“The sole purpose of education is to help you find out what you, with all your heart, must love to do,” wrote Jiddu Krishnamurti, India-born 20th-century philosopher.
And American author Robert Byrne wrote that “The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose.”
This wisdom from East and West boils down to this: To achieve a meaningful and significant life, you must have a vision, and a mission statement that tells how you expect to implement that vision.
That means you can’t pick your line of work randomly. When making that choice, it’s important to reflect, take a long look inside yourself, and answer some hard questions about who you are and what you want. The key to purpose lies within you.
The Sufis, a mystical branch of Islam, have a story about a man who lost his keys and searched for them in the street. A friend came by and helped him search. Finally, the friend asked, “Where were you when you lost your keys.”
“In the house,” replied the man.
“Then why aren’t you looking for them in the house?” asked the friend.
“Because the light’s better in the street,” came the reply.
You have to look for the key to purpose where it lies – within you – and not where it’s more convenient or less painful to look.
You can help identify your purpose by asking two questions:
“If I were to die today, what would be written on my
tombstone?”
“If I had six months to live, how would I spend my
remaining days?”
These questions put things in perspective. To answer them, you need to form a vision of what you want to be. You must identify your mission in life and describe that mission in a mission statement.
A mission statement can help you to remove the dust from the mirror so you can see clearly.
You must separate truth and reality from the illusionary. You need a great deal of courage to challenge your beliefs and reach out to reality. If you are too caught up with the mundane, illusionary things of life, it will be difficult to get clarity.
To help you achieve clarity, ask yourself the following:
Do you know the one thing you must do?
Are you spending your life stringing and unstringing the instrument instead of
singing your song?
Do you keep your eye on the goal or on the obstacles?
Do you see and feel your goal and vision regularly?
Is your work mission aligned to you personal mission?
Do you know why you are doing what you are doing?
Is your work your greatest delight?
Does your purpose make a difference to others?
Do you know that you are born with a mission to make a difference?
(Extract from “Life Balance the Sufi Way” by Dr. Nido Qubein and Azim Jamal)