Living life with an external purpose can be quite satisfying but it's not so straight forward to come up a fixed purpose by which you define your life. Most people come up with a purpose just for the heck of it and then they find out that they are not really passionate about it in the first place.

　　It helps to have a solid foundation in reality, or the truths of life, before you sit down to finding your purpose in life. Here are a few pointers that can help you in this process.

　　Check if you already have a purpose?

　　If you find your present life purposeless just look again. In the totality of life there is no purpose that is too small or too big. Even a street sweeper fulfills a very important purpose in his life. Even if you are working in a small firm you are fulfilling a vital purpose in the link of life by the service you provide.

　　May be you are supporting a family, or raising kids, that's quite a significant purpose. If you think your life is meaningless right now, it would just show that you are not really paying attention to your present role.

　　Your true calling need not be magnanimous?

　　Some people get really famous while some live a private life. There is no real difference between the two. Each person fulfills a specific role and no role is more important than the other.

　　Your inherent talent might just define your life's purpose? It's surprising how many people go through life with some incredible talent within which they don't convert to a career or service. If you have a talent, it's life's gift to you. Try to find the best way possible to convert your talent to something which gives service to people. There is no better way to live a purpose, and make money, than through an inherent talent.

　　Listen to your heart rather than your mind?

　　Heart and mind are just metaphors. Heart denotes your intuition while the mind stems out of your conditioning patterns. Get in touch with the inner voice in your heart and see if there is a deep seated desire that is recurring. May be all along you have just ignored this desire.

　　Your mind might find several excuses to tell you what your heart wants is impractical, but that's just your conditioning speaking. The voice of your heart is always true and it points to your deep seated yearning.

　　Write up an essay on what type of life you want to live?

　　It's amazing how many insights you can get simply by writing down your thoughts. There are millions of thoughts rushing through the mind each day and it's difficult to make sense of it all. When you sit down to write, the thoughts become more organized.

　　Without much ado just start typing or writing down what type of life you really want to live. Just write freely without involving the mind too much, let the words just come out of your subconscious. You might have to write for a few minutes before you really get into the groove.

　　It helps to write for a few hours even if your mind stops churning out ideas. It's precisely when the mind gives up that the heart starts talking. When you read this essay you can find your purpose in life in some of the words or sentences that came out subconsciously.

　　Let the answer come from stillness?

　　Our intelligence operates at two levels? One is the noisy mind and the next is the silent space of stillness within us. The space of stillness is far more intelligent than the conditioned mind and this has been proven by several creative geniuses who speak of entering the zone of no-mind before creating their master pieces.

　　To access this space of stillness, just sit in a relaxed position and get in touch with your inner body. When you place you attention on your inside of your body, the mind tends to stop. Feel the sensations and energy passing through your body. After a while all these sensations will subside and will give way to stillness. Ask for your purpose in this state of stillness without expecting a verbal answer from your mind.

　　Sometimes you might get your answer immediately as a sudden burst of intuition or you might get your answer later in your dreams or waking state.

　　Follow up on your intuition?

Whenever you get an intuitive hit to do something just follow up on it. Sometimes it's important to take a few risks to find the true purpose in your life. Just make sure you are in tune with your intuition while making these decisions. In the end there is no such thing as a failure, it's just an opportunity to learn.

　　It might take a few failed attempts and dead ends before you finally hit upon the true purpose of your life. You are likely to make fewer mistakes if you are in touch with your inner voice of intuition. Always remember that the emotion you feel in your body is the true indicator of what you really feel about your decisions rather than the thoughts in your mind.