Brain & Body Wellness

How to make sense of your life and find your own purpose

 

Claudia Vece – 17 August 2022

Each of us, sooner or later, comes to a moment in life when we ask ourselves: “Who am I?” – “Why do I exist?”

Many of my clients start life coaching because they are looking for their “life purpose“. This need to search for “something” that allows them to “exist optimally” is a primordial thrust that each of us has within us, since we all, sooner or later, arrive at that moment in life when we ask ourselves: “Who I am?” – “Why do I exist?” – “What is my role in the Universe?” – “What job should I have?” – “What am I doing with my life?” – “Why am I here and how did I get here?”.

In the studies of Bonebright, Clay and Akenmann (2000), it is stated that living aligned with one’s purpose, in Greek one’s “Telos”, creates a considerable increase in well-being. It also seems that the higher the purpose of life, and therefore includes the evolution of other souls, the greater the satisfaction in life, self-fulfillment, the positive emotions one feels, as well as self-esteem.

The term “Telos”, Τέλος from the Greek means “fulfillment, purpose, end, term”, is the etymological root of the term “teleology”, which indicates the study of intentionality.

What are the processes that lead us to understand the purpose of life?

Kashdan and McKnight (2009) have identified that a human being can come to understand his or her Telos through one or more convergences of these three paths:

  • Social learning: the individual is reflected in the behavior of other people who have produced desirable consequences in their life, thus copying what they feel resonating with their soul. This type of purpose is often experienced unconsciously.
  • Reactive development: the person becomes aware of their Telos after strong, profound, transformative or trauma experiences. These events offer the opportunity to understand one’s direction and goals in life.
  • Proactive research: This is a complex and gradual process. A proactive pursuit of the life mission involves reflection and soul-searching, the elaboration of a Telos statement and its extensive experimentation.

 

Understanding the purpose of life is already in its own teleological definition “the reason why something is created, or why something exists.” A teleological explanation describes a phenomenon in terms of “purpose for which it serves”, and in our case we investigate the “purpose of a human life.” An example to make what has just been explained clear, could be “using a screwdriver to serve a salad”, in fact there is no correspondence between the purpose for which the screwdriver was designed and its use in this example. The same is true for every human being on the teleological level.

Then how do we know if we are living life aligned with our Telos and to the reason why we exist?

Our degree of well-being, motivation and vital energy will be the indicators of our degree of alignment with life and our purpose. It is a fact that the people who live better are those who consciously or unconsciously seek meaningful experiences that are more in line with their values, needs, goals and aspirations. When our passions and values ​​are closely aligned with our aspirations and goals, our purpose is more coherent and provides meaning to our life.

With life coaching people learn to know each other better, to understand their fundamental values, their needs, what they are passionate about, and therefore it will be much easier for them to pursue actions in line with their purpose. When a person can align their actions with their dreams and can act according to their values, they perceive that feeling that Michael Jordan calls the “being in the zone”, that state that Csikszentmihalyi defines as the “Flow”. The “flow” is that state of total immersion in the activity that everything else disappears, the flow is when we become one with our life experience.

Life coaching, as I mean it, is an individual, profound and transformative journey that helps to give a new meaning to your life, to express who you really are and get closer to your life purpose.

 

Claudia Vece

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