Chris Pepple's Blog - Posts Tagged "goals"
Life’s Purpose
I once met Armiger Jagoe, author of You Are Next in Line: Everyone’s Guide for Writing Your Autobiography. During a lecture on how to write your autobiography, he shared parts of his life story. He also shared tips on how he decided what to include in his book. He suggested that while trying to outline your life story, you write a short statement that declares your life’s purpose.
What was your purpose for living yesterday, last month, last year? Can you put that in words? If you write this statement of life purpose frequently, you might see that your perspective changes from time to time. You may feel that your life’s purpose has shifted through the years.
I agree with Mr. Jagoe that writing a statement can bring focus into your life. This is true of all people. We can see the significance of our existence. There is someone that we love, that we inspire, that we nurture or that we encourage. Our life’s purpose may be related to our career. Maybe you are the person leading us one step closer to a medical or scientific breakthrough. Maybe you are the writer that will inspire thousands by your words and change a generation. Maybe you are a politician that will bring much needed changes to a nation. Maybe you are a doctor or nurse bringing healing to many people. Maybe you are a teacher inspiring our youth to find their own purpose in life.
For most of us, however, our life’s purpose is much simpler, though still as important. Maybe today you encouraged one person who will go on to encourage others. Maybe today you were a parent who nurtured your children and got them through a tough time. Maybe today you held the hand of an elderly parent who needed you there so desperately. Maybe you helped a neighbor or fixed a pipe or drove the bus that got hundreds of people to work.
I truly believe that every life matters. Every person has a purpose. I also believe that not all of us know our full purpose in life. Have I greeted a person who would suffer later that day and need to remember my smile, but I never knew it? Did I encourage someone by my presence, and that person went on to make a life-changing decision because of my influence? Did a stranger see me living with a positive attitude and change their attitude? Did I place a seed of hope in someone’s heart?
Many strangers have touched my life--people I can never go back and thank because I don’t know them. People have said hello in passing when I desperately needed a positive voice. People have shared a table with me without knowing how much that hospitality meant. I hope we all see the importance of the roles we have in life, but I hope we all also remember that we touch more lives than we will ever realize when we live as fully and as hopefully as we are able to.
It’s your life…live it well.
What was your purpose for living yesterday, last month, last year? Can you put that in words? If you write this statement of life purpose frequently, you might see that your perspective changes from time to time. You may feel that your life’s purpose has shifted through the years.
I agree with Mr. Jagoe that writing a statement can bring focus into your life. This is true of all people. We can see the significance of our existence. There is someone that we love, that we inspire, that we nurture or that we encourage. Our life’s purpose may be related to our career. Maybe you are the person leading us one step closer to a medical or scientific breakthrough. Maybe you are the writer that will inspire thousands by your words and change a generation. Maybe you are a politician that will bring much needed changes to a nation. Maybe you are a doctor or nurse bringing healing to many people. Maybe you are a teacher inspiring our youth to find their own purpose in life.
For most of us, however, our life’s purpose is much simpler, though still as important. Maybe today you encouraged one person who will go on to encourage others. Maybe today you were a parent who nurtured your children and got them through a tough time. Maybe today you held the hand of an elderly parent who needed you there so desperately. Maybe you helped a neighbor or fixed a pipe or drove the bus that got hundreds of people to work.
I truly believe that every life matters. Every person has a purpose. I also believe that not all of us know our full purpose in life. Have I greeted a person who would suffer later that day and need to remember my smile, but I never knew it? Did I encourage someone by my presence, and that person went on to make a life-changing decision because of my influence? Did a stranger see me living with a positive attitude and change their attitude? Did I place a seed of hope in someone’s heart?
Many strangers have touched my life--people I can never go back and thank because I don’t know them. People have said hello in passing when I desperately needed a positive voice. People have shared a table with me without knowing how much that hospitality meant. I hope we all see the importance of the roles we have in life, but I hope we all also remember that we touch more lives than we will ever realize when we live as fully and as hopefully as we are able to.
It’s your life…live it well.
