“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” ~ Pablo Picasso

While a lucky few seem to have things all figured out, most of us are baffled by the idea of finding our purpose in life. It seems like too huge a task, and we don’t even know where to begin. Maybe we’ll just wake up one day and have an epiphany, or something?

Luckily, you can go searching for the answer – you don’t have to wait for it to come to you. Grab a journal, find a quiet place, and still your mind (if you’re having trouble with that last one, consider a meditation practice). And when you’re ready, here are a few questions you can start asking yourself…

1. As a child, one thing you loved to do was…?

When you were a child, what were you passionate about?

What did you love to spend hours doing?

As children, we had the time and freedom to do the things we loved; and we weren’t too worried about impressing other people with our hobbies, or earning money.

So think about the things you loved to do as a child, the things that felt right on an emotional level.

It could be anything from making up stories to building model cars, baking cookies or looking after animals.

Thinking of the things you used to love as a child may help you find out what you’re passionate about in life – and following your passion puts you a step closer to realizing your life’s purpose.

2. If you could do anything in the world as your day job (and never worry about income), that thing would be…?

So let’s imagine that it’s not okay to just lounge around at home all day in your sweats, but that you don’t have to work either…

What would you be doing with your time right now?

How would you contribute to the world, and to society?

After you’ve written this down, try to find a way to incorporate that one thing into your lifestyle.

We’re not suggesting you do anything extreme because the reality is we all have to think about financial risk – it’s still possible to follow your passion while working a full-time job.

The key thing to remember here is that you should actively be looking for ways to make your dreams real, make them a part of who you are, and a part of what and where you’re striving to be one day.

If you’re after a little more inspiration, check out this powerful talk by Alan Watts.

3. With your closest friends, you can sit for hours on end, talking about…?

Topics that we actually find fun and interesting are the ones we most regularly talk about when we’re in the company of the ones we love.

Maybe you’re always talking about cooking and recipes or ways of saving the environment for future generations, or maybe others always come to you for advice.

The types of conversations we have with our loved ones have a great deal to do with who we essentially are since they can be seen as a direct mirror of our deeper, more aware and awake self.

And that means these conversations can contain important signposts that point us in the direction of our life’s purpose.

We hope that these three questions can help steer you in the right direction, leading you to do some self-reflecting, and ultimately helping you discover who you really are, what you’re passionate about, and what your true life purpose is!

~Love, Luminita

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