What is our purpose in life?
I think, for what it’s worth, that whether one takes a religious position on the question or looks at it from a Darwinian angle, we do have a purpose in life or, rather, we do have a role to play on Earth – in the universe.
IMHO, we are here to make a difference – for the better, of course. We are not supposed to pass through unnoticed. Ours is to leave the world in a better position than it was when we ‘landed’, ours is to make a difference, to touch lives, to put smiles on faces, smiles that wouldn’t have been on those faces were it not for our being here.
How best can we do that? We must be our biggest self, we must be our maximum self, and the only way to do that is by our being ourselves, living authentic, honest lives, living with our mind, bodies, hearts and souls in sync.
I believe that, although there are no guarantees, although we are all subject to the vagaries of life, although we all need that bit of ‘luck’, of good fortune, I do believe that we are stacking in our favour the odds of living a meaningful, fulfilling life, a life of joy, a life with peace of mind,
if we live that authentic life,
if we manifest and live in a manner which reflects love, kindness, empathy, compassion, tolerance, gratitude and forgiveness,
if we make a conscious decision only to do unto others what we would have done unto us.
How can we ever be truly happy – not fleetingly happy but deeply happy, joyous,
if we are always chasing,
if we are never satisfied,
if we don’t feel gratitude,
if we don’t look at what we have got and be thankful for the good things,
if we live selfishly,
if we live without regard to those less fortunate than ourselves,
if all we ever do is ‘look’ at what we don’t have,
how can we ever be truly happy if we are living in the past and in the future, if we miss the present?!
I don’t believe we can.
I’m not saying that we should be fantasists, live in cloud cuckoo land, that we should disconnect from reality and pretend that we are living in Gan Eden, in the Garden of Eden. I’m not saying that there is something wrong with us, something bad and selfish, if we work hard for that big holiday, if we do hanker after a swanky car, there is nothing wrong with ambition and dreams but, I believe, it must all be against a backdrop of gratitude and service to others, otherwise we are, IMHO, setting ourselves up for a fall, for a life of, ultimately, disappointment, regret and dissatisfaction.
Think on…
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