What is purpose and why are so many people seeking it?
In a nutshell – we are lost and I mean lost in all senses of the word. We’ve lost our moral compass especially. If you just take social media as an example, it’s now acceptable to send comments online towards a person without any regard for the impact. Would that person have been brave enough to do this face to face? Probably not. From behind a screen, we can believe ourselves to be all powerful and it’s hurting. When did we slip so low to think that this is a healthy way of treating one another. The way we are living no longer makes sense. Life used to be based around family, friends, community, working to pay the bills and to put food on the table. Yes, I am of that generation. Now we pursue money for fame and for material possessions that we don’t really need. Don’t get me wrong, I am completely guilty of this. I mean, how many pairs of jeans do you need?!?! There are only 7 days in the week after all..
More and more people are searching for meaning beyond the world that you see on social media and the constant striving for things that are out of reach. Would they even make us feel better about ourselves if we had them? Many will ask ‘is this really what life is about?’ or ‘Surely there is more to life than this?’ I know I have on many occasions.
Many also perceive ‘purpose’ to be about doing. It is in fact about being… being present in your life in that very moment. It’s playing with your children vs watching them play whilst you review your phone. It’s about talking to someone face to face and being focused on them vs looking around for a distraction. It’s about walking in nature and paying attention to the birds, butterflies and even the trees swaying in the wind. It’s not about walking with your head down immersed in your phone. Now I’m not social media bashing but what happened to simply day dreaming, lying on the ground watching the clouds float on by. Watching a bee going about its business. It doesn’t need to be photographed or filmed, it just wants you to be present in the miracle of nature. We are afraid to be bored, to just be in the silence of ourselves.
We have forgotten how to be present in our lives. We are missing so much each day because we are trapped in our minds. Our purpose for being here is to live a great life, to enjoy being on planet earth, to pursue the activities that bring us joy and fill us with happiness. Somewhere along the way, we started believing purpose was about promotions, job titles, more expensive cars, bigger houses, holidays to far flung places. Whilst we’ve all been busy chasing after these things, we’ve not left ourselves any energy for our own pockets of happiness. We’re too tired, stressed, overwhelmed to think about a new project, a new side activity to express ourselves creatively. We are now even handing over our creativity, our most human gift, to AI because we no longer have the patience to wait. Plus, as a bonus, if it doesn’t work, you can simply blame AI who won’t take it personally.
Your purpose is to be here, to enjoy life as a human being on this beautiful planet. You are here to experience joy, happiness, abundance and love. Anything on top of that is a blessing. Perhaps it’s time to pull back our energy for the things that drain us and shift it towards finding our joy… that is our purpose for being alive after all. If we find happiness in ourselves then perhaps we will see this reflected back to us in the world around us. Like attracts like and all that jazz..
Now, thanks for reading this far but please stop now. Go find that little something that makes your eyes shine, your heart sing and your body vibrate with excited energy. Your owe it to yourself!
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