Recognizing your life's mission is not always easy. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say, "I know I was born on this earth with a specific purpose. I just don't know what it is!" If you have yet to discover your own life's purpose, I'm going to give you a hint: it's a lot broader than you probably realize.
Many people seem to be under the impression that their life's
purpose, once they discover it, is going to be a particular goal or job
or accomplishment. But a life's purpose is never so limited. The
purpose of your life is not some specific objective you must try to
accomplish. The purpose of your life is an idea. It is, in fact, the highest ideal that you stand for, and it permeates every single aspect of your life.
Whatever your life's mission is, rest assured that you are already living it, at least to some extent. You were guided by it through your childhood, you have used it in making major decisions throughout your life, and you feel its call on a day-to-day basis even now. But the joys you experience sporadically when your mission happens to intersect your daily life are nothing compared to the joy of knowing your purpose and creating your life around that purpose in an intentional way.
Over the next few days and weeks, leading up to the New Year, I'll be posting a new series on Win-Win Web, dedicated to exploring your life's mission. What is a life mission? What is its nature? How can you discover your own specific mission? How has it manifested itself in your life? Knowing that mission, how can you shape each aspect of your life to align with that purpose?
What implications does your own special purpose have for your career, for your relationships, for your marriage, for your role as a parent? What can your mission tell you about what motivates you, about what you love doing, about what fills you with enthusiasm, and about your favorite ways to relate to others and the world around you? And on the contrary, what can it tell you about what makes you angry, and about how to avoid situations that will deplete your energy and leave you feeling frustrated?
I hope you will join me as I explore the answers to these questions and more. (You might even discover the answers to other profound mysteries, such as: "What is EM Sky's life mission? Why does she spend her time writing these blog articles? And why the heck does she always go by her initials?") Start the new year with a new lease on life and a new understanding of your purpose here on this planet. Stay tuned!
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Articles in the Life Mission series:
- Discovering your life's mission - 11/15/05
- The nature of a life mission - Part I - 11/19/05
- The nature of a life mission - Part II - 11/20/05
- The broad scope of a life mission - 11/24/05
- Expressing your life mission in your own way - 11/26/05
- Aligning your life with your life mission - 12/2/05
- Using your talents and interests to find direction - 12/5/05
- Recognizing the value of your life mission - 12/13/05
Comments (2)
Aloha EM, I love so many of your thoughts here. Often, discovering our life's mission is so intimidating for people because they look for the BIG bonfire at the end of a tunnel versus getting more clarity on the smaller clues that abound in their everyday lives - even when they are very young and have not gone through that school of hard knocks yet... one of my pet peeves is the thought of "paying your dues" that some impose on others.
I can imagine you are providing a wonderful service and a liberation of sorts for many people here - well done!
Now I must click on to the rest of your series and read more,
Rosa
Posted by Rosa Say | November 23, 2005 2:24 PM
Posted on November 23, 2005 14:24
Thank you, Rosa, for this insight. We don't develop a life mission from the school of hard knocks. We are born with it.
I discovered my own life's mission at the age of 35, but looking back over my life I could see immediately that I had been living that mission since childhood. I just didn't know it until much later!
Thanks for visiting the blog today. I hope you enjoy the rest of the "Discovering Your Life's Mission" series!
Mahalo,
EM
Posted by EM Sky | November 23, 2005 4:10 PM
Posted on November 23, 2005 16:10