One Day, We Find What We Are Looking For … Or Not

As Saadi de Shira, a 12th century Persian poet, said, “every being is in this world for a specific reason” . Finding this reason can take us years, but sooner or later we end up finding what we have been looking for so much … or not. Maybe we find something much better.

It must be admitted: no need to be a believer or to be part of a spiritual current to ask the famous question: “why are we here?”. It is the awareness of ourselves, which in the form of an emotional sensor, pushes us to expect something more than our existence, something special and transcendent that gives us a stronger and more authentic meaning in this life.

“We often meet our destiny by the paths we take to avoid it.”

-Jean de la Fontaine-

Instead of seeing this dimension as the simple worry of the young person who is trying to reach maturity or of the adult who is called immature because he lets time pass, kneaded in his existential voids. We have to see her for what she really is: a journey through which we can find our reason for living. It’s similar to what Bono, the singer of U2, says in the famous song “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” .

So, before we become obsessed with that philosopher’s stone, that reason or that inspirational motif that we cannot find, we must accept it in another way: as a quest in which we must try to find ourselves. enrich with each step, with each mountain climbed, with each loved one, with each knowledge acquired.

Finding his reason for living in the wrong place

Sooner or later we find it: we find what our being wanted, what our heart now feels as an unfathomable void that sometimes hurts or despairs us. But between this thick forest of doubts, crossroads and scattered voices, there is something to be aware of: sometimes we look for our reason for living in the wrong place.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous 19th-century philosopher and poet, once said that when faced with any idea or goal we have, there will always be someone who will go out of their way to show us that we are let’s deceive. This invites us to think about the following question: Sometimes we spend a large part of our life immersed in difficult environments. There are families, friends and even social contexts that completely destroy each of our expectations.

The docile person who accepts and is silent is doomed to spend a large part of his life waiting for a “something”, hoping that something will happen to finally get out of this feeling of frustration and deep existential emptiness. The oppressive environments are undoubtedly present in the souls who dream of escaping because nothing grows in this substrate, because nothing can be reached in a setting delimited by scissors which permanently cut off hopes.

Emerging from these situations is not a need, it is an obligation. Because our authentic destiny will never come about if we don’t add a very special ingredient to it: willpower.

One day, we find what we were looking for, or not

Sometimes we think we have found what we have been looking for for so long: a great love, a good job, a life goal… Yet, after a short time, we realize that this love was not so genuine, that this job was not so idyllic and that this goal led to a bad result.

Before falling into lamentations and regrets, it is essential to think of something very simple: life is movement and this quest never stops, because the human being is an adventurer by nature, he is hungry for emotions, thirst for knowledge and wants to have experiences through which he can live.

To put the gears of this vital quest in motion, we suggest that you reflect on the following dimensions.

Some keys to start the change and find our reason for living

Kark Pillemer is a Cornell University scientist and ecologist. In his books like 30 lessons for living,  he tells us that one of the biggest problems we have is that we are not connected to our “future selves”. It’s not about taking a trip to the future like young Spock in “Track Trek” to find wisdom in a conversation with his future and old self.

It is about connecting us for a moment to this future in which we imagine ourselves as we would like to be. Someone serene, with a quiet life and surrounded by people we really love. Without artifice, without anything in excess, without anything in less. This aspiration must always be our motivation for the present.

“In 20 years, you’ll be more disappointed with what you didn’t do than what you did”.

-Mark Twain-

It’s a good exercise that you can work on regularly. The following strategies can also be very helpful to us.

• We must learn to look at the outside while always being connected with our interior, with our essences. It’s about being receptive and moving forward in life in line with our values ​​and feelings. Thus, whatever we find there will be pleasant, satisfying.
• We have all heard of the law of attraction. The theory according to which the universe orchestrates its scores in accordance with the intensity of our desires has nuances to bring, important nuances besides. The ideal is to follow an even simpler piece of advice: attraction and intention must always go hand in hand. If you’re looking for something, take action. If you want something concrete, step out of your comfort zone. Be your own architect.

Sooner or later you will: you will find what you are looking for, or maybe not because you will find something even better. But, on this journey, never forget to take the best tools with you: a spirit of commitment, struggle, and love for everything you do, offer, or build.

Images by Hayao Miyazaki