I found this great post on Marco's blog and am sharing here:
Marco found this while stumbling around. (StumbleUpon.com)
He liked it so much, he posted it.
I like it too, find it offers good wisdom and I am sharing it.
The original author is going to be famous if we ever learn who wrote it.
5 easy pieces to piecing together your purpose in life
~ SOURCE/AUTHOR UNKNOWN
In the film Five Easy Pieces starring Jack Nicholson, the main character
played by him, works in an oil field for many years after failing to achieve
the dream of being a pianist; a dream which his
parents created for him.
Throughout the film, Jack’s character Robert Dupea doesn’t really know what
he’s supposed to do with his life. He keeps running from his fears, his
family, and from his past.
Figuring out what you were put on this Earth to do can sometimes be like putting together a jigsaw puzzle when the pieces are spread around the world. Some people don’t complete their puzzle because they often don’t have the patience, desire, or they’re just fearful. However, the five pieces needed to complete the puzzle of your life’s purpose are actually quite easy to find.
Here are the five easy pieces to piecing together your purpose in life.
1. Recognizing your talents and passions
This is probably the easiest and most common way for people to discover their purpose in life. So we’ll start off with it.
Following you talents and passions will lead to fulfillment,
happiness,
and even money to pay the bills (or even a lot more). Natural born
or
acquired talents, it doesn’t matter; you were given them by someone
or
something for a reason.
To discover more about your passions and talents, think of:
- What makes you cry with joy.
- What makes you and others smile.
- What people sincerely say you’re good at.
- What makes you and others laugh.
- What keeps you up all night because you’re so fired up about it.
2. Look to your past
It’s difficult sometimes to reflect on our pasts. There are plenty
of
events I would like to erase from my memory, but I think it’s
foolish
to do so. Instead, we should use it to move us forward and to
make
sense of where we are now.
Looking to our pasts to get a sense of our purpose has its own puzzle pieces:
- What circumstances were born into?
Perhaps you were born into poverty. Then your purpose may be to rise
above
impoverished surroundings and to lead others by example.
- What major mistakes and vices did you parents battle?
Were they abusive, addicted to drugs/alcohol, or did they engage
is
something else destructive? Well your purpose is not to continue
the
cycle. You have to break free and again, lead by example.
- What have you failed at?
Failure should never be permanent. It’s only there to separate those
who
want something more than those who don’t. If a failure of something
affected
you so much that you couldn’t stop thinking about it, then
your purpose is to
get back in the game, approach it differently and
succeed.
- Who affected you the most in a positive way?
Was it a teacher, author, actor, director, a president, or a local
hero?
If they changed your life, then perhaps you should carry on their
mission as
well.
3. There are 4 purposes that unite us all:
1. Be as happy as possible.
2. Live life the way you desire.
3. Change the lives of others. (It often doesn’t take as much as you think)
4. Leave the world a little better than when we were born into it.
And to all the negative Nancys and Neds: not everyone will fulfill these purposes, but everyone can.
4. Be open to multiple purposes
Many of us have multiple purposes, but often we have one main mission
in
life, and then other smaller reasons for existing. Perhaps someone
is
supposed to be a great parent, but also change the world in another
way.
Other times, two different purposes can form into a larger one. I’ve
been
told that I was pretty good at writing and I should think about
turning it
into a career, but I always brushed it off. One thing I
always wanted to do
was change the world. So I decided one day to just
combine the two and change
the world through my talent of writing.
Our purposes can also vary depending on our age. Commonly
it’s
materialistic in nature when we’re younger, but not so much when we
get
older.
This leads me to the fifth piece of the puzzle…
5. Find out what your purpose in the now is
What you’re on this Earth to do today is more important than what
your
purpose later in life is. Today is guaranteed, tomorrow isn’t.
If you think your purpose it to share your art with the world, then
start
today! If you feel you’re supposed to be a social entrepreneur,
then get
going now! You may find something that’ll give your life
meaning until the
end.
We wait for the perfect moment, but it doesn’t exist. Concentrate on
your
purpose for today, tomorrow, next month, and for the next few
years at the
most. Life is now, not tomorrow.
If you recognize this post or know who the original author is, please let
me know so I can give credit where credit is due!
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