Most of our lives we build these walls around ourselves, narrowing down our perspective on what is good or bad. Oftentimes, these views are a reflection of our subjective experience which may or might not be a reflection of the real truth. We develop habits that either degrades us, or shapes us for the better. But, whatever be our past experience, there comes a time when we seek answers to such lifelong questions, such as the "meaning of life" or "purpose".
Understanding the concept of purpose
Purpose need not be profound. It need not be something outrageous or difficult as climbing Mount Everest. Some of us are born to be great in our own circles - a great father or mother, husband or wife. But, these things don't come to us out of the blue. We might be naturally good a certain things, but it doesn't not necessary qualify as purpose. Purpose is a goal, which can't be defined objectively, yet can be identified when we stumble upon it. It essentially implies that we are all born for different reasons. But, if purpose isn’t so obvious, how do we recognize it?
Passion
What is passion? They are things that we feel strongly about. One of the greatest entrepreneurs and founder of Apple, Steve Jobs' passion lied in creating new technology. But , why do we feel certain things more strongly than others? Why does our peers and close ones fail to share our zeal in something unconventional that is so appealing to our senses?
If we are indeed unique in our design, the thoughts that fuel us are also unique. There are certain things we feel naturally inclined to do more than others. But, the reason why we feel that way isn’t so simple. We feel the surge of energy, Our passion becomes our source of happiness, the process itself is so enriching that the incentives are nothing in comparison. One common misconception regarding passion, is that it’s easy. Passion is anything but easy.
Passion is simply a reason that naturally motivates us to do certain things. We can spend hours every single day. Our love for it far outweighs boredom, and lack of any incentive.
An interesting way to find out whether something is truly our passion, is to ask ourselves the extent to which we are willing to go without earning a single pay check, in essence, do something for free. Money is of course a necessity to some extent. It’s impossible to survive without any kind of basic resources, which isn’t of course, free. But, If we feel largely unmotivated, despite not having to compromise with our basic livelihood, chances are that out passion lies elsewhere.
But how do find this needle in a haystack of random compulsive chores ?
Exploring
One of the favourite quotes goes like this - “Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed.”
- Stanislaw Lem in Solaris
It reveals the truth of how we are concerned with facts and figure that are way beyond us, instead of searching for answers that lie inside us. A great technique to find what suits us best is be able to constantly accept change, embrace new activities, go out on a adventure from time to time. New experiences are not only refreshing, but also provides us with new stimuli. Every new challenge we face changes our thought process. It is pointless to expect change, unless we learn to embrace it. Passion is found in the strangest of places, in the strangest moments. Our passion largely defines us. When we stumble upon things in life we strongly believe in, we find ourselves the piece of the puzzle that was missing all along, and in pursuing and overcoming these challenges, we emerge victorious.