Having a purpose in life is beneficial for one’s well-being. It’s been proven to reduce the risk of suicide, among other important health indicators. But for many people, a purpose is elusive, and the topic can be frustrating. The story of “purpose” can bring judgment, insecurity, and negativity.
I was desperate to find my purpose. I thought a purpose would be a magical solution to my struggles when in fact my confusion about Purpose was part of the cause. I knew I had neglected goals and wondered if those missed achievements were supposed to be my purpose. That story haunted me. I wondered if a job or a relationship or maybe even some material item could clarify my life’s purpose. My life felt dull and uninspiring, and that's because seeking a purpose outside oneself and beyond the only moment is dull and uninspiring.
I’ve come to know that the purpose that drives me, satisfies me, entertains me, and fascinates me is life-driven. Therefore, it is also death-driven. The purpose doesn’t drive the life, the life (and death) drives the purpose: Pay attention.
The most purpose-driven person ends up in the same exact place as the slacker. And I’ve always been a slacker, always looking for the easy way. If I must work, I learned early on that I’d rather work smart than work hard, when given a choice. The path of yoga is the path of ease, the path of least resistance. It supports the slacker in all of us.
In the ancient text The Yoga Sutras, Patanjali notes that fear of death is an obstacle to peace. Facing facts—that death comes for all, sooner or later but sooner—is far more tolerable because it has the benefit of being true. With death acceptance, life is easier. There is nothing to do, nothing to change, nothing to fix. It feels smarter because it’s simpler. All the machinations needed to support basic ignorance is a massive burden. It’s too much work to deny the supremacy of this moment. It’s wasted effort to look outside and at moments that don’t exist. Best of all, facing facts (and facing the self in the process) requires courage. The practice of courage is the practice of freedom.
The more we release the confusion of fear, the more we open to ease and satisfaction, and the more able we are to pursue whatever seems like a meaningful, fun, compelling thing to pursue. Each moment is an invitation to open to our lives, simply by opening to the one full, complete, and actual moment.
As long as we are breathing, we have an opportunity to activate our experience with awareness. There is no finer purpose. Life only happens now. We can examine our lives by studying the experience of this moment. We can take an active interest in how we’re doing on this planet, what’s working, what’s not working, and why. And we can experience one sweet breath in one sweet moment and recognize its fundamental value.
A moment of supreme quality--open, easy, aware, fearless--is an experience of Supreme Being. Studying and releasing all that impedes and limits life as a fully functioning human is a noble and courageous purpose. It is a life-driven purpose.
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