The Purpose Prescription
If you have been following this blog over the past few weeks, you know that I have been on the hunt for what to say to those who help others find purpose in their lives; mostly career, pastoral, and college counselors. The hunt was driven by a nagging sense that most of what has been offered about the subject of finding life purpose is either slightly off target, missing some crucial ingredient, or flat out wrong.
The conclusion to all of those ruminations is what I am calling (at least for the time being) the Purpose Prescription. It describes three things anyone must do in order to find purpose. I am just going to lay it out here without further elaboration because if I get started writing more about it I’ll probably not stop for months.
Here is the Purpose Prescription:
- Learn to frame your experience in empowerment, courage and confidence; in willingness to face your self; in peace of mind, compassion, trust in your intuition, responsibility, and flexibility; in faith, patience, other-centeredness, and a holistic view of life; and in determination to make your best contribution to the human condition.
- Seek or welcome experience that stirs your emotions.
- Remain alert, and accept the call when it arrives.
I began this series of posts with the question, “When will I know my purpose?” The answer is simple but not easy: you will find your purpose when you become the kind of person to whom purpose calls.
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October 2nd, 2006 at 1:23 am
This is brilliant Dick. I love it. I’ll be using it in my Triggers ezine published on 1 Nov. 2006, with the following acknowledgement:
Source: The “Come Gather Round” blog by Dick Richards of www.ongenius.com
You can see this month’s Triggers at http://feeds.feedburner.com/Triggers-MonthlyCoachingEzine
Best regards, Thea
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:29 am
Apology…one more note, Dick…I’ll also post it at http://coach-snippets.blogspot.com/ on 10 Oct. 2006 with the same acknowledgement tag as in my previous comment.
Cheers,
Thea
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:47 am
Thanks Thea. I do appreciate it when someone extends my work and makes it available to others.
October 15th, 2006 at 8:55 am
Dear Dick
I came here through a link to this post from another blog. Your blog is new to me and I’m looking forward to read more of it.
It’s inspiring to witness how you explore the matter of purpose and how you arrive at your “prescription”.
But you know, I have mixed feelings about the “you will find your purpose when you become the kind of person to whom purpose calls”:
I resonate with it because it motivates us to rise to our “best”, and to listen! There is a beauty to it…
And then… I truly believe that each and one of us is here for a purpose and with a purpose, from the day we’re born till the day we die. We may not be aware of what that purpose is (not while we’re in a limited state of consciousness) and we may not be aware of the fact that we are in fact fulfilling our purpose each and every day. Nevertheless, the purpose is there and its fulfillment takes place.
The question that arises in me is whether the search for purpose and even the need for purpose comes from a lack of trust in our divinity and in the fact that our lives unfold perfectly and beautifully no matter how we judge it?
Warm greetings
Halina
October 18th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Halina,
Wow! You have raised a bunch of profound issues in one short comment! There is debate about whether we are, in fact, fulfilling our purpose day-to-day merely by being in a higher state of consciousness.
I do think that perspective has a ring of truth, but it also somehow leaves me cold–it isn’t quite right, something is missing. I do cringe a bit when I hear someone say that they are fulfilling their purpose by “being.” It sounds like a cop-out to me if we think of purpose as an outwardly directed mission or calling.
I think that becoming more conscious and precise about what our purpose is helps us to be more intentional, confident, and effective in fulfilling it. So it seems to me that, given that a higher state of consciousness is the underpinning for purpose, the need to understand our purpose is driven less by “lack of trust in our divinity” and more from a sincere desire to give focus to our lives, do the next right thing, and communicate what we are all about to others so that opportunities to enact our purpose will be drawn to our doorsteps.
Thanks for a thought-provoking comment!
March 19th, 2007 at 10:59 am
I believed purpose is the original intent of the creator that cause the creator to create his creation the way it is. So for any one to know their purpose they must go back to the creator who has the original design of his creation. God is the creator, we are his creation and for us to know our purpose, we must go back go God, who is responsible for our design.