The philosophers of old have long extolled the virtues of living life deliberately and on purpose.
Socrates one of the great Greek philosophers famously remarked that “the unexamined life is not worth living. "
In today’s world it seems the more advanced we get technologically, our lives seems to become more busy and complicated.
When we are kids, life is easy, because we just have a few priorities and we are happy if we can meet them. But as we grow older, a lot of things that needn’t matter seem to creep in and assume the same importance as the things that do.
Some say that everyone comes to earth with a unique purpose. Others say you create it.
However, what I do know for certain is that once you identify what your purpose is or have a broad sense of what matters to you, it can make your life a whole lot easier.
To be honest with you, I’ve never really believed in the idea of a purpose. But during a time in my life when I was feeling completely clueless and worried about where my life was heading, I decided to ask the Universe what mine was.
I got three unmistakable signs from the universe signs to start writing a blog. The first came from one of my closest friends, the next from a random WhatsApp message from a person who I didn't know and the third came from a passage in a book I was reading.
Now blogging wouldn’t have been an option I would have decided to take with my logical and rational mind. However, my life experience has taught me that sometimes I need to trust and have faith even when things don’t logically make sense.
While I am now 50-50 on the notion that we come to Earth with a purpose, however, for most people, uncovering or creating their purpose isn’t something that happens overnight.
Moreover, the word “purpose” can seem a little heavy and be too intimidating and put people off from discovering or uncovering it.
However, I think there is a much simpler way of approaching this question that can be immensely helpful to simplify your life and live more deliberately. And that is to identify the top three things that matter to you the most or brings the most value to your life.
Time is a limited resource. Moreover, we are not going to stick around here forever. So it helps to have clarity on where you should spend your time and energy in your life.
It’s always easy to get stuck in the cycle of instant gratification with social media, YouTube, Netflix... especially when that’s generally how most people spend their free time.
And while that can be undoubtedly fun every now and then, it’s almost never deeply fulfilling.
And I guess that pursuing instant gratification isn’t what will be on most people’s list of top three things that matter most to them or adds the most value in their life.
Once you have a clear idea of your top three things, you can devote more of your time, money and energy on what matters to you and fulfils you on a deeper level, and eliminate the clutter by stripping of needless activities from your life.
The answers to this could be anything. For some it may mean spending more time with people (family & friends) , taking care of your emotional and physical well being, spending more time exploring your creativity, learning and mastering a skill/skills etc.
For some, the answer to this question will come instantly and while for others, it will require some deep thought and contemplation.
Slowing down, taking up introspective activities like meditation, journaling, spending time in solitude reflecting and examining your life, listening to your heart and gut are all ways in which you can arrive at answers to this.
Now the answer to this question need not be for the rest of your life, since a year from now you may find that your priorities may change. Yet this gives a good picture on where you can focus your time and energy and what is worthy of your attention and what isn’t.
The great thing is once you get clear about what matters to you, the little things won’t bother you as much and your peace of mind and emotional balance will be much better.
If you go through life with your mind on autopilot, your priorities can get mixed up, and you may spend as much or more time on things that don’t really matter instead of the things that do.
Having clarity of what matters to you will help you to live your life deliberately instead of letting your unconscious tendencies and behaviours drive your life.
So I'd like to invite you to ask yourself "what are the three things/areas in my life that matter to me the most? "
If you found some value in this post, kindly consider supporting my work with a small tip. I'd really appreciate it.
For simple and practical wisdom on how to live better and be happier, enter your email below to join the mailing list.
Continue Reading : How I Found What I Love And How You Can Do The Same