Signposts Readers Surprised Us With How They Said They Develop a Sense of Purpose or Direction
We Invite You to Respond, and Chat Further with Immanuelites
In Signpost 5 (July 9) we asked you “How have you developed a sense of purpose or direction?” We focused on purpose because that’s where many of you took us in response to the prompt in Signpost #2 (June 18), “I would consider myself successful if and when…”
We expected answers to Signpost #5 to involve some sort of action you took to discover purpose or direction — trying different things, reading, volunteering, and observing what family members, friends and colleagues did. But that’s not how you responded.
We invite you to share your reactions, and ask to chat with other Immanuelites about the subject, using the button at the bottom of this page.
Your answers to the question of how you develop a sense of purpose or direction seemed to us to break into a couple of themes:
Many of the responses refer to the spirit, and to God. This one says it clearly:
“By praying for knowledge of God's will for me and the power to carry that out on a daily basis.”
There’s also that “inner voice”:
“By listening to the voice that asks, ‘is this really what I care about,’ ‘does this really make me feel good,’ or ‘is there something that could be more meaningful to me.’ After being more in touch with hearing the answers, I can know more intuitively if what I'm doing supports those answers or not… [T]rying to align my soul and my outward living, and being attentive to the feelings that comes from getting closer, or further away.’”
One reader, making a direct connection (as many of us do) from the divine to love, aspires to “be a channel for (divine) love and hope you get paid to demonstrate how that love can heal someone's suffering.”
Another reader eloquently argues that it is about “being,” and not “doing”:
“Purpose is about who you want to be, not what you want to do or accomplish. Purpose is about evolving our character by using the compass within us to navigate through life's learning modules and to help make choices that move in the direction of our highest ideals. Regular prayer and meditation to allow our highest self to unfold is how to find that ‘True North’.
Notice the emphasis in the following submission on “feeling,” and on active reflection:
“[T]uning into the things that I do that make me feel the most alive, and like me. I've found that there is a difference between feeling satisfied with what you do, and feeling purposeful. It takes a lot of active reflection to figure out what provides you with a feeling of true and deep purpose.”
How do you “tune in”? This reader emphasized the need for a constant “feedback loop” of reflecting on how he reacts to who he is:
“For me, I feel the need to assess each day and understand whether what I am doing furthers a purpose I find meaningful. Often when the answer is yes, the feeling is powerful. It helps me, as Will Harper argued in the articles in last week’s Signposts, put up with setbacks and unproductive days. And when I feel like I’m not furthering a purpose I find meaningful, I try (on good days) to spend time thinking about whether I need to redefine my purpose, or change how I fulfill it.”
Yet another reader argued that developing purpose requires making time for it (but not daily!):
“Every few years, I try to make time to reflect on what I’m doing, and what I could be doing better, to serve God’s plan.”
And finally, note how this reader argues for intentionality in his reflection, as he argues for:
“Intentional attentiveness to how God is leading me through prayer, meditation, conversation with close friends, and journaling…”
Notice how the last quote in the previous section cites conversation. Here’s another:
“Speaking it aloud is how I crystallize my thoughts to become clear and exploring those thoughts on the internet or somewhere else helps.”
Do you think more effectively by talking with someone else? This reader does:
“I find the discipline of articulating to someone else what I’m trying to do is helpful. I often surprise myself with the things that come out of my mouth! And the reactions and questions from the listener can be invaluable.”
Last but far from least, we love this reader’s response, because the insight arose from a conversation inspired by the prompt in Signpost #5:
“As I was pondering [the question in Signpost 5,] I brought it up in my conversation with [a mentor] on Thursday morning. She said without a moment of hesitation, ‘Oh, that’s an easy one for you. Your primary purpose is to live a spiritual life and be of maximum service to God and your fellowman.’ She continued on, ‘That’s what you’ve been doing for the last 15 years. It’s why you volunteer to do all kinds of service work… It’s why you meditate every day and practice the other spiritual disciplines that you’ve learned.’”
Notice that conversation reveals the work of the reader’s inner spirit. Also, the acts don’t create a sense of purpose; they come from the sense of purpose, which is derived from the reader’s spiritual life.
Ok, it’s not all thinking and talking, and no “doing.” Readers inspired us to add this conclusion:
Readers were clear that even as developing a sense of purpose requires spiritual practices and reflection with others, it isn’t all navel gazing. It can lead to productive behavior. Even take you, as the 4th quote in the first section above says, to “True North.”
The mentor in the conversation quoted at the end of the Conversation section above refers to volunteering and service work as the result of a developed sense of purpose.
This reader also cited spiritual reflection as producing concrete change:
“About three years ago, for example, I decided to learn more about sustainable practices, and to work harder to include them in my projects. Now I use them on every project and teach others how to do the same.”
Another reader echoed that thought:
“While developing a sense of purpose requires reflection, I can reinforce my conclusions by thinking about what I do in response. I find I have to try different things to assess whether my sense of purpose feels right. If it does, that spurs me to try harder. If it doesn’t, I spend more time thinking about how to adjust my sense of direction.”
Finally, if there’s any doubt that thinking about purpose has a practical component, consider this: Corporations are now developing a “Chief Purpose Officer”! Check out this article in Forbes (thank you, Mark Fowler, for bringing this to our attention).