3 Ways to Find Your Purpose in 2016

I live with the premise that everybody has got something to give no matter their circumstances no matter the challenges and odds that they face in life. The recent tragic incidents in Russia, Paris and not forgetting 9/11 has reminded how humans can be toxicwhen they make the wrong choices and do not care about the well-being of others. We cannot control choices of other people in the world but we can control our own choices. Much as otherpeople make the wrong choices and affect the world negatively I still believe one person can change the world in their own space and impact on the lives of others. Many who lived before us did such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.The only way to truly change our world is to connect to our purpose. As we head to the New Year in 2016, I would like you to connect to your true purpose. Ask yourself these important questions: "In the troubled world who do I have to be? What do I need to become in order to make thisworld a better place? Once you have answered these questions also answer this question to moveinto action and live the life of your true purpose:"What do I commit to do in order to live the life of mytrue purpose in 2016?"If you follow through and take action you will be well on your way to finding your purpose in life and living the life of your true purpose. You are capable more than you have imagined possible, you are the light to the world. You have something to give that no other person can give but you. In order to give what you have been placed in this world to accomplish, you need to find your purpose.I am sure like most people when I speak of purpose you might want to ask yourself how you can find your purpose - most people ask me this question. My answer is always, "You don't have to find your purpose, for it is within you"I do not think anyone needs to search for their purpose because our purpose is within each of us, we do not have to find it rather we have to create conditions and the environment within which our purpose can be fulfilled. Once we create an environment and conditions within which our purpose can exist, our purpose will find us. There are three things that I believe any person willing tofind their purpose should do in order to create conditions within which their purpose will be fulfilled. Here are the three things:1. Get spiritually connectedAlmost everyone I have ever spoken to that does not know what their purpose is and seems lost is also not spiritually connected. It is almost impossible to find your true purpose in life when you are not spiritually connected. People that live up to their true purpose are spiritually connected. Every purpose goes along with a deep routed emotional connection. People that have lived up totheir purpose such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey and many others are spiritually connected in one way or the other. They hold a deeper emotion that connects them to their purpose. To live your purpose you have to be spiritually connected.How to get spiritually connected is very individualistic for some spiritual connection means time alone to meditate or pray, other people go on a fast, other people give to those in need to find their spiritual connection whilst others go to church and worship. The only way to know what works for you is to reserve time in your busy life for spirituality and do various things until you find rituals that connect to you on a deeper level. Once you find your spiritual connection, your purpose will find you. Trust me I have spoken to a lot of people that are living their purpose and all of them are spiritually connected.2. Love and GiveEvery person who has connected to their purpose has lived beyond themselves to reach out to othersand change their lives. Every purpose is routed to a deeper love far beyond oneself. The more you hone your ability to love, the more you fuel your true purpose in you to come out alive. To hone your ability to love you need to stop being self-centered and begin to develop compassion and empathy for other people.Develop empathy and compassion for those in need, for those who are helpless, for those who go hungry, for those whose lives are not freed in one way or the other. This empathy need not be limitedto those in weak positions, have feelings of empathy even for people that are not in weak positions such as those that criticize you, those that are cynical and those that walk in the dark. Even those that crucify you deserve your empathy and compassion. Once you begin to develop this deep rooted love that is unwavering even when times are hard and people do not support you thenyou will begin to move closer towards living to your true purpose.Even if you were to look at this from a business angle than a philanthropic angle, people that created great businesses were also driven by love and passion. Steve Jobs did not just revolutionize the computer industry with an isolated goal of making money, he also held within himself a deep routed love for what he was doing. He also had enough consideration to connect the technical aspects of his inventions with what the end users would like which takes a certain level of thinking beyond oneself.3. Learn and GrowTo live to your true purpose you have to be willing to learn and grow. Learning is something that when most of us think of we think of being in class and reading books. However when you are in an environment where you need to live to your purpose learning comes to you in a different way. It comes to you through life experiences some of which are great some of which challenge you. When Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison to live to his purpose to save and free South Africa he was greatly challenged, Oprah Winfrey was born unwanted, she was an inconvenience when she was born, and she was challenged in all kinds of ways to finally live to her purpose.My personal life is also a true reflection of how the path of living to our purpose can sometimes be filled with challenges. I was born in a family of 9 children; my mom was schizophrenic and stayed away from home due to illness, my father left us when I was 11 years old. We grew up being a bunch of kids who were undisciplined without parents and poor. I would go to school without having had any food. In my final two years of schooling I walked 14 kilometers every single day to school. I got to this point where I live my purpose from a path filled with obstacles and challenges.So in your own life, open yourself to learning and growing and realize that through challenges you learn and grow. Once you open yourself up to learning you will be in a much better position to find your purpose and live to your purpose. When things are difficult and the road seems like it is going nowhere in addition to feeling like crying and getting depressed also ask yourself, "What do I learn from this?" It is true that we should not ask for problems to go away instead we should seek toget ourselves emotionally stronger and have the emotional fitness to handle obstacles and overcome them.By doing the above three things you will create the environment within which your purpose, that is in you comes out, and you will be able to live your purpose. When you do the above three things you will not have to search for your purpose, your purpose will find you. I know you might feel what I say is too simplistic, just practice it and see the kinds of results that you will get in your life.There are things that limit us from living to our true purpose that I would like you to be aware of and be on guard because these can limit you and make it harder for you to get to a place where your true purpose finds you. Here they are:1. Self-DoubtSelf-doubt causes you to question your own capabilities and depending on what your answersare causes you to not be at your best. It becomes very hard for you to trust your purpose under theseconditions and to find your purpose. So you need to be aware of this. You might have questions in your mind such as, "am I good enough", or "I don't think I am capable of becoming X, or Y, or Z"...Self-doubt can cause us to have negative self-talk and devalu