“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” The quote by Viktor Frankl best describes why it is important to have a purpose in life. A person goes through several phases in their life. In each of them, life comes with its different challenges and obstacles. What should a person do in the face of them? Give up? No.
Rather they should find and embrace their purpose. A purpose is like a beacon at the end of the tunnel. But it’s not always easy for everyone to find this beacon. Let’s look at the importance of having a purpose in life and how to find them.
Significance of Knowing Purpose in Life
Why is it important to know the purpose of life? Rather than this, ask why is it not? A close look at a person’s life shows that almost all the decisions, choices, actions, and feelings are somehow inadvertently linked to a certain goal or want in life. This want for something can be termed as the purpose of life.
It’s important to find purpose in life in order to make it more meaningful. There are two ways to go about life. A person can either have a purpose or live life as it comes. In both of these cases, the person will go through the same highs and lows of life. However, having a purpose determines how the highs and lows will affect his or her life.
A person with a purpose will see the lows of life as a lesson, or a point to start over again to strive for the best. On the contrary, a person with no purpose will only dive into despair from the low points. Purpose changes how a person perceives situations and scenarios.
A purpose in life makes a person more confident and helps them to find a place in this world. Self-realization and the valuation of self-worth give a clear path forward to a person. They understand better where they belong and who can aid in their self-development process.
Not just self-development, having a purpose also makes choices easier for a person. A person without a purpose will constantly hover over the options at hand to understand which one works best for them. However, the choice becomes much easier for those who have purposes as they know what they want or what aligns with their life goals.
Tips to Find Purpose in Life
There are countless ways to find purpose in life. Here’s a round-up of some of the best ways to do so.
Listen to Feedback
Finding a purpose is easier said than done. Whenever a person tries to find what works for them and what doesn’t, it tends to lead to confusion only. A great alternative can be to listen to people.
Generally, feedback is a great way to understand what a person is good at. Can’t decide on the calling? Listen to what people have to say. From the feedback, it is possible to notice a pattern of what a person excels in. This can be a great way to kick off the purpose hunt. However, it would be wise for an individual to count feedback of the experienced and erudite persons in his or her field.
Find Positive People
Positive mindset and attitude are the key elements to a positive lifestyle. And one of the best ways to find purpose is to look for positivity, especially in the form of people. The people one hangs around with are an indication of what sort of influence one might get from them.
For instance, a group of pessimistic friends can do nothing but drive down the zeal of a person to try something new and innovative. In such cases, the individual should change his or her circle. Furthermore, the person should try to get surrounded with positive-minded people who will hoist up and inspire that person to be free from external worries.
The best way to find purpose is through self-reflection. Because let’s be honest, a positive circle or feedback won’t do you much good if someone is not taking the basic step for himself or herself. And the best way to achieve self-reflection is through reading books.
It can be any type of book that interests you. Whether getting lost in the world of Murakami or finding ideas in the self-help books of Carnegie, the choices are limitless. However, what matters here is the outtake.
The self-reflection attained through reading books not only helps one to understand the world around better; but also makes one understand oneself in a more comprehensive way.
Be an Altruist
It might not seem like much at first, but there’s a close connection between self-help and helping others. Just like a person works to better themselves, helping others in the same process will instill humility, appreciation and induce thoughts about the ways of life. These actions can act as a trigger to find the purpose of life.
Start by helping out the neighbor. Then expand to the local community. The connection built in the process can easily motivate a person to find his or her purpose in life and constantly strive for the best self.
Accepting Setbacks
Setbacks are part of life. Those who let setbacks get the better out of them, are essentially letting the bad times get the best out of them.
Setbacks aren’t just there when people are looking to find their purposes, it’s also something that keeps them from embarking on the journey to find purpose. The setbacks can be a 9 to 5 job or routine life that is constraining free-thinking and obstructing people from doing what they love. It might not be something negative, to begin with, yet it inadvertently works against personal dreams.
It’s important to identify these setbacks and work on them. Setbacks will always negatively impact the way to find purpose. Identification and elimination of these setbacks will make the process significantly easier.
Final Thoughts
The road to finding a purpose in life isn’t a guaranteed one. Some people may inherently know what they want, while others may take years to figure that out. Whatever or however long it be, the process to get there is pretty simple. Keep trying and be positive about everything, read good books, accept setbacks, take feedback from the right persons, and try to be an altruist. The purpose will eventually show up.
Source: United News of Bangladesh