Why your search criteria are flawed!
Paul White's nationally distributed syndicated column, “Why your search criteria are flawed!” is published in 22 publications across seven states. This includes the following newspapers and digital publications: Midland Daily News (MI), SFGate (CA), Seattle PI (WA), Connecticut Post (CT), Laredo Morning Times (TX), Huron Daily Tribune (MI), The Telegraph (IL), and more. This week's article focuses on how naturally your purpose can be achieved each day when you employ kindness, compassion, and love in everything you do.
What a relief! I had been putting so much pressure on myself attempting to find my purpose in life. You know, the perfect answer to the question “WHY AM I HERE?”
It was a question that would come up in my life at the strangest of times causing me to fret over whether I was on the path intended for my life. I’d often wonder if I was making any progress Plus, how in the world could I ever accurately determine purpose. All great questions to ask oneself, but doggone hard to answer and then act on. One day, I stumbled upon the answer that allowed me to stop searching and start living.
One day, on social media, I happened upon the following, titled: GOOD KARMA – Note to Self – “What is my purpose in life?” I asked the void. “What if I told you that you fulfilled it when you took an extra hour to talk to that kid about his life?” said the voice. “Or when you paid for that young couple in the restaurant? Or when you saved that dog in traffic? Or when you tied your father’s shoes for him?”
“Your problem is that you equate your purpose with goal-based achievement. The Universe isn’t interested in your achievements… just your heart. When you choose to act out of kindness, compassion, and love, you are already aligned with your true purpose. No need to look any further!”
No need to look any further! That’s a pretty powerful statement signifying that you’ve reached the finish line for your purpose search and now you can just focus on living a life based on kindness, compassion, and love every day. When you do that, your purpose becomes self-fulfilling. At this point you can ditch the purpose search and begin to break down each day in your life and ponder the role kindness, compassion, and love play.
Many of us get bogged down wanting to believe that our life doesn’t need to have purpose as much as it needs to have significance. We want our lives to matter, and we want to be recognized. Here again, we tend to fall into flawed strategy that doesn’t recognize the fact that everything we say, and do, matters and that every effort we make to be kind, compassionate, and loving IS recognized.
If your life is ego-driven, maybe you struggle that the recognition isn’t coming in the form you prefer. If you are humble-driven, recognition by others has no role in your quality of life. The only recognition we need is our own ability to recognize the joy we experience when we’re being kind, compassionate, and loving. Recognize that and you’re going to consistently have a wonderful day.
Here's where this gets really important. Anyone wondering about their purpose in life most likely is being critical of themselves for not having an “Official Personal Purpose Statement” with goals and charts and graphs over a wide variety of timelines. Please don’t fall through that trap door.
First of all, there’s great value in just recognizing that you want to have a purpose, and an answer to the question “Why am I here?” Secondly, chill out, relax, and think this whole thought process through. It makes more sense to direct your effort into training yourself to become an expert at random, and intentional, acts of kindness. There’s huge bang for your buck if you focus on growing those.
If you want to push the simple button, imagine a fence that runs into the future of your life. Everything in your life that falls on the right side of the fence is good and fulfills your purpose. Everything in your life that falls on the left side of the fence is not good and detracts from your purpose. Realize that as a human you’re bound to fail now and then which may land you on the not good side of the fence. But even when you land on the not good side, if your intent was to land on the good side, you’ll learn from your mistakes.
It’s like having a step-ladder allowing you to climb over the fence from the "not good" to the "good" side. Here’s something profound: Any time you attempt to be kind, compassionate, and loving you’re fulfilling your purpose regardless of the level of success you perceive your actions have. Just attempting moves you in a positive direction. I’ll use a different set of words to help you anchor this important truth in your mind. ANY ATTEMPT to be kind, compassionate, and loving moves your physical, emotional, and spiritual life in a positive direction.
Here's the thing. If you don’t take a little time right now to think deeply about what I’ve written today, it will be hard to come back later and have this thought process achieve the success it’s meant to have in helping you. If you take a few minutes to think about your past and dwell on each time you’ve been kind, compassionate, or loving to another person, you can experience the joy it brought all over again. You may not have consciously realized that you were fulfilling your purpose in life at the time, but now you can realize how naturally your purpose can be achieved each day.
If it helps, write down a few instances on a piece of paper and tape it to your bathroom mirror where you’ll see it each morning. Begin each day inspired and excited to go out and change the world living the reason you’re here on this earth. I know you can do this. I Believe in You! It’s time for you and your purpose to GiddyUp!
In addition to being a nationally syndicated columnist, Paul White is an author, motivational and inspirational speaker, entrepreneur, podcaster, and life coach located in Midland, Michigan. He offers self-help and culture development to start your journey towards consistent growth and joy. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Paul, please submit an inquiry via our Contact Page.