Feeling Lost and Unfulfilled? Discover the Secret to Purposeful Living

Q: Is having a big goal wrong?

Not at all, and the two are not mutually exclusive. Have a statement if you want one. Just do not postpone the small purposes until you have found it.

Q: What if my purpose today is just to get through it?

Then that is the purpose, and it is a real one. Getting out of bed and making one phone call has been mine on plenty of days.

Q: Does this mean nothing bigger is going on?

I have no idea and I would not pretend to. Whether the universe has a plan is above my pay grade. What I can say is that today is the only part of it you can act on.

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The transcript

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purpose · present-moment · zen · mindfulness

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In today's podcast, I want to talk about finding purpose in presence. And there's a wonderful quote that made me

think of this. And it goes like this. Dojin Zenji. If you are unable to find the truth right where

you are, where else do you expect to find it?

How awesome is that?

We'll get back to that in a moment. But on today's podcast, we're talking about life purpose. Talking about, is

there one big life purpose that you've got to search for and find? Or is there a purpose in the

mundane, the normal things, the everyday things in life? Or have we all got it completely wrong, or is there

even such a thing as a purpose that's today's podcast? But just before we start, I want to say thank

you to

Harriet, someone anonymous, Laura, and Audra. You guys are the awesome guys this week. You guys have bought me a

coffee, treated me, and I just want to say thank you. And thank you to anybody that's followed or left

a review or just participated or just listened. You're

all awesome, and I really appreciate you guys. So let's talk about purpose. So much of my

life I thought about where is my purpose, what do I need to do, how do I find it. And

I've looked at videos, I've stormed Youtube, I've read books on finding your purpose, and I've never found it.

I've never found my one life big purpose. I'm 51 or 52 years old, something like that. I'm not going

to sit here and do the maths. It's it's about that. And I don't feel that I've got a purpose.

Do I want to leave a legacy? Yeah of some kind. My ego does. Do

I feel like I should would be better off if I did find a big purpose? Maybe. But

I think that's all ego driven. I think it's all like, hey I've got to find a purpose and then

I'll live longer. I'll be happier. I'll be more joyful. I'll have more satisfaction in life if I'm living my

one big purpose. And there's a problem with that. If you do have that one big purpose in life and

you haven't found it,

are you going to be miserable if you don't find it?

What if then the big giant upstairs, the universe, the mystery, the atoms, everything collectively, whatever

you want to call it, whatever the universe is to you, what if you do have a big purpose

and you never got there or you never found it?

That's a frightening thought isn't it I don't subscribe to that one.

Although I do subscribe too, I don't know what the universe has in store, if it has anything in store.

I don't know if me breaking my neck was some kind of big plan by a million

Monkeys, typing on typewriters somewhere in some ethos somewhere that is planning that I had to do

this podcast to save somebody else because they've got to save the world in 40 years time. I don't know.

That's all way above my pay grade. And although I don't think any of that's necessarily true,

I'm not here to discount it because I don't know. That's why I'm not an atheist because I'm as close

to being an atheist as possible, But I'm not an atheist because I cannot tell you there's no god.

There's something like 240 of them, but I I don't know. I just I practice Buddhism, essentially, not very well,

not very good, but because it brings me less suffering and inner peace that's why I do it um My

whole spiritual journey is can I bring myself less suffering? Can I bring myself more joy? Can I enjoy this

life more? And if your spiritual journey, if what you're doing on a daily basis is making

inroads into that, you're doing all right So at that point perhaps that's your purpose.

Perhaps

your purpose is to find the purpose in everyday things. So if we go back to that quote at the

very beginning, if you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to

find it?

Because you only have right now. You only have this moment. You don't have

next week, not yet. When you're there next week, you'll be here. You

don't have last week, last year, You just have them to teach you things, to remember things, to it's a

trajectory in the story because our brain does that in order to protect us in future. That's the only reason

we actually have a memory is because if we didn't have a memory, we keep going into that same forest

that we were um attacked in. You know? We must remember that bear. It's not a nice creature. It's not

as cuddly as what um It looks. That's why we have a memory. That's why we have a timeline um

Not all animals have timelines of memories. They

have found out that even, like, baby animals, like, even I think it was that the quickest cycle of any

living animal or something like that is a fruit fly or something like that, and it has, like three hours

or something

um And they even have a memory and a timeline even in that,

because they can remember where their I don't know, their food is or something like that. I'm going off topic

like I don't really do always on these podcasts But

what about if your purpose is to just be the best of what you're doing right now? What

if my purpose right now is just to record an awesome podcast? What if it's just to tell you about

the next thing?

What if my um purpose this morning was to go to the doctors because I needed to go to the

doctors? I found a sore on myself, and I had to go to the doctors there's an audition nurse who

said, hey. You heal quickly. Go home and I'll see you on Tuesday.

Long story short.

Maybe my purpose on the way home was just to get home and enjoy the drive home.

Maybe the purpose, there's a Zen story about, you know, if you're mopping the floor,

create a painting on the floor. I butchered that right up.

But just do what you're doing.

Tick that hand says, the miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green

earth in the present moment to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.

That

peace and beauty is not available to you next week, and it's not last week's not available to you now.

Enjoy right now. The sun's come out. The springs here. The the rain has stopped for a few days. And

I was out this morning, and I was feeling the sun on my face. I just felt really nice.

I was with a friend the other day, and we were walking back from Dunelm and I

could feel the cold of the wind and the sun on my face at the same time.

There is a word for it and I keep mentioning this word because I love it. It's apricity. It's to

feel the warmth of the sun on a cold day. But in that moment, and we had the discussion, In

that moment, we were talking about, can you feel the warmth and the cold at the same time?

And additionally, we think yes. But

then no, because I can feel the warmth. I can feel the cold. I can feel the warmth. And you

flip and flip between the two

Maybe the purpose is just to feel the warmth or just to feel the cold.

Maybe the purpose, if you're washing dishes, is just to wash dishes. Maybe

your purpose to meditate when you meditate is just observe thoughts.

Maybe in this moment, in this part of the podcast, my purpose is just to slow down and go

take a breath.

Who knows? Like I say, it's way above my pay grade, and if you're one of the listeners

that happens to know what the universe is up to,

you know, let me know.

Go to StevenWebb.uk and send me a message and tell me what are the plans of the universe. No, Don't.

I don't want to know. I'm happy with where we are.

As all the travesty in the world and all the things that are going wrong, there's many things that are

going right. It may not feel like it, but there's less civil wars and less wars than ever before in

the history of humans.

We have the power to literally destroy humans in our hands.

We haven't done it yet. We're not doing a bad job.

More people have access to running water than ever before.

Do we have a long way to go? Hell, yes.

The average person in the Western world has more than the richest person on the planet did

30 years ago.

I have access to every album in the world for less than $10 per month.

I can watch any movie. I've got so many channels on the Tv. I've got I've got I've got way

too much to entertain me. My brain is literally I need one of those Tvs with 40 screens, and I

just watch them all you know I've got a big screen in front of me, and I've got, like two

word documents open I've got all these things, and I'm like, shiny object syndrome ah There's a bird. There's a

sound. There's a caterpillar. And I love that now. I used to not like it at all when I was

at school he always used to be in trouble. Steven, concentrate. I was staring out the window.

And funny now, my teachers would tell me, stare out the window, enjoy the tree, watch the butterflies, watch the

little bird land.

How life changes at

school. We're teaching you things we teach you how to live life. And then 30, 40 years on, middle middle

age, you go, yeah. Forget all that. Now we'll teach you how to live life. And then in 10 years

time we do the same cycle again, and it keeps going on. And the truth is, if

we can find purpose in the moment of what we're doing, maybe the purpose is just to survive today.

Maybe the purpose for you today is to get out of bed, make that phone call.

Maybe the purpose is to phone a family member tell someone you love them because you don't know whether or

not they need to hear that today.

Maybe your purpose takes a deep breath and gives someone a hug that you haven't hugged for a while.

Maybe your purpose isn't so big as you think it is.

Maybe you don't have one life purpose and you literally have millions.

And

each day is made of loads of miracle purposes.

Who knows? And I'd rather think that way.

I'm more comfortable with being thankful for all the different things I have. than being thankful for the one big

thing I have.

I wake up in the morning, and I'm grateful for my pillow my pillowcase, my quilt. I'm grateful for my

hands I can itch my face. I can drink my drink. I can, you know, all these different things. I

was on the way up the hill the other day no. This afternoon, actually. And I was thinking, god, what

if I didn't have my voice? What if I didn't have my eyes I could see hey I'd bump into

all the cars and people would shower me, and they'd get really angry pretty quick. It'd be much worse than

that, actually. It'd be absolutely carnage. You imagine imagine me being in my electric wheelchair, and I couldn't see anything.

Just let me go

That'd be mental, wouldn't it? That'd be funny. That would be a viral um Youtube video. And it'd be like

one of those um roundabouts in one of the Middle Eastern countries where literally there's no lines on the roundabout,

and there's, like, 300 lanes coming from each direction. And they get to the middle, and they just go across.

It's like, wow. Does that really happen? That's what it'd be like if I couldn't see. Anyway

I digress. You know?

So just like gratitude where you have you can be grateful for all the little things, perhaps purpose is the

same.

Perhaps when we find genuine meaning and purpose in the truth of the present moment, what's the purpose of my

anxiety right now?

What's the purpose of me being here right now? You

know, maybe your purpose is to

turn off this podcast and go and make a cup of tea for somebody, to sit down at the table

and go, how was your day?

Maybe your purpose is to leave a review of the podcast or follow. But

if you I think, genuinely, if you build up your life with loads and loads of little purposes at the

moment, it doesn't mean to say that gets rid of one big life purpose. Your your life purpose might be

a statement like, I would like to alleviate suffering for others by what I've learned in myself.

Not a bad one. I might use that myself.

But you can do the little purposes they don't have to be mutually exclusive. So

I genuinely believe that if we find purpose in everything we're doing,

it'll be more into our foundations of who we are.

You know, the purpose of the leaves is to do one thing, the purpose of the branches, the trunk. I

like the analogies of trees because I just love trees I think trees just

they go through all year long, and they can teach us so much about how we should live rather than

we're trying to change the environment and fit us all the time. My purpose is to change the environment to

make it comfortable for us. Let's make the world flat rather than just on a pair of shoes. I

think I think it was Jack cornfield or somebody said there's probably someone way before that, way deeper, more profound,

probably 2000 years ago instead of trying to cover the whole planet in leather, put on a pair of sandals.

And

I think that's where living a life of purpose, that's where that comes in.

And, you know, what does it look like living a life of purpose

listen actively. Maybe you're sat down with a friend and your purpose right then it's just to listen.

Don't jump in. Don't preload what you're going to say Just listen.

Maybe your purpose in a moment of conflict is to take a deep breath and see if you can lower

the energy in the room. They don't have to be big gestures. Your purpose doesn't have to be teach the

whole world to swim if you're a swimming coach. Don't know where that comes from but

maybe your purpose is just if you don't dishes, do dishes. If you're having a shower, have a shower.

If you're with a friend, be with a friend.

Maybe your purpose sometimes is just to take care of your emotions. Your feelings are arising inside

Whatever it is, I reckon if you live your life just like living it with gratitude, be grateful for

everything. Let's be grateful for all the possibilities of what your purpose can be in any given day.

Wow. How would your life change with that?

How would your life change if you were living every day purposefully in the present moment? So not only being

present, you're actually being present with a purpose,

with an intention.

Don't get attached to it. I think that's the key to it.

Have a purpose in a given moment for that moment. Don't get attached to a bigger purpose because you won't

find it. You won't you'll find things you enjoy doing, but you would always wonder whether something else is out

there for you

you know Even if you end up doing really well in some career or some kind of helping or some,

I don't know, philanthropy thing where you're giving back it will never be enough. It will never fully nourish you.

Never. You can never fill that cup and go, hey. Cups full. I'm done.

The truth is the cups always full and empty, and you are done.

And then the ego steps in. And the purpose is about fulfilling the ego. And we know this. The

ego knows this and it's okay.

So maybe your purpose is just to satisfy the ego in that moment and do what the ego wants to

do. Who knows? But above all, if you're doing dishes, do dishes.

That's a Zen proverb, I think.

And see what your purpose is for today. Okay. I'm waffling on a little bit now. I want to say

thank you again to Harriet, someone anonymous, Laura, and Audra donated this week. It really does make a difference, and

you really do keep the podcast going. It's not cheap doing a podcast. The bills add up very quickly, and

I'm making inroads into making a living out of it. So you guys are really helping me do that, and

maybe my purpose right now is to work hard on giving myself a living so I can help more people

and reach more people.

But above all, thank you, and have an amazing week. Don't forget to check out inner peace meditations, my sister

podcast, which is guided meditations to give you more inner peace. And you can get all the links and how

you can support the podcast on StevenWebb.uk.

Most importantly.

Take care, and I love you.

Feeling Lost and Unfulfilled? Discover the Secret to Purposeful Living

In this episode

With gratitude to

The question this answers

The heart of it

One small thing to try

Questions people ask

The transcript

One calm email.
Every Sunday.

Feeling Lost and Unfulfilled? Discover the Secret to Purposeful Living

In this episode

With gratitude to

The question this answers

The heart of it

One small thing to try

Questions people ask

The transcript

More honest conversations

One calm email. Every Sunday.

One calm email.
Every Sunday.