I read a powerful quote the other day, one that really summed up how I personally feel about people defining their life’s purpose.
It said;
“If you want to know where to find your contribution in the world, look at your wounds. When you learn how to heal them, teach others.”
– Emily Maroutian, Author of ‘The Power of Emotions’
After all, defining my own purpose had not exactly just jumped out at me like this post did. But seeing it written there, just like that, it became obvious to me that all along my purpose was clear.
Many of us look at a person suffering and feel sympathy, our hearts break hearing stories of addiction destroying families, abused women who cannot break free, loved one’s grieving an insufferable loss. And we are right, it seems unfair that one humans’ journey could be filled with so much pain and yet the irony here is that from pain and suffering can come the most powerful strength so potent and life changing the only way to make sense of it, is to share it.
Some of the most influential people of our time came from such struggles, they all have well known stories including Eminem, Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carey, Nelson Mandella, JK Rowling, Michael Jordan – the list goes on.
One of the most influential and passionate about helping others is Tony Robbins. He tells his well-known story of accepting bags of food on thanksgiving at the age of 11 because his family were so poor they had no money to eat. From this experience he explains, it changed his “entire perspective and direction in life.” One of the many things he does is partners with an organisation called Feeding America and since joining forces with them has fed over 300 million meals to American people. Not only does he endorse and partner with them, you can hear when he speaks about his own experience that it drives him. He does this because he knows first-hand what true hunger is like.
“The secret to living is giving. Life is calling us to give” – Tony Robbins
I’m not saying that to help others you must have experienced some devastating tragedy or struggle, it is obvious though that through your own experiences comes a profound understanding and compassion for another human who may experience it too.
As a child I never wondered where my next meal was coming from, I never questioned my safety or suffered any kind of tragic loss, but as humans it is inevitable that life will challenge you at some point. We are also influenced strongly by those we look up to. I may not have known true struggle in this life, but I have witnessed it. The incomprehension of someone else’s pain has driven me to want to understand it, in order to help others, get through it. If I can contribute to someone’s healing I have fulfilled my own purpose.
I believe that someone’s true character is born out of that human experience of feeling desperation and loss. As Yousef Karsh (one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th Century) said,
“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness”. – Yousef Karsh
It is in these moments we cling to the deepest and strongest, most resilient parts of ourselves to get through. If you’ve been there before, if you’ve known such pain, it would seem that a part of your own healing process would come from helping others get through the same experience too.
No matter how you believe we all came to be, it is undeniable that one’s purpose is driven by more than passion. It is a burning desire, an inherent inexplicable yearning to fulfil our own needs. And how cool is it that we can dare to dream and that we can also step into that path to ultimate fulfilment.
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