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This quote by Mahatma Gandhi talks about the social aspect of serving others and the personal aspect of finding your purpose. Finding purpose is a difficult question and many guides and coaches are working on it, it sometimes feels like a lost cause. Most guidance we receive about finding ourselves tends to be generic and unhelpful.

Perhaps the best advice I’ve received is to try different things and keep trying until you find something better or anything that gives you joy. The purpose is something that we don’t discover immediately. Even showing up and telling you whether it fulfils you takes effort. In the meantime, you can only start and find things that give you joy. (Related: https://www.whatkatysaid.com/lost-in-life-how-you-can-find-yourself-again/)

The best way to find yourself

I love this part of the quote more than the full one. It has a spiritual element to it. Most of the quotes we see are egocentric. They keep mentioning things to do and help us feel good about ourselves. This unfortunately is a selfish goal. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s a beautiful feeling to observe that maybe the answer to finding ourselves is in losing ourselves. 

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others – Mahatma Gandhi 

Let me try to explain. We feel lost when we associate with certain things, outcomes or people. But these things don’t define you or me. In fact, on the large scale of things, nothing matters. We are a speck in this universe and unfortunately sometimes can make this whole world about ourselves. That’s not true at all. We ought to stop worrying about the ego-centric approach and lose ourselves in what the world demands from us. And the first thing that comes to mind is in Gandhi’s quote – to lose yourself in service. (More Mahatma Gandhi Quotes)

Lose yourself in the service of others – Mahatma Gandhi 

The meaning of this quote is fairly straightforward. It talks about the importance of being in service of others. We human beings are social creatures and are built to live, collaborate and help each other out. Although some individualistic society perspectives tell us that each person is for themselves – it fades away quickly. People are unpredictable, fun and inspiring. These make it a challenging and fun area to navigate. 

I won’t say that losing yourself in the service of others gives you all the answers. But, it gives a great starting point to identify whether you’ll like it. And in the process, you’ll find out whether this is something that your heart resonates with. You can’t argue with the benefits of helping others. It makes you happy, and connected and gives you a long-term goal to address the big questions in life. It may not be the ultimate answer, but it sure is an answer to start.