of SERVICE.
Even a common job such as cleaning homes can be purposeful if you see your job as a way to help others. In this way, it’s more about your mindset. In fact, a big part of the work that Mother Teresa did was bringing servants together to help clean the homes of the poor.
Some people tend to feel a strong calling for some professions such as ministry or even zoo keepers but others struggle with these questions. Emily Esfahani author of The Power of Meaning, says “Not all of us will find our calling. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find purpose.”
Service is the key ingredient for everyone that has a sense of purpose in life? Martin Luther King and many of the best thought leaders and psychologists all say the same thing. “Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living” as stated by Albert Einstein.
You may not ever feel a strong calling but by putting aside some of your interests and focusing on the needs of others a feeling of purpose can be found in serving others.
Julie Allen is a Dream Career and Life Coach in the Seattle area. She helps young professional and open minded individuals find meaning and purpose so they can live a more fulfilling life. Sign up for her free monthly Life tips at www.thestorymakers.net.
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