Does it feel like all you do is get up in the morning, go to work, come back in the evening, and go to bed? Do you sometimes ask yourself, “Is this all there is?” If you do, that’s a positive sign. It means you are still emotionally alive and want to live your life on a higher level than you have been until now. It means you want your life to be about more than just the working day, and that is a healthy desire.

 

Your True Purpose

You were put on this earth for a purpose, and it is your duty to find out what that purpose is and to dedicate yourself to it. If you don’t, you will always have the feeling that something is missing. There will always be that question at the back of your mind.  Your talents and skills are the tools for this purpose. All your experiences, pleasant or painful are the training for this purpose. You have been especially designed to make this contribution, and no-one else in the world can do it in exactly the way you do.

 

Getting Involved to Make a Difference

True happiness comes from using our talents in such a way that we are helping others. We all have talents that we are supposed to develop and use. You know there are certain things you are good at, and enjoy. Your job is to pinpoint what they are and find out how they can be used to benefit others. Even if you don’t know the answers to all your questions, you can start now, and things will become clearer.

 

Start small and build from there

One of the best ways to help other people is to donate your time doing something you already know how to do. Even if you don’t consider yourself brilliant at it, the chances are that other people will really appreciate your efforts, and to them you will seem like an expert.

A few years ago, even though I had no experience of talking to the elderly, I started visiting the Pines home for the elderly, taking my guitar so that I could sing songs, in order to avoid finding myself in awkward conversations. I figured that it wouldn’t matter that I was not very good at the guitar as the old people would be deaf and not very switched on, so they wouldn’t mind.

In spite of my lack of experience and questionable attitude, the fact that I was there singing with them gave them comfort, and I soon developed a rapport with each of them as we got to know each other.

The point is that you don’t need to wait until every circumstance is perfect, just start doing something no matter how small, and everything else will gradually fall into place. The mere act of opening yourself up to other people develops parts of you that may have been lying undiscovered for years, and your transformation will take root and blossom from there.