I was wondering how everyone defines their own purpose in life? The roles we play, the services we render to others. How do you define it and what is your vision for fulfilling your overall purpose, the end goal that you seek?

I ask because I believe everyone needs introspection, the need to reflect and learn in order to correctly guide themselves toward an end goal. Vision , not defined as fantasy, but as continually taking steps and making goals that we wish to acheive. Whether for ourselves or for others in a greater cause.-

Love to hear it.

Too personal, and hard, to even start to explain.

Ok...then........what's your' favorite cookie?

Snickerdoodles, yours?

Purpose huh: live, learn, grow, help others.

The end goal: to learn what I came here to learn and hopefully make it a little more enjoyable for others to learn what they came to learn in the process. Vague I know, but its the best I can offer at this point in time.

Purpose.....

From child, it was to experience child...to experience abandonment...to experience the illnesses of others...through their abuse...to experience sanctuary...from the maddening world...to experience community...through school, and work, and friends and their families.

To experience, the natural world, the world within worlds, that carries on regardless of the human footprint.


From young person... to experience, again abandonment... the darker side of humanity, the broken spirits who live in the shadows of society...to experience, the larger world, of my country, through travel...the unsterile world, on the road...and on the streets.

From young woman... relationships... romance... and the binding of two people together... the experience of mother... to nurture and give back... that which I had not experienced, as a lacking in my own story...to experience the depth of wonder and wisdom through the eyes of a child.

As a woman... to experience the imbalance within societal mindsets... the hard ships, the challenges... the joy... the serenity.

As an older woman... to experience the stories of others... to support the stories of others... to create and empower strengths in others... to remind them of their strengths.

To experience the strengths of these young people who call me mother... to watch their stories unfold.

To walk amongst the broken.. the damaged... the lost and the left behind... and then support them... with a gentle hand... and a loan of courage.

My purpose is to experience the human condition...and cause no harm...to do all I am... to be all that I have the capacity to be... and then to be a little more.

I am my purpose.

I will be the first to risk then.

My purpose seemed to be defined by my parents when I was a child. Parents have dominion over their children and I think therefore are the filter for what can become your early stages of purpose in life. I learned certain responses and coping mechanisms, some healthy, some not. So 'true' purpose I believe can only be found in "love". If you lacked any kind of positive or affirming attention then it will hinder you and limit your' ability to find true purpose, or at least a positive vision of what your purpose could be.

I actually lacked that purpose and resorted to survival with no real vision or hope for what I wanted in life. My 'fantasy' was to be a helicopter pilot. But there was no real vision for that to come to pass. The purpose was really self focused on acheiving an elusive goal.

I found purpose when I was married but married for poor reasons as she was manic- depressive and I thought I could save her from herself. Once the reality of the disability came into the marriage I found that my intentions were not backed up with the proper resources or know how to cope with the problem, hence it failed, miserably.

During my seperation and divorce, much introspection and seeking occured. Although the fault of the divorce could be blamed on a phyciatric problem, I had to admit my fault for being ill prepared and making ignorant mistakes. What did I do to allow this into my life and what could I have done to make it better so that it is less likely to happen again. I did not date for years. I was not confident in my abilities yet and needed to pinpoint solutions to how I react and coming to reality about my limitations of control and my capabilities.

As of now, I have a purpose of teaching my children and loving them, as every parent does. I have responsibilities which are purposful as they are needed to raise my children etc.

However and overall purpose?

I suppose I find true purpose in life this way..as an overall general lifelong purpose. I remembered all the times I had been pulled through hardship by someone caring enough to love me through it. Or when no one was there,I prayed, even when it felt impossible to go on. I got mad, threw fits. but always came back and prayed. I was healed miraculously in church twice, saw many miracles firsthand but nevertheless always eventually felt disheartened or condemned by church as a whole. I remember reading the bible for myself 'trusting as a child' and finding discrepancies to simple truths I found as compared to what was taught by the licensed, educated pastoral facet of the church. I began to (fearfully) share these thoughts. I found that a few agreed, but that many were offended and upset at the mere mention of teachings and truths contrary to their traditional teachings. Or I received a plethora of obscure dotrinal references taken out of context and mixed up.

Something moved on me one day as I had never felt inside before, the feeling was heavy and from what I will descibe as 'the center of my being'. It was not from a previous thought or feeling but the overwhelming power brought me to my knees. a thought came slowly as this happened. It was a message, it resounded in my mind, and I immediately delivered the the message to relieve myself of the burden I felt. It was a warning to a christian sister about her job. She scoffed, then 2 days later lost her job for lying.

Since then I have experienced much and grown, learning to control what I can in life and attempting (sadly sometimes) to pray for things that I can't control. Many friends, many miracles. But my overall purpose since has been to deliver simple truth and kill the religious spirit of 'law' in the church. living under Gods indweeling and not rules. I have found freedom away from the pop culture church which I perceive as drowning 'ignorantly' in blood money. Not to end it harshly, but my purpose now is to learn and improve on how to relay this message, as it is at the core of my being, a'fire' if you will. I still blow it sometimes, but I am learning and pushing forward to find answers everyday.

IF you actually read that....congratulations.

I would love to hear anyone else open up. Or maybe just define what you think purpose really is.

I was typing whilst (unbeknownst to me) we got some takers.

Thank you for sharing Diff.

And Jess, that was beautiful. I can see that spirit clearly now. The Princess and the soon coming Queen. Poetry in real life, I loved it. Thank you so much for sharing your' heart, it blessed me.

I love oatmeal chocolate chip with almonds. Oh yeah baby. Have to make those though, can't find 'em in the store anywhere .......Plus I don't bake....bummer.