Live On Purpose

So, I’m sure you heard the phrase “Live with purpose.”

If you haven’t heard that phrase, then you probably live under a rock somewhere…

It’s one of those phrases that is so overused that I feel like it’s lost its power a little with most people. But I also think it could be a little confusing when you’re in a place where you are not really sure what your purpose is, or why a sense of purpose is so important. You know, because life could be confusing.

There’s a lot of information circulating around out there about what is good for you, bad for you, what this means, and what that means.

There you are at the grocery store deciding whether or not you are going to get the gluten free tortillas, or just get the cheaper ones that have gluten. You’re not really sure why this is a thing but you know everyone is advertising gluten free, so you assume gluten must be bad.

Everyone has their own opinion about it… My opinion? Slather it up with gluten, what ever it might be. I don’t know why.

That being said, I understand there are some people out there that have a genuine intolerance to gluten, but not as many people as have jumped on the gluten free bandwagon thanks to advertising and influence.

The same thing happens with the term “Live with purpose”

Depending on who you are listening to, it may have different meanings. Trying to apply all those different meanings to your own life is impossible.

Some people say, to base it on your beliefs and values.

I hate to break it to you, but beliefs and values change throughout your life. You may be holding on to a belief or value that isn’t really working, it might be a belief or value you picked up from a racist uncle or parent, that you’ve never questioned.

This makes things super confusing because most of us haven’t really thought to much about our own thoughts and whether or not we agree with them.

Other people say “Follow your passion and it will show you, your purpose”
That’s great, but again that whole thing is confusing too. What is my passion, and if I can’t figure out my passion, how am I supposed to figure out my purpose?

So, to make this whole thing a little less confusing for myself I’ve changed one of the words in the phrase “Live With Purpose.”

I changed it to live on purpose.

So what do I mean by that… How do you live on purpose?

So, picture this, the moment you wake up, you repeat the words… “Today, I’m living on purpose.”

That means I will stop, observe, and appreciate my world and the things that are in it. It means that I will change things about myself that I do not like, it means I’m going to be deliberate about how I spend my days and the things I think about. It also means that I will think about my thoughts and whether or not they are actually mine.

This isn’t a cake walk, trust me when I say it is quite easy to just go back to not questioning your own thoughts, and saying things like “Tony Danza’s face makes me so angry, I don’t know why, that’s just who I am!”

I’ve determined that I’m alive, and my purpose in life is to live my life as fully as I can. That means not buying into the excuses that make me feel angry or small.

Sure, it’ll take some work, and I may be doing it until the day I die, but I can’t picture a better way to live… Every day, every minute, every second… On purpose.

-Love Rafi