AND HOW DO I FIND IT?

Have you ever asked yourself, what is my life’s purpose? Take a moment to check in on your satisfaction quotient. You might have a brilliant career, a successful business, and a loving, supportive network of family and friends. But if you can’t identify your life’s purpose, you’ll still feel that there’s something not quite right. Living an authentic, purposeful life causes you to feel happier and healthier. Scientists have even found it can help you live longer!

If contentment and fulfillment are eluding you, if you have this sense that something is missing, try these practical ways to find your life’s purpose.

• Home in On Your Passions

If you have trouble thinking of your passions, have a look at what you post on social media. What fires you up? What photos and issues do you post and comment on? What sort of articles do you share or email to friends? What do you discuss around the dinner table?

Being more aware of what really fires your interest will give you a clue to your life’s purpose.

• What Injustices Fire You Up

In a similar vein, what makes your blood boil when you see it on the news or read about it? Maybe it’s inequality, child poverty, or cruelty to animals. Think about the issues that bother you. Think of how you could use these emotions to change the world, or at least your world. Volunteer at a local non-profit or organize a petition or letter-writing campaign. Set up an online fundraiser. Turn your passion to fight injustice into action for good.

• Volunteer to Find Your Purpose

Studies have shown that helping others is one of the most powerful ways to increase your own happiness. It is also an excellent way to find meaning and purpose in your life. Think of what you can do to help your local sports club, aged care home, or non-profit. When you donate your time, money, and skills to help others, you will not just be giving them a helping hand; you will help yourself as well.

• Ask for Feedback

If you’re still struggling to find a purpose that resonates with you, ask for feedback. Think about when people come to you to ask for help. What do people compliment you on?

Chat to friends and family about their interests and ask them what comes to mind when they think of you. You may already be living your life with purpose and passion, but you just don’t realize it! This becomes a great opportunity to enhance it and feel the difference in your day-to-day life.

It is a great idea to track your thoughts and plans as you investigate your purpose – it may change. Try using this journal to help you or look here for some more reasons to journal. Here’s a post I did a while back called, WHY SHOULD I JOURNAL – it might help you.

Many people use affirmations for personal development and to help them meet their life goals. But did you know you can use affirmations to build resilience and combat stress? Yes, we can combat the stress in our lives with affirmations.

Whether it’s a one-off stress, like having to give a presentation or an ongoing stressful issue, you can create the right affirmations to support you through. Affirmations will help you deal better with current stress, and over time, prevent future anxiety.

1. Know Your Negative Enemy

Identifying your negative thoughts is the first step in working out the best affirmations for you and your situation.

Take a moment to think of all the beliefs that come up when you think about your stressful event. Do you worry about not knowing what to say at a party, or freezing while you try to give a presentation? Record any negative thought that pops into your head. Make the conscious decision to move away from those negative beliefs.

2. Turn the Negatives into Positives

Now you have your list of negative thoughts; you can take each one and turn it into a positive. Make strong positive statements and remind yourself of times in the past when you coped well in similar situations.

When you develop your affirmations, tie them back to times when you have succeeded in the past. If you can’t think of any, ask your partner, friend, or colleague to help you. Likely, they’ll have a much more positive view of your skills and achievements than you do!

Write down some encouraging phrases to get you through, like ‘I’m feeling stressed, but I will be ok,’ ‘I can do this,’ ‘When this is over, I will be so proud of myself.’ Use a journal to track your progress. Need more information about journaling? Try this previous post.

3. Keep Your Affirmations Realistic

Affirmations are not magic. Keep your affirmations in proportion to what you can do and how you feel. If they are too ambitious, they can make you feel more anxious than before. And if you have a misstep or you fail, then you’ll feel even worse than before.

Maybe you get anxious about public speaking, whether it’s giving a presentation or having a job interview. Your affirmations will help you even more if you know you have done everything possible to be prepared.

If you worry about getting stage fright or going blank, prepare every aspect of your speech or presentation. Remind yourself that you know how to do this, you know your subject.

Anticipate what might go wrong and work out strategies to prevent or deal with it, from having spare notes in case the technology fails to having a glass of water nearby if you feel faint.

Affirmations work. Try some small tests if you are a skeptic to build your confidence. Remember to breathe before moving into your stressful action. You’ve got this.