Modern world is a world of specialization. Most people are trained for special skills and specialized task. People have little exposure to the lives of other people as they are busy doing the same job every day. Their jobs, therefore, become gradually repetitive and boring. Most people start losing interest in their jobs as they do not feel that they are doing something important and creative as their jobs become a means to earn their livelihood. The result is boredom and joyless life.

Boredom is prevalent in all jobs, however exciting these might have been in the beginning of the career. For example, people joining police may have the excitement of catching the criminals and using their power to bring order in the society. However, soon they discover that in reality, it is not possible to follow the book as the problem of crime is far beyond their domain. Every crime has socio-economic-cultural dimensions which can not be changed by them. Gradually, their job becomes routine as he loses the drive to eradicate crime from the society.

Almost every profession has the same story to tell. A call center employee gets almost same type of calls every day and night. He has to give the same type of reply to thousands of people repeatedly. A marketing man has to use the same methods to sell their product. A worker in a manufacturing company has to do the same routine job years after year. The result is boredom and loss of happiness. The same boredom also grips the person in the home. The family members continue to remain same with the same type of problems and issues.  

Therefore, people changes jobs frequently. They chase the better paying jobs, more exciting and challenging jobs in the hope of more exiting life. They change even their spouse and family so that they can bring back happiness in their life. Yet the same boredom returns after they get used to the new situations.

When we are not satisfied with the present, we want change with the hope that change could bring happiness. However, happiness can not be achieved by change which itself is temporary. The lasting happiness and joy can be brought in the life only by something permanent and lasting.

The Purpose of Life

Most of us have a very narrow vision of life. We seem to live for ourselves. The organizations also seem to live for themselves. Just like we have the goal of making maximum money for the self and enjoy our life, the origination too seems to be only concerned with maximization of their profit and happiness of their employee.

In the world of materialism and individualism, we often fail to see beyond the self. We fail to realize that we are all connected just like a cell of a body is connected with billions of other cells of the body directly or indirectly. Therefore, one does not live in a stand alone world but connected with everything that exist in the world. On personal front, we are connected with our parents, spouse, children, brothers and a large number of relatives. We also have many friends at personal and professional level. If you ever analyze the time and money that you spend on yourself and on other, you would be surprised to notice that most of what we earn is spend on others and not on us. If you do not have family, you can live in a much smaller house and save a lot of money.

Why are then we not living alone?

Why are we wasting our hard earned money on other people?

The answer to this question lies in the famous quote of Albert Schweitzer, a German-French theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician who received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life”. He said,

I dont know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

We are all serving our family and the society selflessly. Yet we are quite unaware of it. The realization of this reality is the source of higher level of happiness which is lasting and fulfilling

The Higher Purpose of Life

The level of happiness is largely dependent on the purpose of life. If your purpose is to please yourself, the happiness can not last long as pleasures are sensual and momentary. However, when you feel connected with others, your purpose of life has a different meaning as you are not living for the self but for the others. This is applicable in professional as well as personal life.

Now consider that you are working as a cop in a police department. Your job is to catch the criminals and get them punished. Thus you are responsible to reduce the crime in the society. You can also see the world not merely as a police officer but also a social reformer who by ensuring punishment to the criminals prevents many people to follow the path of crime. You can also visualize that when people follow the law, there is prosperity, growth and peace and hence the development of the county and the world. Thus your greater purpose includes many philanthropic acts that you wish to do to make the world better.

In the same way, every profession offers a greater purpose of life. A marketing person does not only sell a product and hence make profit to the company and commission for the self, but he also fulfills the requirement of the customer by supplying him the goods or services which improves his quality of life. So when you market goods or services, you bring happiness and fulfillment in the life of so many people in addition to our own self. As a teacher, you are not merely teaching for the sake of getting your salary, but for the purpose of improving the life of thousands of kids who shall become worthy citizen of the country.

In personal life also, we live for others and serve others. You serve your parents, your spouse and your children. They all need you and you fulfill their needs as husband (wife), parents or children. You provide the emotional support to them in addition to the financial support. You also fulfill the emotional needs of your friends, relatives and neighbours.

Great Purpose brings Great Happiness

Thus, every person has a higher purpose of life and a much higher objective than he usually thinks. It is due to limitation of our vision that we fail to see the greater purpose of our life and hence fail to enjoy the life to the fullest. The difference between a happy and unhappy person is the awareness of their purpose of life. When you see yourself as an instrument of growth and happiness of others, the happiness is lasting and fulfilling. However, when your objective becomes the self-fulfillment, happiness shall always elude you.  When you fail to see your contribution to the society, you lose the sense of purpose and greatness that lies in you. Martin Luther King rightly said, “Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve”. You have to just change the paradigm of your life.