The Secret of a Purposeful Life

Would you have asked me this a year ago I would have said “know your purpose and act accordingly” and although it is very true still, in the midst of the ever-changing and chaotic dynamics of my journey, I find that purpose can be lived differently than one thing that was created, higher than oneself. I have always had an obvious idea of what my place in the world was, but the way I express it and act upon it now is much different than how I used to.

If I was written by someone who could write pretty I hope they would write me a certain way,

I hope the world could someday see me the way a writer would romanticise me and my world. I hope that right now, the way I am, the way I transpire and feel to others is the way rain feels in summer. As I sit in the little coffee shop of this little french city with its empty streets and endless days of rain is the way I’ll still exist in the memories of old walls and baristas who’ll wonder where I left, like a ghost I’ll linger a little longer here where I spent a huge part of my life, all of that because of their thoughts. As I am to leave and start again I think a lot about the way I pray to leave things and how I align myself to enter this new era of me – I test my energy, the way it feels to step into new vibrations and new cycles. I can feel my heart changing, like a sunset, from dusty pink to a dark velvety purple, because that’s how I feel – I feel purple, vibrant but quiet, sober and warm. I hope they would write rhymes about the way my long lashes flutter over my hazel eyes to glance outside, my gaze lost on the horizon as the last rays of gloomy light embrace the old buildings like the promise of tomorrow saying hello once again. I hope they notice the way my hair is sleeked backed in a tight ballerina bun contrasting with the soft and relaxed satin button-up shirt tucked into my knitted trousers. I hope they notice the way one of my loafers is sliding half off my heel on my right foot because of my position. Legs crossed and back straight, my tea cup resting in my hands warming my soul, I smile at strangers when their eyes meet mine, I am feeling part of their story for a brief instant. I feel the world around me, the way it moves and buzzes, graciously like a restless bee, I notice how some people walk through it like they are not walking through one other perfect moment of their existence, unaware maybe that it could be the last, but again, being terribly conscious of life requires being awfully concerned about the brevity of it. I wish I could write them like a Jane Austen character, straight out of a novel, I wish I could detail them, so they would see, too, the way they are perfectly imperfect and how where they are, is exactly where they are meant to journey. There is Debussy playing on my headset, I lean into each note, almost breathing in the melody – if reinventing oneself meant that we could be whatever we could be, then let that be splendid, let that be so full of light and of love, so full of life and of mindfulness that there is no other choice but to be in awe in front of such blunt authenticity. I think that reinventing oneself is the art of creating days with purpose and realise that purpose is not something that needs to be created, you choose to walk with purpose, you choose to be your highest self, you are only now and what you do with it. As someone who works thoroughly towards a future where I am abundant and a lifestyle I am dreaming of, I remind myself with gratitude every day of the road I have paved for myself and I choose every day to write myself like the main character of my story.

We have to let go of this idea that we are all so extraordinary without doing anything,

we are not extraordinary unless we decide to be, we are not extraordinary and should not expect to be unless we act in such a way that what we do we do it with heart in a place where the ordinary approaches grace, purpose, excellence and exceptional direction. Do you not ever wonder why we call certain people extraordinary? It is because they are just that, absolutely utterly rare, they are precisely out of the ordinary, astoundingly aligned with this inner light, unapologetic about it.

Thus this is what living a life purposely is,

it is how you live your days, each and every one of them, as the most singularly extraordinary experience of life. There is something always more important than the end result and it is the journey. Travel there with self-awareness, kindness, open-mindedness and let every day be your reminder of who you are in order to “achieve” your purpose: be purposely.

For what it’s worth,

this way of thinking changed my life, I hope it may move yours too.

xx A