There are two ways to live life. One way is to live your life unconsciously, captured by your routines and patterns. The other way is to evolve and become more empowered by living a purposeful existence.
Living a purposeful life gives you a way out whenever you feel stuck or frustrated. It gives you a sense of direction when life becomes difficult. Let’s take a look at why this works.
There are two primary elements to our human “beingness”. The first is that we are creators by nature. We create all day long, whether that be in small ways in our everyday lives, or in huge ways like creating the human societies that we share on this planet.
The second element to our humanness is our innate desire to expand, move forward, and get better at whatever it is we do. This is why feeling stuck never feels good to us. We love the feeling of moving forward! If you doubt this, think about the last time you were stuck in traffic or forced to wait in line somewhere. I’ll bet you couldn’t wait to get out of that situation!
So when you think about living a purposeful life, it is important to connect with these two fundamental human traits that lie at the essence of our ability to be happy. It’s important to assess the following two things:
- At what level are you creating? Is your act of creating only on the level of what to have for dinner and which movie to watch? Or is it big enough to re-structure your life for the better?
- Does what you choose to create have a wide enough expanse to allow you to grow and move forward as a human being? Does it provide you with the opportunity to evolve, get better, and feel happier?
Unless you honor these two basic human traits or needs, you will continue to feel unhappy, stuck, and frustrated. So the first step in living a more purposeful life is to assess what you’re doing right now, as it pertains to these two fundamental human experiences.
Decide how you want your life to look
The next step in living a more purposeful life is to form a picture in your mind of how you want your life to look. This can relate to your outside world and circumstances or it can be about how you feel inside. It’s best if you combine the two things. Your inner world and your outer world are closely tied together, so make sure that what you create on the outside matches what makes you happy on the inside.
The easiest way to do this is to loosely journal about it. Once you have a basic idea or vision that you like, you can re-write it in a shorter form that is similar to an affirmation about what you intend to create. The reason for doing this is so you will be able to stay focused and not get distracted. Refer back to what you wrote every day, and upgrade it whenever it seems necessary.
Take the necessary steps to make it a reality
Hopefully your written vision represents an expansion and improvement from where you are today. This is important because if you remember, we humans are happiest when we have the space in front of us to move forward. Therefore, you should see a good amount of space between where you are right now, and where you want to be.
Your purpose is to fill that space with the necessary steps that get you where you want to go. Each step represents something that you create from inspiration, that is informed by prior experience, knowledge, and plain old common sense. You now have your very own map or set of directions about how to expand your life in positive ways.
Learn to use your energy differently
Stop for a moment and think about how you use your energy every day. Is most of your energy invested in routine and entertainment? Is it heavily invested in pleasing other people and in maintaining your status quo? If that’s the case, then you probably don’t have much energy left to follow the steps you outlined for yourself.
This means that you will need to redirect some of your energy away from old habits and patterns, and onto the new path that you have created for yourself. You will have to use some of your time differently. This might sound difficult, but in truth all it means is making some new decisions about how you spend your days.
What you’re really doing is steering your life in some new directions. It’s just a simple matter of shifting your focus to something new.
Each day has 24 hours of time. You can think of that time as being like space within which you get to navigate your activities. A week is exactly the same thing, with just some wider space within which you can operate.
Therefore every day, every week, every month, and so on, represents a fresh, clean, empty space within which you get to steer your life anew and remain on your chosen path.
So instead of going in circles with the same old routines and habits, shift to living your life as a purposeful creator. Give yourself the space and vision to create an ever-expanding experience of new growth, successes, and positive opportunities. Continue moving forward in ways that inspire you, and you will be on the road to an experience of a fulfilling and happy life!
Have you discovered your life’s purpose? What are your thoughts on this topic overall? Let me know in the comments below 🙂
