What Is Your True Purpose in Life?

You can figure that out in about 20 minutes, according to personal development coach Steve Pavlina:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).
2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.

Don't try this at home without going to read his whole post first. It's full of more detailed advice about persevering through resistance and differentiating partial answers, "mini-surges," from the real deal.

Usually it takes 15-20 minutes to clear your head of all the clutter and the social conditioning about what you think your purpose in life is. The false answers will come from your mind and your memories. But when the true answer finally arrives, it will feel like it’s coming to you from a different source entirely.

For those who are very entrenched in low-awareness living, it will take a lot longer to get all the false answers out, possibly more than an hour. But if you persist, after 100 or 200 or maybe even 500 answers, you’ll be struck by the answer that causes you to surge with emotion, the answer that breaks you.

I'm not much of a self-help fan, but Euan found this site and it's really good -- fresh and thought-provoking. (As a bonus, Steve's a Trekkie!)

Comments

[Icepick]

This four step process is easily shown to be incomplete at best.

Imagine a young man sitting down and working his way through the procedure. He tries many possibilities before he finally hits on something that makes him cry: "To be a professinal baseball player." He starts bawling like a small child with a skinned knee. But everyone knows there's no crying in baseball! This process needs work.

[amba]

It'd work for the Olympics, though! :) That's almost a requirement for the medal podium.

Of course, he doesn't talk about the one that makes you cry because you want it but it's impossible, like Michelle Kwan's gold medal now will be. (Although, whaddaya bet someone, maybe even the IOC, is going to give her the gold-medal equivalent of an honorary doctorate or Lifetime Achievement Oscar?)

She, however, admitted that her true purpose was the joy and beauty of skating, and communicating them to an audience. This guy, too, is apparently aiming more for the purpose behind the purpose.

[amba]

-- and never forget: there's no butt-slapping in the Olympics!

[michael reynolds]

What Is My True Purpose In Life?

Make money.
Exercise power.
Get laid.
No, definitely money.
Eat pie . . . sob.

[amba]

This may turn out to be one of the great comedy magnets of all time.

[Alison]

About a year ago - because it was given to us as a gift - Jeromy and I sat down to read "A Purpose Driven Life" out loud together. We didn't much care for the book or its evangelical message, so we only read the first five or six chapters. The exercise of reading together and discussing our reactions was wonderful, though. At one point, the book asks you to consider your purpose in life. My answers were all stereotypical: to raise a happy family of well-adjusted children, to live life fully, to learn to love unconditionally, etc. But Jeromy's answer made me cry: his purpose, he said, was to someday be a good grandfather, like the grandfather he had had, who seemed so capable of knowing and doing and answering and fixing everything - and always had the patience to let his grandkids help.

[Pastor_Jeff]

Oh, Amba, if only you knew what a heart-wrenching question that has been for me. For years, I've wrestled with the issues of ultimate purpose. I've read books, gone to seminars, prayed, sought the counsel of wise people.

But over the past months, things have started to resolve themselves more clearly. I'm feeling more settled on this, and that has given me a feeling of freedom, confidence, and joy.

I can now tell you that even though I love all Phocoenidae, my ultimate purpose is definitely Burmeister's.

[amba]

I'll never live this one down, will I? What got into me -- the New Age Demon?

[Pastor_Jeff]

Amba,

I'm sorry. It actually was a good post. I just got locked into Emily Litella mode and let it take over.

[amba]

PJ --

Burmeister's sounds like a beer!

[Pastor_Jeff]

Well, I wouldn't say beer is my purpose in life (although I could think of many worse ones). But since you mentioned it... please excuse me while I go home and enjoy one.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

- Ben Franklin

[realpc]

I didn't try it, even though I really want to know. I don't think we each have just one purpose. Learning about love could be one purpose, but the same prerson could also have many others.

There are times when I think my reason for living is just to breath, just to experience what it's like to exist in time.

Other times I think it's to experience being a member of the species that has logic and religion, and the desire to create beauty. Other animals probably are better at love than we are, so how could love be our central purpose?

We need love like we need air, water, food, sleep, etc. Is it just another need, or the central one? I think love is important and we couldn't live without it. But is it really as all-important as our culture has made it? Could we be the culture that loves too much?

[Alexander]

GOOD NEWS for EVERYONE
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The True Purpose of Life presented here is the latest revelation that also cuts across all boundaries. Very valuable and powerful, life-changing online seminars. http://www.geocities.com/universityofhappiness

The True Purpose of Life presented here is the latest revelation that also cuts across all boundaries. Very valuable and powerful, life-changing online seminars. http://www.geocities.com/universityofhappiness

The True Purpose of Life presented here is the latest revelation that also cuts across all boundaries. Very valuable and powerful, life-changing online seminars. http://www.geocities.com/universityofhappiness