Finding Purpose

"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others."― Albert Schweitzer_________________________________________________________________________________

Almost 60 years old, and most of my friends and I still talk about finding our calling, finding life's purpose. What are we truly meant to do?Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps explains:

“Finding your calling — it’s not passive. When people have found their calling, they’ve made tough decisions and sacrifices in order to do the work they were meant to do.  In other words, you don’t just “find” your calling — you have to fight for it. And it’s worth the fight. People who’ve found their calling have a fire about them,”

Isay has listened to thousands of people tell their story and describe fighting to find their purpose.  He describes his amazing work with StoryCorps in this great TED Talk - Everyone Around You Has a Story the World Needs to Hear: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKHk_UiQboA[/embed]A wonderful article in Daily Good elaborates on Isay's findings by outlining the 7 lessons Isay describes in his new book:  "Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work."I love this first Lesson:1. Your calling is at the intersection of a Venn diagram of three things: doing something you’re good at, feeling appreciated, and believing your work is making people’s lives better. That diagram shows the 'sweet spot' - intersecting three things: Doing something you are good at; intersecting with the knowledge that you are making people's lives better - service; and feeling appreciated for this work.  This idea mirrors Albert Schweitzer's quote:

"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others."

Your calling takes courage and doesn't always pay well. But we know it when we are doing it.  We get in the flow; we feel good about ourselves and our work; time flies; and although the pay check may not be great, we keep doing it because we know it is right for us.So I think it's quite fitting to close with this video entitled: How to Know Your Life's Purpose in 5 Minutes!  After all, at almost 60 many of us are running out of time![embed]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVsXO9brK7M[/embed]

I’d love to hear if you've found your life's purpose and how you found it.  And as always, thank you for taking the time to visit.  I appreciate it.