Saturday, April 30, 2016

[Answering] The Biggest Question of Your Life



Every time we show up before people, there is this question that pops up in the minds of these people- they keep asking and won't stop until we give them an answer. Yes, I know that it is not compulsory we answer every question hurled at us- but this particular question must be answered because it happens to be the biggest question of our individual lives and no two persons give same answers as these answers are unique to every individual! This leaves us with no room to spy on the answers of others to answer ours!

This question...

What would it be?
Follow me...

I once heard someone say, "The two most important days in your life is the day you were born and the day you find out WHY." If I ask you a question, "What is your why?" and you say something like, "I want to be happy," that answer is so vague that it doesn't even mean anything.

A more interesting question, perhaps you have never considered before, is "What pain do you want in your life? Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives eventually turn out. Who you are is defined by the values you are willing to struggle for.

Personally, I believe there are two reasons we were put on the earth:

  • To find out what our purpose is
  • To start living our purpose and do what we were born to do.
From research and personal experience, I have been been able to come up with SIX questions that will help you answer the biggest question of your life. These questions are by no means exhaustive or definitive, so feel free to make your own research too!

Shall we...

  • What Is True About You Today That Would Make Your 10-Year-Old Self Cry? When I was much younger, I loved writing- not because I wanted anyone to read my write-ups or impress my family. I wrote for the sheer joy of writing. And then for some reason, I stopped. And I do not remember why. Like me, we all have tendencies to lose touch with what we loved as children. Something about adolescence and pressures of young adulthood squeezes the passion out of us. We are taught that the only reason to do something is if we are rewarded for it. The funny thing though, is that if my 10-year-old self had asked my 20-year-old self, "Why don't you write anymore?" and I replied, "Because I'm not good at it," or "Because nobody would read what I write." or "Because I cannot make money doing that," not only would I have been completely wrong, but that my 10-year-old version of myself would have probably started crying. What about you?
  • What Makes You Stay Up Late That You Sometimes Forget To Eat? We have all had that experience where we get so wrapped up in something that minutes turn into few hours and few hours turn into longer hours and sometimes, we do not get to sleep the whole night and also forget to eat. Sleep and Food are very important to me (when I am not praying or fasting); therefore, whatever takes sleep out of my eyes and makes me forget to eat has to be something connected to my purpose. It is only when I am doing something I am passionate about that I do not sleep neither do I feel the pangs of hunger. I think it is time you consider those activities that make you forget about food and keeps you up all night...your purpose could be wrapped around those.
  • How Can You Better Embarrass Yourself? Right now, there's something you think about doing, something you fantasize about doing, yet you don't do it. You have your reasons, no doubt. And you repeat these reasons to yourself ad infinitum. But what are your reasons? If your reasons are centered around people, then chances are you are avoiding something you truly care about. I dare you, step up to the plate.
Living a life avoiding embarrassment is akin to living a life with your head in the sand.



  • What Makes You Get Outside Your Comfort Zone? If you know me personally, you will testify that I do not like anything that tries to bring me out of my cocoon. But you see, for what I am doing right now, I do not mind! As a matter of truth, the stretching is fun and I am growing. It is important that we understand that we will never grow as a person if we do not start getting outside our comfort zone. Allow yourself flow in the direction you are passionate about.
  • What Don't You Ever Get Bored At Doing? For many of us, the enemy is just old-fashioned complacency. This is a problem. What most people don't understand is that passion is the result of action, not the cause of it. Discovering what you're passionate about in life and what matters to you can be likened to a trial-and-error process. None of us know exactly how we feel about an activity until we actually do the activity. So ask yourself, if someone puts a gun to your head and forced you to leave your house everyday for everything except for sleep, how would you choose to occupy yourself? And no, you can't just sit with social media. Let's pretend there are no useless websites, no video games, no TV. You have to be outside of the house all day, everyday until it's time to go to bed - where would you go and what would you do with all of that time?
  • If You had 365 Days to live From Today, What Would You Do And How Would You Want To Be Remembered? Most of us do not like thinking about death [but I do and I encourage you to do as well]. Thinking about your own death surprisingly has lots of practical advantages. One of those advantages is that it compels us to zero in on what's actually important in our lives and what is just frivolous and distracting. Asking ourselves this particular question causes us to think about our lives in a different way and re-evaluate what our priorities are.
What is your legacy going to be like?



 In Conclusion, discovering the 'why' of your life essentially boils down to finding those one or two things that are bigger than yourself, and bigger than those around you. And to find them you must get out of your cocoon and act, and take the time to think beyond yourself, to think greater than yourself and paradoxically, to imagine a world without you in it.

Friends, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

I urge us by the mercy of God that we will spend the rest of our days living a purposeful life in Jesus name.



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