Purpose

I have learned so much about myself in the last two and a half years. This blogging adventure has taken me places I never dreamed I would go. I cannot begin to tell you how many people ask me where I find the time to blog. To be honest, at this point, I cannot imagine my life without it. When I write, time stands still.

It is possible in life to be so absorbed in an activity, so completely filled with energy, that you lose all track of time and simply exist in the moment. No fear, no anxiety, no jealousy. Just purpose. In psychology that state is called flow, and it is a key element in the science of happiness.

In his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990), Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that happiness is not a fixed state. We can LEARN happiness as we discover the activities that provide us flow.

Have you found yours?

For me writing is one of them. I have learned through this process that I am a happier person when I am sharing my thoughts. I can lose hours just sitting at the keyboard putting thought to paper. I’ve learned through this blog that for me it is less about the actual task of writing and more about the ideas that I could spark in another person. Life is a powerful teacher, and sharing thing I’ve learned feeds my soul. It has become an important purpose in my life.

What is your purpose? Why were you put on this earth? Do you know yet?

“Every one of us has a WHY, a deep-seated purpose, cause or belief that is the source of our passion and inspiration. You may not yet know what yours is or how to express it in words. But we guarantee, you have one.” Simon Sinek

Life is full of so many things, moments, events, experiences. But life should be about more than that. Our life should be about our purpose. Have you taken the time to discover yours?

This can be a loaded question. As a mother, of course my children are the most important thing in my life. How could my answer be anything else? I am an educator. Of course education is the most important thing in my life. I am a human being. Of course human rights are the most important thing in my life. How could anything compare to all of that?

But it is possible to be a mother and an educator and champion of human rights and still find purpose in something else. Purpose can be found in many places. Are you feeding your purpose through your profession right now, or are you just going to work? Are you finding your purpose in things outside of work, or are you just going through life completing tasks. The truth is that many people have not found their purpose, and even more frightening is the fact that many people are not even looking for it.

Purpose is a tricky thing, but it goes hand-in-hand with happiness. It is worth examining. Your purpose cannot be too big or too small. It is YOUR purpose. You can change the world by doing great acts or by doing small acts with great purpose.

What is your purpose? Don’t we owe it to this life to find out?