Do you live your life with passion and excitement?
Have you wondered what it is that makes some people skip through life with so much zest and energy?
Or would you rather just sit on a funky chair all day long with a cheesy grin!?
A while ago I featured on my blog John the walking minister. His story of finding his bliss truly resonated with my readers.
It is clear to me that that we would all like to find out bliss and live a life of meaning and purpose. But just how do we do this?
When you find a truly meaningful cause to devote your life to, you become hungry.
You are no longer satisfied by superficial joy from passively watching television shows or browsing random pages on the Internet to “kill time”.
When you begin to play big in your life, you naturally let go of small things.
When you become hungry for something more, you search for deep fulfillment and you don’t settle for only the surface-level excitement you were used to before.
Consider the entrepreneur, a person with quite an unusual lifestyle – rather than working between Monday and Friday and taking the weekends off, some entrepreneurs are always working and they blur the lines between work and play.
How can they always be working?
Because they’ve found what they are so passionate about and what they get such deep fulfillment from, they no longer want to do other things.
Whereas most people settle for working at a job to look forward to two days of rest, the entrepreneur has found the path for him that feels like a weekend every day!
When you find a truly meaningful cause to devote your life to, you even turn down other opportunities.
You become clear about your priorities and what is most important in your life.
When Randy Pausch, co-author of the bestselling The Last Lecture and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, discovered he had pancreatic cancer, that immediately shifted his focus to how he wanted to spend the remaining months he had to live.
He was making a routine visit to the supermarket one day to buy some food to cook at home. Upon checkout, he found out that the cashier accidentally charged him twice for one of his items, but he didn’t realize until he was almost on his way out of the market.
He could have gone to a manager and asked for a refund, since it was a legitimate mistake, but he thought to himself: what’s more valuable to me: an extra $15 or 15 more minutes to spend with my children?
He walked out of the supermarket and gladly went home, having overpaid $15, because in that moment he had a clear sense of purpose for his life, and knew clearly that money was replaceable, but the time spent with his children was not.
If you are also willing to make these sacrifices to find a purpose for your life and use your passions, skills, and talents and create a clear, meaningful direction for your life, then I have a wonderful gift for you.
A few weeks ago, I featured on my blog Yongho Shin, a very impressive young guy who is clearly going places.
Yongho is launching a series of free videos and audios about discovering your life purpose- and he has kindly also asked me to contribute on one of the videos.
These are the series of videos from Yongho:-
Video 1:The “Passive Discovery Myth” that’s holding you back from finding (and deciding on) a clear, meaningful direction for your life
Video 2:How to discover the general – but not exact – direction of your life purpose in 15 minutes (and skip years of complicated exercises, quizzes, and questions)
Video 3:A complete step-by-step solution to create a clear and exciting life purpose based on your unique skills and talents, and meaningful work you can be highly paid to do
Yongho shares how he went from feeling lost and having no sense of life purpose, to finding a meaningful direction for his own life, and working with others to help them do the same.
Yongho has:
– Worked with TED Conferences and helped manage 4000+TEDx events worldwide
– Produced programs featured on The Huffington Post and the front pages of TED.com and Carnegie Mellon University
– Promoted and spoken on stage with Jonathan Fields,Chris Guillebeau and Jenny Blake
– Interviewed some of the top experts in personal growth, including Steven Aitchison, Jonathan Mead, Lori Deschene (TinyBuddha) and Jeff Zaslow (The Last Lecture)
So Yongho now knows a thing or two about discovering your ultimate life purpose – both from his personal experience and also from all the people he has worked with.
Thanks Yongho – and keep up the great work!
Arvind,
I’ve not heard the story about Randy P. before. That’s powerful stuff. And I’m going to check out the free videos now. He sounds like a smart guy to me.
Tess, Randy P was so inspirational before his death – he taught the world what’s really important in our lives.
Hi Arvind,
Our life can take off in directions we never imagined when we let go of our fears and find our life purpose. “Why was I put here on earth?” is a good question to ask ourselves from time to time. The videos sound interesting, thanks for sharing!!
Cathy, that’s a great question!
I just asked myself that question – “Why was I put here on earth?”. And the answer I got immediately was – not to eat so much ice-cream!
I’ll keep asking until I get a more inspirational answer:-). Maybe Yongho’s videos will help!
It takes skill to prioritize in life. I loved Randy Pausch’s story. My Mother was like that – quick decisions about what was more important and valuable was her gift. We had the habit of doing this: Cost of blah blah blah….Rs.A….Pleasure gained – priceless. Cost of ….. Rs.B. Pleasure of letting go – priceless. My own favorite is the fact that we only have one life to live – and it makes complete sense not to dwell on petty stuff. “Every 60 seconds you spend angry, upset or complaining is a minute of happiness wasted” I am glad I’ve found my purpose in life – at least a big part of it, if not all. And I am loving how changing priorities make me more determined, more at peace with myself, so I can give me best to those I connect with.
I must check out those videos. And yes, Yongho Shin is a very interesting person.
Vidya, your mother sounds like she was a very wise woman!
So that’s where you get your wisdom from:-)
Enjoy the videos.
Finding and living your purpose, or at least following a path of conscious experiences to figure it out, can truly transform your life, as you’ve described. The day I jumped off the train of doing what I thought I was supposed to do and started running free, discovering what life really had to offer was the best day of my life. I continue to run (and leap with joy) with the passions I’ve discovered and integrate into my life.
Randy and Yongho are both amazing people. Thanks so much for introducing us to Yongho and his work!
Paige, I can just see you jumping off a train and joyously bouncing off into the horizon :-).
May you always continue to lead a purposeful life.
Hi Arvind,
Wonderful article:) For me the key is to allow my “work” to be my passion and my passion to be my life. There isn’t a line between work, play, love, connection, purpose…it is all just the one big joy that is my life. My purpose is to be love, and choosing to align my life to live my purpose is a delight.
Thank you for introducing us to Yongho Shin earlier–I learn so much from what he shares! And Randy’s book was a beautiful, touching reminder to me to continue to allow for alignment within my life.
Joy, indeed the key is to allow one’s “work” to be our passion. And what an amazing purpose you have – to be love.
Onwards and upwards to a world of love :-).
its nowhere mentioned that
how to discover true life purpose
Saurabh, welcome to my blog!
All the juice about discovering your life purpose is in the videos. I invite to check them out – thank you:-)
I really enjoy your discussion on value.
I often will go long distances for short amounts of time to spend time with someone that means a lot to me or do something that I really am passionate about. People will often look at me funny, asking why I spent so much money only to stay somewhere for a few days. And my answer is always in the value of it. I would much rather experience something of great importance to me than have some extra money sitting around in my bank account.
A lovely post! You are able to write with depth and understanding on subjects that many fail to really explain coherently.
You have a new fan!
Dear Tahata,
Welcome to my blog!
Life is all about experience, enjoyment and empowering others. If you can find a way of doing that and make a living from it, then you will have discovered your Nirvana:-).
Tahata, I wish you well on your journey to Nirvana…
Love and best wishes
Arvind
I love the story of Randy Pausch and the Last Lecture. I given this book to many people to read. I’m constantly thinking about why I’m here and what my Ultimate Purpose is. I love watching TED videos and being inspired by blog, like yours!! I’ll definitely check out Yongho’s videos.
Thanks so much, Arvind!
Betsy, Rany Pausch created such a wonderful legacy!
Let us all aspire to also do the same:)
Wow. That looks like an amazing resource!
I’ll certainly be watching those videos. Having a clear sense of direction can truly bring some wonderful things into your life as well as increase your sense of gratification for the wonderful things you already have.
Thanks Arvind!
Peter, welcome to my site:-).
As you say, having clarity about your life direction can be very powerful. I wish you all the best on your journey.
And thanks for sharing your blog posts about purposeful living.