Do you believe you have a purpose? I believe you do. I believe we all do. However, genuine purpose is not about the acquiring of wealth, fame, or power, but a much deeper role that strengthens the human spirit in those we personally and professionally interact with each day. Purpose is recognizing and believing your life has meaning. It is revealed to you by reflecting on the ongoing collection of your life's experiences, and how those experiences have created the personal character traits you possess today.

Taking ownership for your successes, failures, trials, and tribulations is the cornerstone to initiate the development of your purpose. To not be personally accountable for your life exhausts any possibility to have a sense of purpose, because you negate your role in your own future. To blame others, or the world around you, for your lack of purpose is the purest of excuses. If you truly believe others and the world are to blame for your misery, you will forever be miserable. As a result, a belief you have no purpose is inevitable. It is what you learn from those experiences that allow you to understand the role you have in being of service to others. It is through that service to others, not service to self, that will ultimately define your purpose.

To substantiate your purpose you must also believe you have the ability to share and teach what you have learned from those life lessons, and how they have enabled you to be a better you. The events in your life that take personal courage, resiliency, perseverance, self-discipline, compassion, empathy and humility are moments that contribute to the development of your character, and the core values that form the direction for your life. They make you a stronger person. The result of each life experience creates a teaching opportunity. It is the comprehensive understanding, and application of those teaching opportunities that will construct your purpose.

Passion is another element that contributes to establishing a belief that you matter, i.e. a sense of purpose. What are your life's passions, or another way of asking that question, what would you like to learn the most? Always remember, and embrace the understanding that “you teach best in life what you want to learn the most." What you want to learn the most will spark your greatest passions, and your greatest joy will be to share those passions with others. The more passion you have for what you wish to learn, and subsequently share, the more meaningful your life will be because it invigorates your joy for living. The more meaningful your life, the greater sense of purpose you have.

On a macro level, in order to have a more thoughtful world it is imperative that there is a congruent sense of purpose among humanity. That purpose being to better the world through acting on ethical values that create unity, human decency, fairness, and a moral foundation of understanding of what we have more in common as a people than different. Congruence is defined as, "the quality or state of agreeing or corresponding". Congruence of purpose certainly does not exist in the most powerful halls of government and business as evidenced by the continual global political, economical and social chaos that we witness daily. Genuine purpose does not require power, greed or politics, but rather an understanding that meaningful purpose is for the greater good of the many, not the self-interested desires of the few. Be a purposeful person by being congruent with other purposeful people. Although it may hard to fathom you can change the world alone, I do believe we can change the world for the better together.

Believe you matter because you, your family, your community and the world will benefit because of your purposeful service to others. Without a sense of purpose you are less motivated to create the life you wish for, because you have minimal understanding of the reason behind your life. Purpose provides the drive to believe and become more than you are, and to also believe that your existence is congruent with others in making the world a better place. Being an instrument of goodness in all you do is a purpose worth living for.

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