Finding Yourself is what the mythologist and author, Joseph Campbell, called “finding your bliss” or your life purpose. Our purpose is that interesting zone where three circles meet in a Venn Diagram.
Circle #1: What you care about.
Circle #2: What you’re good at.
Circle #3: What the world needs.
Purpose blends our passions and abilities with service to others. If we seek fulfillment, everything we do, from the way we make love to our work, must be aligned with our life purpose. When we express our unique talents and use them in the service of others, we lose track of time and create abundance.
When we don’t know what we care about or the gifts we’re here to give, our lives feel hollow, empty and aimless. We feel adrift in the world. If we do something that pays the bills but is disconnected from what we care most about, our work feels like an empty way of spending our time to earn a wage. Life feels flat, uninspired and disconnected from meaning.
Some of us know our purpose and live it, but for most, however, it lies hidden within. Most of us fail to recognize the significance of those occasional moments when we feel “on purpose.” In such moments we feel alive with passion. We’re in the flow. We’re giving our gifts, and they are well-received. Unfortunately, we often let such moments go without paying them much heed. If we gave them the attention they deserved, we’d begin to unravel a thread of purpose that has been with us for as long as we can remember.
If we explore the thread of purpose throughout our lifetime by noting the moments in our lives where we felt connected, in the flow, alive and serving the greater good, we will begin to sense patterns. We will see that, to some degree or another, we have always been fulfilling a kind of purpose. We simply have not been giving it the appreciation it deserves. In a way, we have been sitting on a treasure that we have failed to acknowledge. If we valued our unique contribution, letting them inform our decisions and commitments, our lives and the work we would do in the world would take on a higher meaning.
When we know our life purpose, we know the gifts we are here to give. Defining what we are here to contribute helps clarify what and who to focus on and eliminates aimlessness. We don’t have to keep saying yes to career opportunities that feel like dead-ends and that do not allow us to express our unique talents. Instead, we can stay focused on what we care about and the people and circumstances we are here to affect. Like our heartfelt intentions, knowing our life purpose makes everything so much clearer.
Life Purpose Exercise
One of the best ways to discover your purpose is to explore the following three questions:
What am I passionate about?
What unique gifts and qualities do I possess?
Who or what am I am here to impact positively?
Once you’ve responded to these questions, it can help to ask a few friends the same questions about you:
What do see me being passionate about?
What unique gifts and qualities do I possess?
Who or what do you believe I am here to impact positively?