It’s always challenging to find our purpose in life. Since the beginning of time, our quest for existence has been guided by the existential question, “What is the meaning of life?” We all have amazing abilities and skills that are fueled by internal fire and passion. Those “gifts” are usually seen by others and rarely by ourselves, even when they move us to create from a place of strength and purpose. When we follow our gifts, life opens up and allows abundance, joy, and health. As Oprah says, “If you are here breathing, you have a contribution to make.”
Here are five signs you’ve discovered your unique gift to the world:
1. You ache for something more and take risks into the unknown.
A passion comes from within that pushes you to want to help others. Seeing someone else happy through your creation or healing energizes you to continue doing what you are doing. You find fulfillment in the simple things that bring you joy. You are not asking the “why’s” and “how’s” because you are doing what you were created to do.
“Each man had only one genuine vocation – to find the way to himself….His task was to discover his own destiny – not an arbitrary one – and to live it out wholly and resolutely within himself. Everything else was only a would-be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity and fear of one’s own inwardness.” ~ Hermann Hesse
2. You find teachers and mentors who show you the path.
As the Buddhist proverb says, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” As you begin using and utilizing your gifts, people show up to support you and teach you in the areas you need to enhance. One mentor at a time.
3. Time slips away.
Following your life’s purpose while living a life of passion does something to the element of time. It disappears. You don’t count the days. You don’t obsess over the mundane events that time dictates. Time is a backdrop, but its needs of it do not fuel you. The days are longer, and you lose track of them.
4. You are guided by synchronicity and serendipitous moments.
Events show up. Opportunities appear out of nowhere. You begin to see signs all around you. Often times doing what you fear the most is exactly what fate is providing for you to travel down the path of your purpose.
“I do believe in an everyday sort of magic — the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we’re alone.” ~ Charles de Lint
5. You find clarity in what you do.
You realize that your purpose in life is not about “getting” but mostly about “giving.” In many cases, when someone starts living their authentic life, materialism is no longer important. And, because it loses focus, abundance happens in all areas of your life: health, wealth, and spirituality. You live for less while having more. You are moved by intuition rather than a logical perspective in life. The Austrian psychiatrist and author Viktor E. Frankl best expressed living a life of purpose:
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.” ~ from his book Man’s Search for Meaning.
Living your gifts in the world requires bravery of authenticity. It expects vulnerability and humility for guidance to rise to every opportunity. You let go of fear and step into the unknown. You are confident with your decisions. Indeed, you wholeheartedly believe that every step you take is held by something powerful that will continue guiding you every step of the way. And it’s in that power that passion ignites, and you live with a joyous heart opened to give and receive.
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