What are you searching for? … A life purpose! What’s else?

“What you seek for is seeking for you”

(Rumi)

When I think about the question, “what are you searching for?” I instantly get the image of Dory, my favorite character in the movie “Finding Nemo” and of course the answer I think about it is always the same: “P. Sherman. 42 Wallaby Way. Sydney!”  Funny right?

That’s the only information that Dory, who has short-term memory loss, can remember. Thanks to that information, all the characters of the movie can find what is most important to them. Thanks to that important information that Dory keeps repeating, the end of the film is quite happy (I will not spoil it if you have to see it).

I identified myself a lot with Dory (I have a short-term memory loss regarding negative things in my life, well! It is a more selective memory loss 🤪). As that funny fish, I have been repeating for years the same “message” regarding my purpose in life. Since I have memory, I have been repeating that my purpose in life is to be a “spark”. As Dory, in some moments of my life, I am/was pretty sure that is the way I must keep, and even if no one is following me, I keep my cap. At some other moments, I also hesitate and forget the cap and go to a different “ocean current” that sometimes leads me to a place where I do not want to be. When I found myself stuck on those ocean currents that made me go around and not forward, I always stop and ask myself again the right questions.  The question that helps me to keep track.

These are the “key” questions that I ask myself when I need to remember or actualized my purpose in life, my Ikigai, and my why:

1. What is my story?

To tell others your story is fun and an easy exercise. You start by telling where you were born, you talk about your family, your childhood, your best teenager stories, and the people that have been in your life (for the better or the worse). But telling yourself your own story is another exercise. If you, do it honestly, you cannot adapt your story to a Hollywood movie script. Telling yourself your own story is a good exercise to remember your purpose in life.  Going back to your first childhood memory, remembering your “crazy” dreams when you were a kid is one of the most powerful ways to connect to your purpose in life. Because it is in your childhood that you know without fear your real mission in life. If you can tell yourself all the good and bad parts of your story, you will see that all the paths you have been through are there to guide you to what you are always looking for: to accomplish your purpose in life.

2. What is at stake?

When you feel that what you are doing is not important. When you have the feeling that you are losing your time. The best way to get the “big picture” is to take a moment to think about what will happen if I do not do what you must do. If you have a feeling that is OK that is not that bad of doing just “work, dodo and work” is OK then. Not judgment. However, if you get the feeling that is not OK, or you feel some frustration, it means that it is important for you. So, start to acknowledge that doing what you are good at, what you love the most, and what the world needs is the way to clarify and remember why you are here, right now. Acknowledging all the thighs you have done (even the ones you consider silly) is a way to remember your path. To remember your own way

3. How can I help?

We are all connected. In one way or another. Supporting each other is the funniest and easy way of getting what we need. Seeking to help others is a way to also clarify my own needs. We do not realize the power that our actions can have in another’s person life.  A simple smile in the street can change a person’s difficult day. Giving a hand to someone can save lives. When we are feeling lost and that our life is empty, the best way to get on track is by starting to help others. By helping others, we can remember the chance we already have in life and the amazing things that surround us. Staying alone in our corner, will not give us the opportunity to share, grow, and be happy. Sharing what we have, even if it is not much, multiplied it!

So, keep going, as Dory does in the film, even if you only remember a few things, keep looking for your purpose in life, keep working for it, dreaming of it, because what you are seeking is seeking for you.