Your Purpose & Mine
Scrolling through Instagram, I heard the snippet of a podcast interview. In the clip, the man had presumably just finished explaining his version of rock button which led him to a profound realization. “After all of that, I realized one thing: my purpose is really to help people.”
I find it funny how, when we experience them, “aha” moments can make the world shift on its axis. Reflecting on it later, though, we often realize that the thought was simply…a cliche - a mere fact we’d been told a hundred times before. It’s not that this man’s stroke of enlightenment was totally meaningless, and it likely struck a cord that shifted something in him. But…it made me chuckle.
Why? Because, well, isn’t it obvious?
Everyone’s purpose is to help people.
I’ve spent almost a decade coaching clients one-on-one, and a lifetime being a person that people claim to “just open up to”. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I feel like my calling is to help people.”
Of course your calling is to help people.
That is ultimately our responsibility on Earth - to contribute to society in some meaningful way.
Just ask any hairdresser, mechanic, lawyer, janitor, teacher what the most satisfying part of their job is. Usually the answer is seeing people’s reactions to what they’ve done; that feeling that comes with brightening someone else’s life.
On the quest for our “purpose”, It’s easy to get caught up in circles asking the question, “what am I meant to do?” Really, though, the what is handled. You are meant to contribute to the greater good for your own highest good and the highest good of all.
It’s the how that we ought to focus on.
In my own attempts to avoid existential-crisis overwhelm, I like to think we can do this anytime, anywhere, simply in our manner of being. We can help others by practicing greater compassion, attentively listening, sharing warm smiles, asking questions, and offering support. Our manner of being is part of living our purpose.
I do believe we are also called to pursue greater ambitious action via our talents and skills. To get there, the questions we may ask ourselves include:
What am I naturally good at?
What lights me up?
What puts me in a flow state?
I recently wrote a poem based on advice given to me by a mentor. She said, according to all the greats, here’s the only advice you need:
“Do what makes your heart happy.”
What’s interesting to me is that what makes our heart truly happy almost always involves helping other people in some way.
What is it for you? What lights you up AND lights up the faces of others?
That I believe is each of our life’s work.