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How do you discover

How do you discover your real purpose in life?
That is a thought that has occurred to me tonight. You see, I have just finished writing the book Lifestyle Plan which consists of a 20-day plan by which you can reform your life. Each day is split into Activity, Classroom Behaviour Management, Creativity, Exercise, and Losing Weight. It was in the Activity section that I started thinking about Spiritual Exercises, which of course, many of you will recognise as coming from Ignatius Loyola Exercises are all very well – on a spiritual, mental and physical basis, but will they actually help you define/understand your true ‘purpose in life’?
I was not so sure.
As with any mystery the simplest thing is to turn to Google. I typed in 'real purpose of life' and nearly 71 million hits showed up. Even allowing for 75% of the sites not really dealing with the ‘real’ purpose (instead just trying to sell you the ‘ultimate herb’ from an obscure Tibetan cave) that’s still a lot of sites giving you ‘information’. One site had on it an article about Mind Control from anti-Christians. Among other things, this site warned me:
“Regardless of the country in which you live, if you watch secular news or entertainment, you are submitting yourself to anti-Christian mind control and persuasion. The same is true of secular education.”
This seems a bit worrying as I am involved in secular education and I have enough trouble getting the brats, sorry, pupils/students to pay any attention let alone ‘control their mind’. Perhaps I have skills on a subliminal level?
I remember about 30 years ago going to a firm of Careers Analysts in London and they told me my ‘best’ job would be in Commerce or in Social Work. If you combine the two you have ‘teaching Business Studies’ (probably to underprivileged kids). So it seems the careers analysts were able to identify my ‘real purpose’ – for a fee of about £70 – which was quite a lot in 1975.
I know I did try the ‘best job’ when I ran evening classes at Peer's School in Littlemore, Oxford. The classes were free and you had to be either a student or unemployed to come along. The classes were quite successful, 100% pass rate for Business Studies after 1 year. (Full A-level, not just AS) When I ran the course again, for a second year, 75% took the exam in November. Again a 100% pass-rate, which was not bad after just 10 evening classes. Somehow this didn’t seem very fulfilling, though – and we had to stop the classes anyway as cars were being vandalised.
So how can people find their ‘real purpose’ in life? To continue my investigation I looked again at Steve Pavlina's site which I am fast becoming a regular visitor to. (I emailed him yesterday mentioning this blog – he’s been to have a look.) On his site he seemed to have the answer – I paraphrase but if you wish, why not visit the original article
“Here’s a story about Bruce Lee which sets the stage for this little exercise. A master martial artist asked Bruce to teach him everything Bruce knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup,” said Bruce, “represents all of your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all of my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.”
If you want to discover your true purpose in life, you must first empty your mind of all the false purposes you’ve been taught (including the idea that you may have no purpose at all).
Here’s what to do:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).


2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”


3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.


4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.

Usually it takes 15-20 minutes to clear your head of all the clutter and the social conditioning about what you think your purpose in life is. But when the true answer finally arrives, it will feel like it’s coming to you from a different source entirely.
Here was my final answer: to live consciously and courageously, to resonate with love and compassion, to awaken the great spirits within others, and to leave this world in peace.
Source: Steve Pavlina
Perhaps that would be a way of finding out? If you’re in business and have strayed to this Blog then you may be more familiar with another remedy such as asking a Business Coach (probably trained by The Coaching Academy ) I tend to think a Business Coach is likely to give a ‘business answer’ – maybe the key is a visit to a Life Coach – certainly Lisa Ravenscroft has a very helpful site and an interesting Newsletter.
Maybe, though, the only way to find out is to ask yourself – as indeed Steve Pavlina did. Which brings me back to the Lifestyle Plan book I have just finished. In theory we could plan out our lives simply by getting closer and closer to Self – it’s just that sometimes we need a little help.
And that’s where teachers – of all kinds – come in and sometimes our most important function is just to help pupils listen...
Chris Sivewright

posted by Duncan Williamson @ 2:37 AM