Embrace Your Unique Gifts: Living with Purpose

In the cozy intimacy of the car on the way home from school, Tyler, our then young grandson, asked Gary, “Grandpa, do you know that every child is born with a gift?” “What’s your gift?” Gary asked in reply. “My gift is making friends,” Tyler answered.

We are all born with gifts. Tyler was lucky enough to discover one of his early. Some of us spend a lifetime searching for our gifts and the best way to express them. It’s in the expression of our gifts that we find our purpose and come to appreciate the meaning and value of our lives.

Some find their purpose in a profession. Others find it in domestic life. Some find it in hobbies or volunteer activities. One’s purpose may not be a static and definable thing. It may change and evolve over the course of one’s life. Searching for one’s purpose can be as valuable as finding it, involving discovery and learning, stretching one’s mind and heart.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

Finding one’s purpose and living one’s life with purpose has been found to have significant emotional, psychological, spiritual, as well as physical benefits. Analyses of the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study have observed a link between a high sense of purpose and decreased mortality in adults over 50. There’s also evidence linking volunteerism with decreased risk of death and a stronger sense of well-being.

There’s no reason our lives can’t be purpose-driven and joyful in our later years. Not sure how to express your purpose or put it into action? Viva Village offers abundant ways to explore your interests. Volunteer opportunities can involve direct service to members or organizational support to Viva Village, working independently or with a group, from one’s own home or out in the community.

Finding one’s purpose later in life, especially informed by one’s experience and wisdom, can be fulfilling and fun. The Viva Village community values the gifts of all its members and volunteers and wants to help you to live your best life.

Story by Roberta S Lang, Viva Villager. Contact us for more information on membership or volunteer opportunities: 503-746-5082 | info@vivavillage.org.