Having a sense of purpose!

[shibli]

Having a sense of purpose in life goes a long way to boost confidence. You were born to fulfill Allah's purpose for your life. You were not created to live in a vacuum. Everything and everyone has a purpose and leads to an expected end.

A purposeful life needs to be developed. You have to work it. You may not feel like you have any purpose while out of a job, sick in bed, or elderly. But, that is not true! You really do have a purpose. It's just waiting for you to tap into it and reverse the inertia into full drive.

Just at the point where you may be saying: "What's the use?" ask yourself: "What can I do to discover the purpose Allah has for me right now?"

It is all related to the tools you already have in your possession. You have experience, talents, and personality! These can be applied to your career, bringing up a family, or doing voluntary work. It is all about fitting in and feeling that you are making a difference in life.

A sense of purpose gives you a feeling of accomplishment, knowing that you are achieving something and getting somewhere. It gives you something to look forward to every day; a reason to get out of bed in the morning with a smile. A purposeful life puts a bounce in your step and makes you feel so good on the inside. It leads to confidence, accomplishment, and a happy disposition.

Young people generally do not have a problem developing their purpose in life. They tend to face life with determination, hope and a vision of making the world a better place. They are just starting out and their main purposes may consist of passing exams, building careers, dating, marrying, and eventually starting their own families. They have a lot to look forward to, and that gives them a strong sense of purpose in life.

However, the older you get, the more skepticism and uncertainty can set in, and your purpose in life may have been inadvertently put on the back burner. Perhaps the children have grown up and are no longer dependant on you. Relationships break up, retirement may not be a positive factor in your mind, and you no longer have your career as a prominent purpose.

The older generation needs to develop a renewed sense of purpose in life. I know; change is always difficult. Yet, it is so necessary because without change there is no growth. Life is all about growing; even in retirement age. That's what keeps you young and your mind stimulated.

It seems such a daunting task to reconstruct a new purpose. But, reflect for a moment on the different phases in your lifetime. Remember how gung-ho you were starting off on your career, facing the world with fresh optimism and adventure?

Well... it felt great back then, didn't it? Or...did it? You may now vividly remember the excitement you felt about the purpose of envisioning your whole life ahead of you. However, reflect back just a little deeper and what do you see? Underneath the veneer of excited purpose there also was a lot of indecision, insecurity and fear, wasn't there? Although you had high hopes, you really had no way of knowing where it would lead you down the road.

Now reflect on, and better still write down, all the experience and skills you have since developed! You have an awful lot to share with younger generations and to enjoy! Now all you need to do is to connect to a source that can benefit from your talents and experience, and your tide will soon be turned!

You can achieve this by starting your own internet home business. Slowly but surely you can amass all the information you need freely and cost effectively. It will give you purpose to get excited every morning!

Your purpose is staring you in the face! Grab a hold of it by sharing your expertise. Maybe you would like to express yourself by writing articles or even a book. The world is still on your doorstep. Step over the threshold and connect. The internet is the easiest and greatest resource to get started - afresh! See you there!

[shibli]

What were you put on this earth to do?  Everyone has a unique ability of gift.  Have you uncovered yours?

Sense of Purpose is…

    * Having meaning behind what you do
    * Creating work that you care about
    * Developing synergistic relationships
    * Understanding why you do what you do
    * Living the life you want to lead

Sense of Purpose gets you out of bed in the morning with a mission.  It’s about creating a life that has meaning behind your actions.

Many people get a sense of purpose from their work lives and relationships.  Unless your work has meaning to it, you can feel unfulfilled and directionless.  Suddenly, when your work reflects what you are passionate about, there’s an energy force that carries you through the day.  You feel engaged and activated.

When your relationships with friends, co-workers, and family are synergistic, you have a sense of purpose that fills out the moment.  Surrounding yourself with meaningful people fills out your life and brings things into sharper focus.

With this pillar, we will talk about how to create the lifestyle that you want through your work, relationships, and your passions.

http://blog.omaroma.com/2009/07/31/what-is-sense-of-purpose/

[rumman]

Aimless life is certainly a sin. Many people have no definite aim in life. They are like the travelers going a head without any destination. Such people lead an aimless life and what they do in life, is largely a matter of chance, determined by the circumstances in which they happen to be placed. Aimless people do not achieve any thing in life. They just live because they have to live. One should have a definite purpose of life. The people who want success in life, first of all, determine their target. They keep before them their circumstances, their virtuous, their qualities, their talents and their ability to work. They select some definite target of their life and remain successful.
Different people have different aims in life. Some aim at wealth, some at power, some at fame, some at business and some at education and knowledge. My aim is neither wealth nor fame. I wish to serve by country with best of my talent.

[rumman]

Once a parent knows what their child has a natural interest in, explore what you can do to develop it. Consider reading books on the subject, talking to experts in that area, attend workshops on the subject. If, as a parent, you can't think what to do, consider other people who may help develop their potential. As a parent, contact those people, or have your child write to them. Find out how to become involved in that activity.

Self-esteem does not have to be a mystery. Instilling a sense of purpose is a beginning step in helping people value their own lives and what they do.

[S. HOSSAIN]

we should extended our mind

[shibli]

A question. Imagine if you died today. Have you done enough? Ask yourself deep deep down, if you died right now, would you honestly think you are absolutely 100% going to Jannah? Death should not be a taboo subject & I feel we need to think about it daily. So for today have this question at the front of your mind & think about it. Death is inevitable. But where we go after Death is down to Allah & our actions.

[bidita]

I think you can judge from somebody's actions a kind of a stability and sense of purpose  perhaps created by strong religious roots. I mean, there's a certain patience, a certain discipline, I think, that religion helps you achieve.......Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat.....

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of  well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace

[bidita]

What is the Importance of ‘Religion’?

Why do we need religion in our lives? What good does it do to us?

The importance of religion lies primarily in the moral and socio-moral aspect of human existence.

We know that one of the most significant differences between human and other living beings is the moral and the socio-moral aspect of human existence. Human is not merely a physical being. On the contrary, Human has a strong moral aspect to his/her existence. This moral and socio-moral aspect of human existence is the foundation on which the legal and social structures that we see in all the societies have evolved overtime. It is in fact the acceptance, appreciation and realization of mutual rights and responsibilities, which has resulted in the strong bonds of family, friendship, tribe and society.

The whole corpus of religion is, in fact, based upon the realization, recognition and acceptance of our part of the relationship between ourselves and our unseen Creator and Provider. After realizing the existence of an unseen Creator and benefiting from the extra-ordinary blessings of the Merciful Provider, it becomes our moral obligation to show our gratefulness and gratitude for all the blessings that we enjoy; to seek and realize the purpose for which God has created us; and to find out if God has given us any information of His likes and dislikes and then to try to live a life, which is in agreement with this purpose of life and with the likes and dislikes of our Creator.

For a better understanding, we may roughly compare ‘religion’ to an employment or a job. In a job, an employer promises to provide the employee with certain benefits and privileges in return for the employee’s services. Now, obviously, an effective and a useful employee would only be the one, who fully appreciates the purpose of his employment, the work that his employer expects from him and then tries his best to fulfill the purpose of his job and the expectations of his employer[1]. Thus, continuing with our analogy between ‘religion’ and ‘employment’, we may derive that, from a strictly moral perspective, the significance and importance of religion in man’s life, in general, is comparable to the significance of his understanding of the purpose and the description of his employment in an organization, in his economic life. Just as an employee is not likely to be effective (or successful) without realizing and fulfilling the expectations that his employers have from him, man is also not likely to live a life, which is coherent with the moral aspect of his existence, without ‘religion’.

In essence, therefore, ‘religion’ holds significance in man’s life because man knows himself to be morally obliged to acknowledge and respond, in the most appropriate and befitting manner, to the great bounties and privileges that God has bestowed upon him.

Works cited from:
http://www.understanding-islam.com/rov/ov-012.htm