Whilst attending the intermediate course of paragliding many years ago, I remember taking a short flight from the top of a 600 feet tall cliff and truly loving it. I recall marveling at the effortlessness of the entire 45 seconds flight, before gravity took hold, and wondering how some of the experienced paragliders managed to stay up in the air for hours. As I learnt, it was their ability, like the migratory birds, to find progressive air thermals that allowed them to stay up and even travel long distances, of sometimes up to a thousand kilometers. Were those long flights enervating for them? Never, they were always effortless and exhilarating, as they soared, in complete harmony with nature. Comparing that scenario to the way we live our lives, I often wonder why there is so much struggle to our existence. There appears to be this constant underlying stress all around us and the innumerable choices that we are surrounded with – of, products, services, careers, gadgets, leisure and so on – instead of empowering us, leave us feeling deprived. Like the migratory birds, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could find such thermals that make our lives more effortless, balanced, and peaceful? Those thermals could sweep us away from our daily dilemmas to a life where making choices was much easier, where we experienced minimal effort to move forward, and where we were fully supported by nature in all our pursuits.

The key to this I believe lies in gaining clarity about the purpose of our own existence. Why are we here and what are are we aiming to do? I do believe each one of us on earth is hugely gifted and has a special purpose – but do we take the time to discover it in ourselves; or are we just on a treadmill of activity going almost nowhere. What do you value, what’s most important to you? Do you want to be more successful or do you want to make a more significant contribution? Do you want more money or greater happiness? What’s the role of family and friends in our life? What’s our commitment to community and environment? If you had to make a real choice, what’s that one thing that you would like your life to be about? On your deathbed, what is that you would feel most proud about your life?

I have reflected a lot on this and coached a number of clients in this space as well. Interestingly, some of the most powerful statements of purpose tend to revolve around an absolute and an inner goal – absolute in that it is not set relative to others and inner in that its progress is not measurable by external parameters of evaluation like career, money, fame, achievement etc. Examples would include statements like, “I want to be always happy”, or “want to lead a meaningful balanced life”, or “want to give back to society”, or “want to leave a legacy”. Many a times they also include a component that is focused on others – “I want to be happy and want to make others around me happy” etc. As you think deeply about your purpose and begin to anchor your life around it, including relying on it to make various choices, you may well be surprised with the presence of powerful thermals in your own life and the wonderful direction your life may take.

At a deeper level, we can comprehend the notion of our thermals and purpose in two dimensions – consider that we have two types of purpose in our lives. There’s the external purpose and then there’s the core purpose. The external purpose of living is the roles we choose in our lives – the roles at work and in our relationships; whether we want to be a tennis player, an artist, a scientist, a business owner or a homemaker. Also, our role as a parent, as a child, and as a friend. Additionally, it includes our varied interests and pursuits. However, often times, we build such strong identification with these roles that we lose perspective of our core purpose. That’s when the relentless pursuit of these external goals causes struggle and doesn’t seem to provide us with that illusory happiness, balance, and peace. What we really need then is a stronger alignment of our external goals with our true core purpose.

The core purpose, it appears, may well be the same for all of us – it seems to circle around undertaking the inner journey of self-realization; of building greater self-awareness and deeper understanding of who we essentially are; of conquering our own fears and anxieties; of experiencing love and compassion in all our dealings; of learning to be present in the moment, and eventually transcending ourselves. Once we grasp that and make it the central theme of whatever we do, the notions of happiness, balance, and legacy are no longer illusory. As they say, “it does not matter what you do, but how you do it”. Once we embrace this purpose, it reflects in how we conduct ourselves in whatever we do – at work or in relationships. We are then less focused on how far we reach in achieving the external goals in life, but more on enjoying the inner journey of being on the right path. It provides us a higher meaning in everything we do. For a tennis player, it’s the difference between wanting to win a grand slam and being driven by the purpose of inspiring greatness among millions of tennis players and fans. For a writer, it’s the difference between a desire to be famous and her purpose of helping innumerable readers experience their powerful inner emotions.

Now, even without aligning our external goals with the core purpose, we could very well achieve great results through effort, determination, and hard work. However, the journey is unlikely to be a joyous one and may still lead us to some form of inner suffering. As Roman philosopher, Seneca said, “As is a tale, so is life; not how long it is, but how good it is, that matters”. Once we align our external roles with the core purpose, life becomes effortless, smooth, peaceful, harmonious and well supported – and then, you are really flying!!

Related Search Terms:
The purpose driven life/ What is purpose of life/ True purpose of life