One Apple A Day #124
What do you want in life?
What is your purpose?
Which are your passions?
These are all tough questions, and I can continue asking about meaning, values and so on.
How much time do you spend asking yourself these questions? Dwelling into your mind to find some clarity?
Me, I spent a lot of time. Probably too much, but I can’t help.
Unfortunately, no matters how much I reflect, read, discuss, meditate, exercise, write I struggle to find an answer that feels the one.
The point is that I know it is there.
I know it because I can feel it. When I do something, I feel if it is aligned or not with my meaning (purpose, values, you name it). But I can find the word to describe it. On top of that, I realised that when I grow and change — and I am always changing — those answers, whatever they are, change with me.
So, why all that? Is there a point in spending time in this quest?
To this question, I have an answer but before sharing it let me tell you why it is so hard to put your purpose in words.
According to neuroscience, decision making and the ability to explain those decisions exist in different parts of the brain.
Decisions, like feelings and emotions, come from the limbic brain. A small and innermost part of our brain. However, language is managed somewhere else, in the outer part of the brain, the cortex.
That is why it can be hard to verbalise our values.
So, going back to the last question. Is there a point in spending time trying to define your life purpose? A life purpose ingrained in the part of your brain that has no words and that change with you?
My answer is yes. Because on this quest to find your meaning the destination is less important than the journey. Reflecting on your life purpose, trying to dig deep to find your core values are activities that will allow you to connect to your feeling. You will become aware of your innermost emotions even if you can’t name them with words. This self-awareness allows you to fully live your purpose even if you don’t have the perfect words to describe it.