Do you feel like you’re living on autopilot? What specifically stresses you out or makes you anxious? Do you frequently ask yourself, ‘Why am I here?’ ‘What is my purpose?’ Do you feel responsible for everything going on around you? Maybe your way of dealing with it is to keep scrolling until the waves of anxiety go down. Or perhaps you feel detached. Although it may seem hard, remember that you are not a victim, and you do not need to be carried about by the winds of the storm in which we currently find ourselves. You can break your cycles with simple and regular mindfulness exercises. The simplest of these is to become aware of your breathing. By concentrating on your breath and perhaps counting it, you direct your attention from the outside to the inside. Only by living from the inside out can our true self communicate with us. From the centre, we have a direct connection with our grounded self, unlike living from the outside in, when storms blow us about and others influence us, whether on social media or from people with well-meant intentions who aren’t actually helpful. Returning to ourselves is essential if we are to be happy and lead a fulfilling life.
Here’s a short breathing exercise: Feel the sit bones against the chair and the feet on the ground. Soften and lower the gaze. Rest the hands in your lap. Soften the jaw. Inhale at the count of four, hold the breath for four, exhale for four.
Human beings do not live for an extremely long time. Put plainly, we weren’t meant to be on Earth forever. You may wonder, “What’s the point, Alfie?” If life is short, why not start now—there’s no reason to delay! There’s no need to feel pressured. Even tiny steps count. Spending a few minutes each day on mindfulness can make a great difference in the quality of your life. The current request is to return to yourself and take ownership of who you are while you’re here. Discover your own meaning and purpose by practising mindfulness.
Let us consider how we can deal with a major issue through mindfulness. One problem we have difficulty addressing is the meaning of life. We attempt to understand it and to make sense of our experiences. Before I go on, I would like you to stop for a moment. Breathe in deeply through your nose and then exhale through your mouth. Realize that your life matters and that everything you do for our world has value. In my experience, mindfulness has brought me insight, wisdom, and deeper understanding. As a therapist, I frequently hear people say, “I have to discover my purpose!” I have also gone through this kind of search, having questioned my own course. Seeking our purpose looks toward the future. The search implies that we have to turn our attention outward. We set goals, look at our values, and devise strategies in order to cope with possible obstacles. Is this a helpful approach?
In contrast, when we gently practise mindfulness, we turn our attention inward, where the key lies. We let go of forcing, pushing, clinging, and rejecting, and learn to go with change. To sum up, since we have an outward orientation, a sense of meaning and purpose can lead to stress and cause anxiety. When we search for answers outside ourselves, we experience concern, consternation, and competition. By tuning in, we listen better, gain more patience, and treat ourselves with gentleness. For example, you might get caught in traffic, feel irritated, and start blaming everyone. Take a moment to notice the tension in your body, breathe into your muscles to soften them, and breathe out to release the tension. Observe the difference in your body. You responded kindly to yourself. You didn’t avoid the situation, and you stopped blaming and started to calmly claim your life. We no longer run away from problems or condemn ourselves, but instead move from rejection to acceptance. As our understanding deepens, our desire to awaken also increases. We are guided by our own truth rather than by our phones. Changes take place in our consciousness, and our perception of both ourselves and others alters. You could say that superficiality yields to intimacy. It’s easy to imagine just how different meaning and purpose appear from this state of mind.
A spiritual teacher once told me my purpose was the evolution of my soul, but that answer did not satisfy my ego – the part of self that claims ownership over thoughts, body and experiences. We all have one. It wears many masks, some kinder than others. When it is wounded, it becomes overly protective. Coping mechanisms become maladaptive. It informs everything we do, even our search for meaning and purpose. You are not alone in this existential search; many philosophers have explored the question of purpose. In this blog, we will explore purpose and ways to awaken it through the practice of mindfulness, even during stressful times and with stressful issues.
If you’re feeling lost or meaningless, remember that everyone, at some point, has to work out the purpose of life. This kind of existential doubt is common to all humans. You are not incomplete, and you don’t need to look for fulfilment outside yourself; what you are seeking is already inside you. Although this idea may seem overwhelming, mindfulness practice helps us gain awareness, which forms the basis of a full and meaningful life. Awareness has three aspects: 1) self-awareness, the ability to know ourselves; 2)present-moment awareness (mindfulness), directing our attention to our thoughts, our physical sensations, and our surroundings as they actually are; 3) situational awareness, perception, comprehension, and the ability to project. Simply put, we use our senses to perceive and understand. Practicing mindfulness helps us gain insight; we see things and understand situations better. We grasp the meaning behind things. Wisdom allows us to make more conscious choices that align with our core values. Gradually, we expand our capacity to sit in silence and notice what is happening. We put our phones down and turn our attention inward. Our awareness then increases. When we apply mindfulness to build awareness, we make conscious choices and lead a happier, more fulfilling life.
Understanding arises out of awareness and is not the same as intellectual analysis. When we become aware of our emotions, our triggers, our blind spots, and values, this helps us not to hold ourselves back. Mindfulness keeps us firmly in the present moment as we observe all phenomena appearing and disappearing. It changes the way we experience life; by looking at our surroundings clearly, we can connect more deeply with others and become more compassionate. We can discover personal meaning in our everyday routines by being fully present. Rather than looking for answers from outside ourselves, we “pay attention on purpose to what is really here” and thus begin to understand ourselves more completely.
Mindful self-inquiry can lead to a more satisfying life; although discovering our abilities might feel confrontational, self-awareness is essential to deeper understanding. You may be a good communicator, or perhaps you are empathetic and compassionate. Self-exploration and identifying personal gifts are important if you want to live a more meaningful life. If you’re not sure about your main gift, start by asking yourself: What are five things I like about myself?
You can carry out this approach; you see the strengths in other people, for example, their kindness, generosity, or their communication skills. These inner qualities are your real strengths. It might feel uncomfortable; you should stay committed. Although your childhood experiences may have blocked your ability to discover yourself, recognizing these issues supports your growth. When you have difficulty dealing with strong emotions, take a moment to calm your body. Keep an open mind about what is here for you right now. Gently notice your thoughts and feelings without attaching to them or judging them, and remember that they are temporary. We do not regard them as pathological; instead, we simply watch them appear and disappear. Keep releasing them until you reach a calmer state. In stillness, your inner intuition comes forward. Within the context of your purpose, you might have what seems like an epiphany and realize a link between your gifts and how to act on them. If an epiphany doesn’t happen, it’s okay. Stop and ask yourself: How can I put these qualities into practice in my everyday life? If you have difficulty identifying or expressing them, ask a friend for insight. Just as with any gift, these qualities need to be recognized and cultivated. They are the seeds of purpose. If fear shows up, that’s okay too. Gratitude reduces fear and stress, and it reorganizes the brain. When we mindfully acknowledge our gifts and are grateful for them, we are encouraged to share them. Sharing helps us move away from the self that clings. Each day, choose five ways to express your strengths and make this a mindful practice. In this way, treating ourselves with respect is essential for achieving self-understanding and personal growth. On the way to awakening, we might encounter spiritual arrogance; as stated, the ego asserts itself and claims our growth. That is also acceptable since life provides lessons in humility. Here’s why: The ego is the part of ourselves tied to our identity, our desires, and our need for approval, and it can lead to clinging and attachment to the self, which is the fundamental source of suffering. Awakening involves gaining insight into who we really are beneath our thoughts and conditioning, and realizing a Self that is present, compassionate, and beyond ego habits. In this state, we find the seeds. The path requires dedication and courage.
To me, the word “being” means living out our goodness and sharing our uniqueness, which helps free us from ego attachment. As we continue to express our gifts, we may see that we are also living our moral values (causing no harm, living respectfully with care and fairness). This unites with our ultimate purpose: to eradicate the root of suffering. Mindfulness allows us to align our actions with our core values and reduce mental stress. In traditions such as Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, and Sufism, the ego is seen as a limiting perspective. Mindfulness practice helps us release ego-centeredness and offers a path to awakening. Meeting our everyday struggles is our path. When we let go of clinging, competition, desire, judgment, and striving, we stop seeking our purpose and begin to embody it. We are left with the goodness of being, which is said to spread in all directions.
It might not be about acquiring something new but about releasing the old patterns that prevent us from seeing what is already there with you; we are not separate from it. The potential, meaning, and purpose are all within you. This involves mindfully watching the ego emerge through intention, concentration, and genuine self-reflection. Our aim is to observe the ego without becoming involved, simply keeping in touch and noticing what is inside you as it really is, to see the protective function it serves. With patience, we begin to notice the wider space in which the ego exists. This is known as the ‘Miracle of Mindfulness’.