We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last two blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the first aspect in the model of purposeful living – Awareness, the grey circle.

This aspect deals with how we become aware of the notion of purpose, and realise the importance of living purposefully. There are some who are aware of the notion of purpose, but do not realise the importance of living a purposeful life. There are others who are aware of the notion of purpose and its importance as well. I believe both aspects are needed to motivate us to start seeing the glimpse of our own purpose, the second aspect of the model of purposeful living.  Let’s explore these two aspects in the next two paragraphs.

We become aware of the notion of purpose by hearing it from someone, reading about it or having an ‘aha’ from the sub conscious. I first heard of the notion when I attended the ‘Mastery of Self’ workshop I attended 22 years ago. Thereafter I have spoken about it to many people, trained people about it and have written about it. One of my friends mentioned he first heard it during religious teachings when he was very young. Sometimes it could be an inner realisation, that we term an ‘aha’, due to an experience one had. I know someone who is the heir to a family business, but her real passion is dancing, singing and acting. She is fully alive when she has opportunities to dance, sing and act and feel really bored, and has low energy when she goes to office in the family business. She had her an ‘aha’ after many years of experiencing this that her purpose could be around dancing, singing and acting. Sometimes we go through struggles and learn about the notion of purposeful living through the struggles. I know of a young man who was suffering depression for many years. He managed to overcome it after a lot of struggle and he feels drawn to help others going through similar struggles. He realised that his purpose could be around helping people come out of depression. These are some of the ways we become aware of the notion of purpose.

Once we are aware of the notion of ‘purpose’, the next step is to appreciate its importance. We may hear stories, see videos or meet someone who is happy after he/she started living purposefully. This could prompt us to learn more about the notion by reading books, watching videos or attending a learning experience related to purposeful living. However, I believe the most powerful way to appreciate the importance of purposeful living is to experience it ourselves and know for ourselves.  This is possible when we decide to move on to the next step of ‘purposeful living’; finding a glimpse of our purpose.

I invite you to read the previous blogs and/or do your own search to understand more about purposeful living and appreciate the importance thereof, in the next few weeks. We will explore various methods of finding a glimpse of your own purpose in the next blog post.

Meanwhile I wish you purposeful living!