Finding Life Purpose is Like Peeling Onions

Our passions or interests are determined by a variety of factors such as our fundamental desire, values and natural talents which are further determined by some universal human nature and our individual personalities. All these factors are hidden beneath the surface. This is exactly like layers and layers of onions. Therefore, the best way to discover our real passion in life and who we are is through a trial-and-error process of personal experiment and deep-reflection. By trying different things, we can discover what excite us. Then we can conduct a deep anatomy of why we are attracted to certain things or people and use it as a reference to find new interests.

Some people can find their passion without much trying at fairly early ages because either they are lucky to stumble upon them early or they have outstanding talent on certain things. However, most of us would need many iterative processes. This takes hard work. The more you work on it, the more you will be rewarded.

Some useful techniques I used in my trial-and-error self-discovery process are:

• Use as many channels as you can to get new experiences. This can significantly increase your EXPOSURE to things you might like. Read books, a lot of books. Spend your money on travel. Talk to people who work in completely different field than you. Jumpstart on learning a completely new skill. etc…
• Always, constantly, persistently ASK WHY. Why I am enjoying doing this? Why I am thinking like this? Why I am behaving in certain ways? Dig into what fundamentally drives you, makes you tick and make assumptions about it. Then test the assumptions again and again by trying new things.
• Observe your DIFFERENCE from others. Standers-by see more than gamesters. If you can easily notice others’ interests and behavioral pattern, then compare it to yourself. This will help you find who you are.
• Look into your SUPERHERO. Any role-models do you admire? Who do you aspire to be? It is highly likely that they carry the dreams you are yet to realize or they possess some qualities you truly value.
• Write down your wishes in the current moment. Please WRITE down. What you want can often change along the time. However, there are severals benefits of writing down what you want in the moment. Writing always helps you organize your thoughts, focus on what you really want and eliminate the unimportant wants. Also, keeping things in record can let you see the evolution of your wishes. You can refer them later and figure out their commonalities later.
• Being ACCEPTIVE of who you are and don’t fight on this. Many of us tend to reject any new insights, especially when they are contradictory to what we thought. So just relax and accept who you really are if the findings go out of your expectation.