A Purposeful Life And A Life Of Purpose: The Nexus
Universally, there is no single agreed upon definition of life. However, generally, life is considered to be what distinguishes the living from the non-living things. Life is the quality of being alive. Fyodor Dostoevsky posits that "the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for." This simply means that life is not all about being a living thing but also finding a reason to live. This reason to live or live for is called "purpose", Which evolves to a purposeful life.
A purposeful life is a life that is driven by certain values, having a sense of meaning and fulfilment. To term one's life as a purposeful life would mean being deliberate about one's choices as regards such life. It is a kind of living whereby one sets a goal and he/she is intentional about achieving such goals. Living life that conforms to what one has set.
For a person to have a purposeful life, purpose must be understood. Often times, in life, most of us set out to live a purposeful life, setting goals and how to achieve them. Calling ourselves "go-getters" for the goal we have set, but not achieved. Meanwhile, one of the reasons one's goal is not achieved is because he/she does not understand "purpose". When purpose is not understood, one would set goals that do not match one's purpose. And what happens afterwards is that one would either not get the desired result or not achieve the goal at all. So, one needs to map out matching plans that will make one achieve his/her purpose.
Furthermore, a purposeful life has to be driven by a force of intentionality. This means there is an intent or reason for which one lives. This intent is what one's life revolves around, whereby all you do is geared towards achieving what has been set. This is where the nexus of a life of purpose comes in.
The application of a purposeful life is a life of purpose. It sounds like a life dedicated to purpose. It involves having a clear sense of meaning and direction in what one does. This indicates that the purpose has been known and one is working in the direction that aligns with one's purpose. It is having a strong sense of mission that involves consistency.
A purposeful life and a life of purpose share a great connection and are linked to each other. For instance, when writing a project, especially a research project, one would have objectives and these objectives will be implemented in the analysis of the project. This is an example of the link between a purposeful life and a life of purpose. A purposeful life is a clearly written objective toward achieving a purpose, while a life of purpose is the implementation of these objectives that are tailored towards the purpose of one's life.
In conclusion, a purposeful life is a life that is intentionally planned to follow a kind of pattern consistently to achieve a desired goal. As it turns out that intentionality is one of the keys of consistency, adding consistency to a purposeful life will lead to a life of purpose.