Human Yearning
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What is the purpose of my life?
These are universal questions. One of the great human yearnings is to know the answer to these questions. In the quiet moments of life many people ponder and wonder why they are here and what their purpose is.
There are voices that seek to answer that question.
Find your passion!
Follow this program!
Walk this way!
All of those can be helpful to a point, but they don’t answer that deep human yearning to discover who you are and what your unique contribution to the world is. Only you know the answer to that question. Only you can answer your human yearning.
The great task of this life is discovering who you are and what makes you uniquely able to contribute to the world.
Most of us spend our lives on a quest to understand how we can make a difference. We try one thing and another. We try and fail. We compare ourselves to others in positive and negative ways. We beat up on ourselves for not being better.
We forget that it is in the trying that we discover. Trying and failing is how we learn. Imagine succeeding at everything you try. What have you learned? It is in the struggle that we find out who we really are. It is in the yearning to know that we discover the deepest truths.
Many people go through life without answering the human yearning to know. When asked what they love, they draw a blank. Consider this discovery prompt:
I love it when…
The answer to that question can set you on a course to learn who you are and how your unique talents, abilities, and way of seeing the world contribute to it. It’s a powerful exercise that brings with it some thrills and some fears. Because you are not used to living life on your terms, you are used to living life according to someone else’s program. You’re used to doing the “right thing” according to someone else.
A friend of mine is an artist. She loves art and creates some beautiful pieces. For years, she chose to sacrifice her artistic desires so that she could raise a family. It was not a bad thing that she chose family responsibilities, but she learned to push her desires away. What happened to her desires is that they didn’t go away, they got stronger. They created a kind of cognitive dissonance in her. They left her feeling unfulfilled.
AS her children have grown, she has found ways to create art on her own terms. Recently she has gone on a quest to find out what she really loves. She has decided to have completely unscheduled time. It has been an interesting journey of discovery for her. Binge watching shows and feeling no guilt about it. Creating art and having a simple meal and not feeling like she’s letting someone down. Deciding what is most important for the day and focusing on just that thing. It’s an amazing process that has been fun to watch.
What if you owned your own desires like my friend has and did the right thing for you? Would you change jobs? Would you pursue a hobby? Would you travel? Would you read more, learn a new skill, ask for a raise, get a promotion? Would you become a better mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, or friend?
Answer the question for yourself. I love it when… If you answer and it leads you to new ideas and ways of thinking, I would love to know about it. Let’s have a chat about what you learned. I’m all ears.