What is my life's purpose?

What are you supposed to do with your life? Simply surviving doesn't seem to be enough. Just being comfortable, "having" things, status, power isn't fulfilling either. There gotta be something beyond all of that.

Ha! You see? Here we have it already: something "beyond"! So, can we look at this question without getting too airy-fairy? Is it possible to deal with this topic without resorting to mystical magic?

I say: Why not!

Take any kind of car you can think of. It's purpose, most likely is some kind of providing transportation. It is most likely not peeling potatoes, or cutting hair, or anything else. No matter what kind of car it is, it's particular purpose is some form of the thing that all cars do.
Maybe that is a good way to find your own purpose, too? First look into the purpose of our species...

The purpose of the species

Here's another analogy: What do cats do? They catch and eat other animals. The impact of their species' action is to keep a lid on the population of these other animals. We say, this is their purpose. What do trees do? They take CO2 out of the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen. The impact of their action is a counter-balance to the CO2 produced by animals, fires and so on.

You can try this with any other type of thing in this world. We usually infer their purpose from what they do.

So how about humans? What do we do as a species?

(yes, here comes my favorite virus story from the chapter "The two tasks humans can accomplish in this world" of the book "YOU are the change"!)

Imagine that some incident wipes out all humans on this earth, but leaves everything else pretty much untouched. So all plants and animals, the rocks, the sea, the air—all of that stays as is, except there are no more humans here.

Imagine how this world would look 200 years after that incident. Most likely all our structures would be inhabited by animals and overgrown by vines, trees, and bushes. Life on this Earth would have found a balance again, where everything lives and grows according to the laws of nature. The rate at which species of plants and animals went extinct would probably drop back to a more natural level. The level of greenhouse gases might have started to drop again. The pollution created by humans would be slowly "worked up" by nature. The seas might have recovered from over-fishing. Forests would have wolves and bears again. Domesticated animals might have reverted to a natural way of life or would have been replaced by life forms that could fend for themselves without our interference. The cycle of eating and being eaten would have brought balance back to this planet.

Now imagine the Earth 10,000 years later and compare how it might look then, versus the view 200 years after the incident.

I think we would find it essentially the same; not much would have changed. Our structures would have deteriorated even more, but the plants would still be there, the animals would still be there, everything would still be in balance. And if something happened that kicked the system out of balance, it would find its balance again after a little while. Each member of this world is contributing to the continuation and balance of the system.

My conclusion from this mental exercise is that everything in this world is fulfilling the purpose of perpetuating the system and of keeping it in balance.

So far there has been no incident that has wiped out humans. And if we look at the world as it must have been 1,000 years ago, and 100 years ago, even just fifty years ago, and compare it with today, we see the tremendous changes that have happened. And almost all of these changes were made, or at least caused, by humans. Also, it seems that the speed of change has accelerated as history approaches our current time.

So to make the same conclusion from what we do, our purpose seems to be to cause change.

Your purpose

Just because Harry Belafonte makes beautiful music, doesn't mean you have to do the same. Nor does it mean you have no purpose, just because you can't sing well. The lion in Africa is catching gazelles. I am sure you don't expect your cat Cleo to do the same - even though your apartment sometimes might look like she did. However, if you have some 4-legged tenants of the rodent species move in, I am sure, you'd appreciate Cleo to weigh in on their residency idea.

So, summarizing all the above observations and conclusions and adding to it, here's my advise to you, to send you off on your quest to find and fulfill your purpose:

You are the change!
You are to cause some sort of change, to make a difference in this world (not just other peoples lives, but in the creation as a whole!)

Your specs
Look at what your talents are, your special skills and experiences. What makes you different from all other persons? A lion was built to catch large animals, a house cat to catch small ones. If you want to be successful, find what the Universe had in mind when it created you the way you are, and shaped you to who and what you are through all the experiences you went through and all the people you met in your life.

Your passion
Observe yourself to find out what you are passionate about. Every person has a topic or two that "gets her/him moving". When it comes to this topic, there's an energy coming from inside, that enables you to keep going when otherwise you'd be too exhausted or too frustrated, that gives you the courage to tackle what otherwise you'd be too afraid to do.

I once had an old cat, who could hardly move anymore from all the arthritis. Well, one day we both noticed a mouse. That old cat was flying through the room after that mouse, as if she never had arthritis in her life!

Your passion can do that to you, too. Find it, and you find your purpose plus the energy to really enjoy your life!

Your situations
Try to remember in what kind of situations you find yourself a lot.

Well, if you find yourself in first grade of primary school again for the fifth year, maybe you ain't getting the reading and writing thing. There are things we need to learn, and as long as we are not getting it, we get to repeat the same lesson over and over again.

However, if you know how to read and write, but find yourself in the first grade a lot, maybe you are the teacher. Maybe it is your task, your purpose to cause change in that classroom.

Ok, so now you gotta figure out whether your being married to the fifth jerk is a lesson or your purpose. Well, thankfully, there is always something you can learn, even when you're the teacher. And somebody else is learning something through you, even though you are being taught.

I find, though, being alert about what the lesson might be in any given situation, it helps me learn it faster and with fewer painful repetitions. In the same vein, by being more mindful about what kind of difference I could make in any given situation, I am a more effective change-agent.


I find, keeping these four simple points in mind, I am able to find and finetune my life's purpose quite well. Also, it helps me live my life to the fullest, making the most of every day, every hour. It helps me to be in a perpatuate state of happiness and content. And when a crisis hit, it is easier for me to deal with it.


There's one thing, though, I want to be very clear about: I believe

Your life's purpose is NOT to learn! You learn so you can better fulfill your life's purpose.


Happy pondering, searching, and practicing your individual, special, important purpose - remember, your efforts are royally rewarded with a sense of fulfillment and happiness from the inside...


Further readings around this topic:
How to achieve happiness - Two easy steps to leaving a legacy - What happens TO me vs THROUGH me - Ready for something different?