What is the Purpose?

What is your purpose? After all, life needs meaning. For some, purpose is connected to vocational, meaningful, satisfying work. For some, purpose lies in the responsibility to family and friends. We have purpose in our community, it takes a village, we can't just take there has to be some giving back.

“You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self, to live out your purpose, and to do it courageously.”

― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

Purpose is the reason something exists and having the intended end or goal. Purpose can guide life decisions, influence behavior, shape goals and offer a sense of direction that creates meaning. We can not just eat, sleep, work and repeat day after day, week after week. There needs to be more, something that brings excitement about your end goal. To grow a garden is an end result, bountiful harvest to provide nutrition to the body, self reliance and satisfaction. A flower garden can bring the simple joys of beauty and pleasure to our hard work.

In nature, there is a purpose for every creation, event and even natural disaster. A tree is vital to the balance of life. A tree is the biggest plant on Earth. It gives not only oxygen, stores carbon and stabilizes the soil, but can give shelter and shade.

The bear has a purpose. When it cleans up a carcass that it feeds on, it not only keeps he population of herd animals down and balanced, but it also balances a variety of habitats to survive and is a good role in the ecosystem. As it drags the salmon through the forest, particles of the salmon actually enrich the soil. As it grazes on plant life, seeds are spread and the end result adds to new plant life. A bear, communicates with scratch marks on trees, the behavior traits that resemble those of humans.

An ant, turns and areates the soil allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots. They take seeds down the tunnel resulting in new plant growth. The ant will help decompose material by feeding on organic waste, insects and other dead creatures. This leaves fungi and bacteria that breaks down larger material and goes into the soil to enrich and replace what plants suck out.

So what is your purpose? We spend years, work, eat, play, raise children, provide shelter and food for our young. What happens when you retire and the children are grown up? Our purpose and meaning shifts and sometimes when the big picture is shifted and our daily life changes the meaning is still needed. So, enjoy the simple pleasures of life, to see the magic in every day, not only the security the sun will rise in the morning but each sunrise will be different and some spectacular. To know you raised your children well and got them in the right direction and now to enjoy watching the grand children grow and create a special relationship with them. Take pride in the life you built around you, see the precious moments of time, conquer the mountain and breathe in the majestic view.

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt