The Hidden Power of Purpose.

I’ve always felt that the one thing a human being cannot tolerate is meaninglessness. Pollsters find that the greatest fear of people as they age is loneliness, and loneliness occurs when you feel that your life is no longer meaningful. In troubled times chaos replaces orderliness, which means that meaningless disorder looms as a threat. But all these threats do not have to be reflected inside you.

To maintain order “in here,” you need to know and find a purpose that makes your life meaningful. Purpose combats stress, and the most powerful purposes are associated with feeling secure about who you are and why you were put here. Likewise, feeling that you are on course with your purpose is effective in keeping away anxiety and depression.

Have you been able to find your life’s purpose yet? If so, do you feel that you are on track right now? When they first enter the job market, many young people take the most available job they can find, and sometimes the only job.  There’s little or no room to think about something as grand and far-reaching as their purpose in life. But eventually, the issue arises.

In the tradition of Yoga, your purpose is already waiting for you. It exists at a deeper level of awareness than the mental activity that fills the mind constantly. If it sounds alien to imagine that your purpose already exists, there is a principle of consciousness that clarifies things. This principle says that the mind follows anything that fascinates it.

Pause and consider something that fascinates you—it can be art, your work, something you love to do, or a hobby that serves as your creative outlet. You’ll notice first how personal your fascination is. Other people might feel indifferent and have their own fascinations. Second, the thing that fascinates you is effortless. It sparks your focused attention and provides motivation automatically. When fully focused, you are liberated from mental activity. The ups and downs of everyday life don’t interfere.

Fascination isn’t the same as distraction. The one can blossom into a purpose that has meaning; the other is momentary and fades away as soon as it is over. Almost everyone identifies with the work they do. Routine work is boring and meaningless. Work that fascinates you has a very different profile. Meaningfulness blossoms in many more ways than you realize.

• You love your work and feel energized by it.
• You feel that you and the job are a good fit.
• Your surroundings at work are low in stress, pressure, and office politics.
• You contribute something valuable and earn respect for what you do.
• You fulfill some personal ideals, such as being of service, reaching your full potential, or feeling that your work expands your horizons.
• There is an element of creativity in what you do.
• You feel that your co-workers are trustworthy and loyal. The same goes for supervisors and bosses.

These factors will bring you closer to your life’s purpose by giving you a purpose today. You don’t need a crystal ball into the future. Your life creates a path that unfolds in consciousness. By walking it, you discover more and more about yourself, and this brings you closer to a higher purpose that will sustain you, not because of what you do but because of who you are.

Unfortunately, most people don’t see themselves on such a path. They might rate a job according to salary and prestige, for example. Yet the Gallup Organization’s polling data strongly suggests that this focus doesn’t work. Worldwide Gallup asks people to rate whether they are thriving or merely surviving. Even in prosperous Western societies only about one-third of respondents report that they are thriving.

Thriving isn’t measured by your bank account, the size of your house, or how many people work under you. It is measured by your level of well-being. This message is starting to sink in for many people, particularly in these unsettled times. The superficiality of their existence is exposed by how easily anxiety rises to the surface of the mind.

Five years after the worst of the pandemic, people everywhere struggle for guidance about returning to their purpose after a time of disruption. Here are some useful ideas.

• Don’t try to regain lost progress all at once. Begin with activities that are part of your purpose.
• A good beginning is to find ways to be of service in small ways to people who are in need.
• The key is to feel confident about what you have to give to the world. You can sit down and make a list of your talents and strengths. Then write down one or two ways to use each one in the coming days.
• Remember that your purpose isn’t the same as your career. Keep your sight fixed on that powerful phrase, “the life you ought to be living.” Expand this to include everything that brings you closer to your ideal, and if your career hasn’t returned to its previous levels, you can still give your time, effort, and emotional support to those around you.

As sound as this advice is, life is more than work. Yoga holds out the notion of an ideal life based on a simple but profound truth. When awareness is deep and expanded, your highest purpose is achieved just by being here. Nothing you think or do will raise you higher than the awareness of “I am.” Existence has given you priceless worth in your true self, which is always with you in deepest awareness.

The spiritual journey is all about discovering this truth. The greatest purpose you are here to fulfill exists as the invisible potential enclosed in “I am.” You are the ideal life you were born for, nothing anything “out there” you run after.

The details will work themselves out once you grasp the promise that awaits in consciousness. Believe in a higher vision of life and live accordingly. Raise your expectations as high as your ideals. These have been the hallmarks of fulfillment for millennia, and they hold true today as much, if not more, than ever.

DEEPAK CHOPRA MD, FACP, FRCP, is a Consciousness Explorer and a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is co-founder of DeepakChopra.ai, his AI twin and well-being advisor. He also co-founded Cyberhuman, a transformative suite of personalized health and well-being solutions. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is also an Honorary Fellow in Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He is the author of over 95 books, translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers.

For the last thirty years, Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution. His mission is to create a more balanced, peaceful, joyful, and healthier world. Through his teachings, he guides individuals to embrace their inherent strength, wisdom, and potential for personal and societal transformation.

In his latest book, *Digital Dharma* (Harmony/Rodale, 09/17/24), Chopra navigates the balance between technology and expanded awareness, explaining that while AI cannot duplicate human intelligence, it can vastly enhance personal and spiritual growth. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of their top 100 most influential people.” www.deepakchopra.com.