This is a reflective piece, where we contemplate on the essence of life and the quest for purpose. Drawing inspiration from the idea that “the essence of life is finding something you really love,” we explore how personal values and societal pressures shape our understanding of fulfilment. It is difficult to align passion with profession and maybe we don’t need to do that.
The essence of life is finding something you really love and then making the daily experience worthwhile
In fact, we ought to nurture personal interests apart from career obligations. While we go through this, I’d like to invite you to think about your personal journey of self-discovery, finding joy in your passions and integrate them into daily life. Ultimately, it serves as a reminder that while the path to uncovering one’s essence may be complex, it is a deeply personal journey worth pursuing.
The essence of life
I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit. At the age of 40, I’ve revised and reviewed my answers about purpose, essence of life and keep questioning this daily. I’ve not come across a convincing answer, but this quote makes me think more about the essence of life – what we are supposed to be doing to make the best use of the time that we are given.
The essence of life is finding something you really love and then making the daily experience worthwhile. I feel that the essence of life varies from person to person. It deeply depends on what our values are, what inspires us and living it fully to that definition. The trouble always is that we are trying to fit into a society which demands something else from us. Naturally, we tone down the inner voice which is telling us to do something and start listening to these external demands from life. 12 Powerful Quotes on Society, People to provoke your individuality
Example statements for essence of life
But what does our heart say about this essence of life? What do you think is the essence of life? The common answers are:
- To find love and compassion, share it with the rest of the world
- Do something that you’ll be remembered by – your legacy
- Become rich so that you can do everything you want – the materialistic gain
- Find spiritual and inner peace so that nothing bothers you.
All these can easily fit into the purpose of life and essence of life bracket. Also, it can be other things that we haven’t talked about here. But the point is that this purpose of life or essence of life is a deeply personal thing. We don’t need to convince anyone else about it. Finding Purpose in Life Beyond the Pursuit of Wealth and Retirement
Example statements for purpose of life
The purpose or essence of life must be big – and by nature it will be a value statement. Some of the common examples of purpose of life we see are:
- Contribution to Society: “A key purpose of life is to contribute positively to the world, making a difference in the lives of others through acts of kindness and service.”
- Experience and Adventure: “Life’s purpose is to embrace experiences, explore the world, and seek adventure in every moment.”
- Legacy and Impact: “The purpose of life can be seen in the legacy we leave behind and the impact we have on future generations.”
- Creativity and Expression: “Life’s purpose is to express oneself creatively, whether through art, writing, or any form of personal expression.”
Passion in life
Once we talk about the purpose or passion in life, our mind immediately starts with another question – what am I passionate about? Shouldn’t purpose and passion be deeply interconnected so that we can live a holistic life? My logical brain immediately says – yes and why not? With that background, we embark on an exercise of finding passion.
Now this too has been an arduous task. What we fail to appreciate is that this passion keeps changing and unfortunately sometimes, we keep holding to an image of this passion rather than truly questioning whether it still makes sense.
How to find our passion in life?
Again, I’ll reassert the point that passion and profession are two different things. Most times people talk about work and call it passion. Please for your own health and the sake of keeping yourself sane – treat them as two different things. Once it becomes a profession, you’ll need to do other things that you’re not passionate about because it becomes business. So, figure out a way to keep them separate. Passion is nothing but that deep desire to be and do something in your life, keep doing it. It is connected to the idea of flow – being completely lost and immersed in something.
If you search in google about the best ways to find your passion, the most common answers are:
- Look inward – be mindful, identify what you like, invest time in it
- Try new things – experiment, see what you like and do more of it
- If passion or dream is hard, find what gives you joy – there’s a trace in it to lead you to passion
- Talk to people, see how they’ve found their passion
Example statements for passion in life
We can find numerous passionate people pursuing what their heart tells them. My simplest definition is to find out what our heart asks for and invest time on it. That’s what passion is all about. It starts becoming a problem when we tie commercial gain or money to these passions.
I must urge us to think that these two are separate things. You don’t need to make a living out of your passion. The main thing however is that you have enough time to invest in your passions so that you can feel fulfilled with life. That’s the main point to find your essence and live the essence of your life.
Some example statements for passion in life to make us think of passions:
- Pursuing Dreams: “My passion drives me to chase my dreams relentlessly, transforming aspirations into reality.”
- Helping Others: “My passion lies in helping others, whether through volunteer work or simply being there for friends in need.”
- Health and Wellness: “I am passionate about health and fitness, dedicating time to cultivate a lifestyle that promotes well-being.”
- Music and Performance: “Music is my passion; it connects me with others and allows me to share my story through sound.”
Passion, Purpose of life, essence of life – Tying it all together
This is probably the most difficult task. Most of us know what we are passionate about. Some of us even know our values and what we deeply care about. The most difficult task however is to tie all these together to lead a holistic life. Now, all this happens amidst our life, right? We still must work, figure out a way to handle our finances -deal with the daily pressures of life.
This can be an easy task in isolation, but we are pressed for time. We want this as a sustainable thing and not a one-off occurrence. And that’s where I feel most of us are stuck at. Unless we find a way to create time for this passion and essence of life to do it on a regular basis, we will consistently feel stuck. The main point however is to ensure that we spend enough time on these passions. Sometimes even work might get in the way.
If you want to be that deeply passionate person who constantly keeps connecting to this purpose of life and wants to be centred around – it will demand time from you. It means that you will have to make some sacrifices because this is so important to you and the other sacrifices appear too small in front of it. I’m sure it is possible to tie all these together and figure a way out. We as human being are great at it. The only problem is time – how do we find enough time to be free, pursue these passions to figure out a way to connect and make it the purpose of our life or the essence of life.
Thoughts?
References:
- https://www.tonyrobbins.com/personal-growth/how-to-find-passion?srsltid=AfmBOopOwydJJ9GPNn0xmmVFeor3H5Z9mSwFsnm8oDwzdyygCBqBEH4f
- https://tinybuddha.com/blog/try-this-if-youre-struggling-to-find-your-passion/
- https://mainstreetmag.com/finding-joy-through-flow-and-play/