A Fulfilling Life: Finding Daily Purpose
"I want to do important work"
Then smile at people you meet,
play with dogs & open your windows
in the morning and listen to the birds.
Give your mom a call, dance in your
garden, pray for someone as they
walk by.
Wave at your neighbor, write a letter
to your grandma, enjoy the rain.
Life is about giving and being,
not getting and having.
We all have asked ourselves the same question, what does a fulfilling life look like for me? And is it possible to reach?
We often worry that we will never find our purpose, our reason for living. Many of us can carry this weight; subconsciously allowing it to slowly burden us.
We long for this feeling of fulfillment and often dedicate our whole lives to understanding it further and constantly striving to have it. Yet, I don’t think that it’s a destination that we come to and all is well, but it’s often about feelings we welcome into our lives that naturally come and go. It’s an everyday journey about accepting the good and the bad, and realizing that you can not have a complete life without that.
It’s about looking deeper into why you are here and honoring who you are at your core. It’s about the discovery of finding things that nurture your soul. This is your life pursuit. It’s your responsibility to advocate for it, because no one else will. Only you have seen it in your heart and mind.
A fulfilling life looks different for everyone. Each person has a unique path to follow to fully align with their authentic self; lead by their own internal aspirations, personal values, and life experiences. The values each person carries with them throughout their life heavily impacts their individuality.
A fulfilling life is all about feelings; purpose, connection, gratitude, joy. How you feel is often more important than what you do or accomplish in life. And I think that's how it's meant to be, we get so caught up in the rush of being successful with what we're passionate about, that we forget to slow down and enjoy these everyday simple moments that we are blessed with.
In my soul I believe that a major part of the purpose of life is to be present with these small moments. We aren't meant to do big things all the time. I always thought that a life of meaning meant a life full of big moments or big changes. But a fulfilling life can be reached just by being grateful for where you are currently at and by appreciating the beauty in each passing day.
The greatest work we could ever do, is to exist in the current moment and be fully present, listen to what our body and souls are telling us, to smile more and think of others, to give of ourselves, to accept who we are. The whole of our life is made up of these small moments.
Take a step back from worrying with me right now and just focus on the now. Take a deep breath, put your phone down, stand up, stretch your body, drink some water, reconnect with your soul.
“You may believe that living life to the fullest is seeing every country in the world and quitting your job on a whim and falling recklessly in love, but it's really just knowing how to be where your feet are. It's learning how to take care of yourself, how to make a home within your own skin. It's learning how to build a simple life you are proud of. A life most fully lived is not always composed of the things that rock you awake, but those that slowly assure you it's okay to slow down. That you don't always have to prove yourself. That you don't need to fight forever, or constantly want more. That it's okay for things to be just as they are. Little by little, you will begin to see that life can only grow outward in proportion to how stable it is inward — that if the joy is not in the little things first, the big things won't fully find us.”
Brianna Wiest
One day, you’ll look back and realize that you were on your journey to self discovery all along & you’ll wish you didn’t spend so much time worrying about it. Just focus on living today and embody the beautiful human that you currently are.