On my birthday in April 2020, I had an important revelation about my life’s purpose. I was reading a book just before going to sleep. The author posed a question that I had encountered dozens of times before this but never had a clear answer for.
The question was: When you die, what would you like your epitaph to read?
Before this point in time, whenever I came across a similar question, I would ignore it and move on. It was too abstract. I didn’t know what I wanted my life to stand for. There were so many things I wanted to do and be in life – how could I capture everything in a few words or sentences?
When I read the question this time, though, four words immediately floated in my head: “Her presence brought peace.”
Now, this may seem like a simple incident to you. But for me, it was life changing.
You see, five years ago, I had left an established corporate career in search of work I was more passionate about. On that journey of self-discovery, I came across Simon Sinek’s TED talk on the power of why. When I reflected on what my why was, I realized that what I valued most in life was mental peace. All that I ever did in life was ultimately towards that end. However, until now, peace had simply been a personal value for me.
But recently, when the words “her presence brought peace” came to me, I realized that peace was no longer a personal pursuit for me. It’s the reason I am here. In that moment, I knew that I am meant to work towards bringing greater peace in the world. And while I have already been working towards bringing greater well-being in the lives of my coaching clients for the past few years, this newfound awareness about my purpose has renewed my commitment to my work in a profound way.
Frankly, I don’t know what form my purpose will take in the longer term. But for now, I know that in my work as a coach, I want to more intentionally work towards helping people be more at peace with themselves and their lives.
Why?
Because I truly believe that a big part of greater peace in the world comes from greater peace in the hearts of people who inhabit it. In other words, inner peace contributes to outer peace.
How?
Imagine, for a moment, that you were completely at peace with yourself. All the things you don’t like about yourself, all the shortcomings for which you beat yourself up, all the failure and shame and regret that you are carrying with you, imagine that you were able to make peace with all of it. You were able to forgive, accept, and love yourself. Unconditionally.
Would you then:
- Spend time comparing yourself with others?
- Feel the need to prove yourself in any way?
- Want to exercise power over those who don’t have it?
- Take your anger and frustration out on other people?
- Want to harm someone – including yourself?
I genuinely believe that when we are at peace with ourselves and our lives, the answer to all of these questions is a clear no.
And so, this is my promise to you and to myself: from this point on in my life, in one way or another, I will be working towards bringing about more peace in the world.
Yours, in peace
Yashi