A more accessible way to view purpose in life is to simply ask, “Where am I needed?” Sometimes we already know the answer and act on it, but it’s easy to forget to follow that roadmap when our lives are bombarded by busyness.
When we know where we’re needed in our family, community, and the world, we become engaged in something bigger than us, rather than merely going through the motions of daily life. This begins with the ability to be self-aware.
Self-awareness often gets bad publicity, as if it were reserved only for people who whisper about chakras around a drum circle. It is, however, an essential tool for all of us from all walks of life. All we need is silence and time—precious commodities in our hurried lives.
When we all operate from a place of self-awareness, we can serve each other better by being the most energized and focused versions of ourselves. When we know what we’re called to do, it’s hard not to be excited to serve others.
If you’re like me, you might have found it’s not always easy to sit in silence to ponder your purpose, but it’s a discipline worth cultivating. When we allow ourselves to get buried by the distractions and chaos, we start to live on auto-pilot mode. When we navigate from there, joy can be hard to come by, and life can feel lukewarm. This seeps out into how we do our jobs, raise our families, and show up in our communities because we have lost the spark of knowing where we are uniquely needed.
When we carve out time to sit with ourselves, we remember or discover what lights us up, and we start living in a way that shares that light. We start connecting more and coming out of our isolated silos because suddenly the distractions we needed to forget the day are no longer desired when we know our purpose.
Distractions can feel glorious, though, right? I can’t deny that. But if we constantly surrender to quick fixes, we get yanked away from doing the work of hearing what we need to know inside of us. We can avoid it by binge-watching shows, shopping online, or scrolling social media — all fun things, yes, but they contribute to the lineup of distractions and caffeinated-squirrel attention spans that cause us to no longer be able to tolerate being alone with our thoughts.
We have become a society that has to search for silence and calm. It takes daily conscious effort to build habits that prioritizes the work of knowing ourselves over zoning out. It’s necessary work, not only to find more meaning in life but to set a better example for the next generations who are being swept up in the current.
When we maneuver our lives with patience, curiosity, and a willingness to face the discomfort with ourselves, we more readily utilize these qualities toward others — couldn’t the world use more of this?
What does the daily work of uncovering your purpose look like? I can’t answer that for you. I always tell clients to “find your flavor,” meaning do what feels right for you to make this become a part of your life, so it doesn’t feel like punishment or yet another thing to cross off your to-do list. It can be walking in nature, meditating or praying, lighting a candle while you drink coffee — whatever works for you to step off the conveyor belt of life and listen for your assignment that only you can do since there is only one you. Isn’t that worth tuning into?
It takes intentional time each day to remove ourselves from the chaos and remember how we can help. If we do this, we begin to work cohesively to put our puzzle pieces together to make the picture of the greater Dayton area come into focus more vividly because we each took the time to find our purpose.
Rebecca Rine is a writer and life coach living in Dayton. Her writing and podcast can be found at RebeccaRine.com.
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