Finding our purpose

Like so many others I have struggled to find my purpose. I have asked, prayed, shouted and sulked... and all to no avail. The writing in the sky that I so impolitely requested never happened.

So how do we find our purpose? It turns out I had misread the Owners Manual for Human Beings.

We do not find our purpose. It finds us.

It appears that it follows a pattern like this:

Step 1. We search while doing something we may or may not like so much.

Step 2. We make choices that make our lives a little richer. We know we're not there yet because we're still trying to ease that inner gnawing sensation that our Most Magnificent Self is not the person turning up each day.

Step 3. We still continue making adjustments in our lives, our jobs, our relationships and our characters. We continue to feel the dull ache. We continue to search...

Step 4. We find new jobs and experiences that enrich us more. The desperation in the search eases a little as we begin to simply accept where we are, who we are and what we are doing.

Step 5. We simply live our lives.

Step 6. We are called upon. Our purpose finds us. And guess what: we balk at it, we think 'I could never do that'.

Then we wonder why we wanted it find it at all, even while we rejoice. Finally we are reunited with that part of ourselves that appeared to be lost; our inner magnificence, once shrouded in dust, is now alive, vibrant and as dazzling as the sun. We have come home to ourselves.

I say all of this from the perspective of someone who is only at Step 4. I was reading someone's Owners Manual for Human Beings over their shoulder, so I may be wrong!