WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL FOR FINDING PURPOSE?
There’s a tool that is absolutely required for you to find purpose in your life. It’s more important than any personality test in helping you understand yourself and more informative than any book or article you could ever read on the topic of purpose. Oh, and it’s free and available for use at any time.
So, what is it?
Honesty.
It’s a simple concept yet not at all simplistic.
To be honest is to be sincere and free of deceit. Sounds easy? It’s actually incredibly difficult.
All of us have engaged in lies at some point in our lives. Most of us regularly do. The lies we tell could be conscious or subconscious, and they could be lies we tell ourselves or lies we tell others.
Why do we do it? Why do YOU do it?
The average person lies to avoid conflict and hardship —examples of this include pretending to like a friend’s idea or faking being busy to avoid doing someone a favor. We also lie to make ourselves look good in front of others — like pretending to appreciate a certain taste in music or feigning interest in politics or religion. It’s also common for people to lie when they want others to like them — which often takes the form of agreeing with their opinions without thoughtfulness or excessively complimenting them.
While this form of lying may seem harmless or benign, it turns out to be quite dangerous and impacts our ability to find a sense of meaning and purpose in life.
The opposite of lies are truths. Truths reflect what actually exists, so they are what is real. Truth is reality, and truths are what lead us to thinking and acting in a way that corresponds to reality. And when we think and act in a way that corresponds to reality, we are able to predict our outcomes. This provides for a sense of peace and allows us to achieve what we desire.
For example, the force of gravity is a truth. When Isaac Newton discovered this, and more truths emerged through the laws of Newtonian physics, our new understanding of reality allowed us to successfully invent machines that would work. The Industrial Revolution that changed the course of history was born out of the proper understanding of a truth. And it’s precisely because the laws of physics are true that they have allowed us to think and act in ways that have been predictably successful.
The laws of Newtonian physics led to the discovery of more truths, and this is a function of all truths: they aid us in the discovery of more truths.
Truth increases itself exponentially.
Truth also makes itself known over time. If we hold a false belief about ourselves or others or the world, it will be eventually exposed to us. How? Through our failures to predict an outcome we were expecting. For example, if someone mistakenly believed that the gas station by their home was open until midnight, they would be surprised to find it closed at 9 PM. This failure to make an accurate prediction resulted from believing in something that wasn’t true. And now they are given an opportunity to correct that belief to one that is more true –say, by looking up the store hours online.
Aside from all the anxiety that results from consistently failing to predict outcomes (i.e. uncertainty), if you’re not honest with yourself and you engage in self-deceit, then your intuition won’t work. Lying to yourself becomes a poison that blinds you to what is real. After all, intuition is built on cumulative knowledge and experience that your brain processes at a very high speed, so much so that you’re not able to consciously keep up with these processes and are only left with a “feeling” of what you feel about a situation. When you lie to yourself, your intuition loses its ability to guide you. And without guidance from your intuition and the wisdom that accompanies being intimate with Truth, you end up blindly following everyone around you because that’s the closest thing to comfort you know.
So what should you do?
Start by avoiding telling lies and refusing to engage in deceit. Start with the little things that aren’t likely to shock those around you or cause you too much fear or anxiety. Then build your courage, one step at a time, until being honest is part of your character. Be sincere in your thought and action, and pay attention to what you think, feel, and say. This combination of intention to be truthful and aligning your actions to that intention (both of which need attention), will exponentially grow the amount of truth in your life.
Being honest will be very uncomfortable at first. It will become apparent to you that a lot of what you say isn’t real, or that many of the relationships in your life aren’t truly based on love. You might find that you rarely act in a way that is consistent with your beliefs.
To avoid participating in any lies is incredibly difficult (if we’re being totally honest), and yet this is the path to goodness for yourself and others.
It is the tool that leads you to clarity about yourself and the world. It’s the foundation of a life of inner peace and purpose. Telling the truth builds character and self-respect. It makes you a more interesting person and allows you to help others on their search for meaning and purpose.
Before you click on the next thing that distracts you online, ask yourself this:
What’s one step I can take today towards being more truthful? What’s one lie I’m going to avoid telling today?
Was this post helpful? If so, share it with your family and friends via email or social media. Purpose producers launched fairly recently, and we need support from our readers to reach more people who could benefit from this!
And stay tuned for more actionable posts that help you experience the peace and power of purposeful living. Get on our emailing list to make sure you don’t miss anything we publish!