What is the Meaning of Life?

One of the things that has always perplexed me (and a few billion others maybe) is the meaning of life, and having just discovered it last night I thought I would share it with you 🙂

When I was growing up I quickly discovered that unless someone told me why I should do something, I had no motivation to actually do it.

It was why I left school at 16 with 2 ‘O’ levels and had around 10 different jobs before I strode out on my own at 23 (and never looked back).

The first inspirational book I read was Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach (“You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way”).

But incredibly it wasn’t until very recently that I figured out what that really meant: Control.

That word is often used in a derogative fashion (‘you are so controlling’), which is a real shame as it is the key to life.

Control = Freedom, and that is ultimately what we all want.

Tony Robins describes success as being able to do what you want, when you want, with who you want. That sounds remarkably like freedom to me.

And the best bit about it is that it is all down to control. But it’s only when you realise that control equals choice that the penny drops.

Everything is about choice.

There’s a saying that sums up what happens when you choose to do or be something: “he who says he can and he who says he can’t are both right”.

Is that right? Do you know what the purpose of your life is?

Finish this sentence:

“The purpose of my life is to…”

Now that’s a really tough question. Is it to ‘make a million’, ‘become a celebrity’, ‘pay off the mortgage’, ‘start my own business’?

No. They are just goals. The real meaning is when you add the following little word to it: BE.

The purpose of my life is to be… happy (or whatever). If you make it about ‘things’ it becomes vacuous and meaningless.

But, and this is the big one, you can then follow this up with ‘so I can…’ and that’s where you insert the todo list.

So think about this. What is it that will really make you understand what life is for?

Is it to own a desert island or is it to be energised and enthusiastic about your life and the people in it.

Now we’re talking right!

If you are still on the fence about trusting your ‘gut feelings’, know this: there is a cord that runs the length of your digestive tract from your oesophagus to your colon that is, in effect, a second brain (it actually contains more neurons than a cat’s brain).

Trust your gut.