Who am I, really? Why do I exist? What is the true meaning of my life, or of Life itself? These questions exist within most, if not all, people, even when not consciously recognized.

As a younger man, I sought to answer these questions by focusing on career. I was unhappy with my current career, feeling it served hardly more than to provide me with a paycheck to finance my existence. I “thought” that if I had the right career all would be well. If I was doing something that was fun for me and earning a living too, I would be happy. So, I turned my art form (photography) into a business, only to discover that the joy I experienced when  photography was my art vanished and took on the same qualities of drudge I experienced as a business man.

This eventually revealed to me that my search for significance could not be focused on outer world considerations, on doing, and was not entirely about me (my ego). I slowly came to the conclusion that one’s sense of meaning and purpose is intimately entangled with bigger picture considerations. There is more to it than my imagined truth, the sorry sad story of me.

If there truly is a meaning to life, whether generally or personally, it becomes clearer to me everyday that it can only come through giving up one’s petty fears and grievances, and beginning to find ways and means to be of service to others. We each have a calling. To find what that personally means requires developing the ability to listen inside for direction (called intuition, gut instinct or inner guidance) and following its prompts.

We all have this ability. Making connection with it reliably requires the inner stillness that comes when our entire attention is focused into the Now Moment. Meaning and purpose occurs in-the-moment. It is not about thought. It is not a word, a paragraph or a book. It is integrated action taken in The Now. Constantly listening to and obeying one’s inner guidance is the key to stepping outside one’s fears, desires and selfish wants to be of service to a larger reality.