Throughout her books and writing, Susan often talked about meaning and purpose, and what that can mean to each of us individually. When we know and pursue our purpose, we know that we matter. When we don’t know what our purpose is, we can feel lost and alone.
Yet, as Susan described in Life is Huge, not knowing our purpose gives us a chance to discover it on our own. And, it gives us a chance to change our purpose as we grow and learn. “Since we don’t know the purpose of our life on earth, we have an incredible opportunity to create our own purpose. And if we are wise, we pick one that brings us joy and satisfaction.”
Knowing our purpose and pursuing it can help us work towards being our best possible selves. It can help us connect to the world and to something greater than ourselves. With that feeling of connection we are less likely to be worried about the future. As Susan said, “It transcends the drama in our world and makes life worth living.”
For Susan, she ultimately found that her purpose was: “1. LEARNING how to put more love and trust into all my thoughts and experiences and then… 2. TEACHING what I’ve learned to others.
“I consider learning and then teaching about love and trust in whatever form that takes to be my purpose. That makes everything in my life ‘grist for the mill.’ As I learn from my experiences—good or bad—I can’t wait to tell you what I’ve learned, which has the added advantage of making all my bad experiences good!” she wrote.
She discovered after “trying on many purposes” that being a learner and a teacher was what
gave her the most happiness and joy.
So, how do we find our purpose? Purpose can be many different things and is different for every person, but we can recognize what it is for ourselves by how it makes us feel. When we are living with meaning and purpose, we feel right—our heart tells us so. Susan felt that a sense of purpose can be found by asking, “What brings me great joy and satisfaction?” “What connects me to my Higher Self?”
“I believe that in order to find true joy and satisfaction, we have to become Higher Self thinkers…people who are in touch with the best of who we are,” Susan said. “And then we have to put that ‘best’ out into the world in any way we can.”
She continued, “There is no question that when we make our purpose one that comes from the Higher Self, we are on the right track for creating inner fulfillment. Of course, we all seem to sink into Lower Self thinking every once in a while, that seems to be a human trait we can’t escape. However, when we know our Higher Self purpose, we always have something wondrous to return to. It’s a beautiful process.”
If you are struggling to find your purpose, perhaps experimenting, as Susan did, can help. When you see what kinds of action bring satisfaction, you know you are on the right path. Susan suggested these possibilities to get started:
• Being kind to others in all that you do.
• Helping the world to be more beautiful in any way you can.
• Easing other people’s pain.
• Teaching children to be more loving.
Maybe your job as an assistant or in retail or whatever your job is doesn’t help you pursue your purpose, maybe it does. If it doesn’t, perhaps it’s time to change fields to something that fits your purpose. Or, if changing jobs isn’t a good option, you could volunteer to be a mentor for teenagers or advocating for the elderly or spending more time with friends and family. As the old adage says, “Opportunity is where you find it.”
In pursuing your meaning and purpose, remember that neither has to be serious or profound. Making people laugh, or any kind of entertainment, can be a meaningful purpose. Training as an athlete, creating a beautiful garden, rescuing stray cats…there is no end to the purposes on earth. If packing groceries for others speaks to your heart, then so be it. As long as you know that you are needed, you are important, and that you can make a difference.
Whatever your purpose may be, whether it is the same today as it was five years ago or will be five years from now, it will help you connect with the best part of yourself and give your life the meaning that we all seek. As an added bonus, it will help you know that you are an important part of the world. You just need to find it.
We all need to find our own sense of purpose by asking,
“What brings me great joy and satisfaction?”
Then, the important step:
Find the many ways you can act
relative to the answers you hear.
Thank you for this article.
Very inspiring. I always struggle with this marketed theme which also many times comes with the notion of higher self and immediately moves in to God. I don’t believe in God and that is my right. Susan explanation makes the finding your purpose clear for me. It does not ask me to believe in whatever entity. When do i feel accomplished? When do i feel happy? When do i feel full? This i can respond to: helping others have an easier life others being human or animals or the earth. And I can apply this in whatever job have. Being 61 i have always done this. But know i will focus more on the feeling of satisfaction and being more conscious on why i do it. Thank you.