According to the legendary Mark Twain, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.” 

Knowing your purpose in life is the difference between living and existing. When you’re not striving to reach your potential, you probably have the niggling feeling that you’re missing out on something you can’t put your finger on. 

Something crucial.

It can be very disconcerting and even adversely affect your health, your mood, and your relationships.

But when you’re living authentically in line with your life’s purpose, life goes from black&white to color, and you feel self-fulfilled and content, knowing you’re doing what you were born to do.

So have you found your life’s purpose, or are you at least getting warmer? 

Here are a few signs that indicate you may be closer to discovering your life’s purpose than you think.  

1) Your past makes sense

They say hindsight is 20/20. I say they’re right. Your life’s purpose may seem to appear out of the blue, but in retrospect you can see you were being prepared for this moment since your earliest childhood.

All the wrong turns and roadblocks that held you back, all the times you felt like a failure, and the moments you were forced to grow whether you liked it or not have all led you to find your true calling at the perfect time.

Everything about you, including your personality traits, interests as a child, and any opportunities you’ve pursued (or even just wanted to) – they’ve all brought you to this moment of realization, that this, whatever it may be for you, is your life purpose.

2) Metamorphosis 

The initial changes you undergo when you finally have that ‘light bulb over your head’ moment and discover your purpose are internal ones.  

Your life may appear exactly the same outwardly. You may have the same partner, job, friends, and so on.

Big things are going on internally, however as your entire outlook undergoes a dramatic shift. You feel much better physically and psychically and are less likely to become ill. 

The biggest clue that you’re close to finding or have already found your purpose is that you’re excited to wake up in the morning and start your day. 

Life is bursting with new promise, and you start planning for bigger and better things. 

You just know in your heart that you’re embarking on a grand gesture, and the excitement keeps you going.

3) Born to do it

No matter what your talents or skills are, you’ll feel like you were born to do the thing. Be it painting, writing, sports, business, social causes, or anything else, the common denominator is that you will feel like you were put on this earth to pursue this activity.

The skills you need will come to you naturally. And you’ll see that practice really does make perfect when it’s something you were born to do. 

If you’re inherently a good artist, you’ll eventually become great at it with good mentoring and lots of practice.

Someone who treats art as a hobby may improve but they’ll never achieve as much progress as someone driven by the inner flame of true purpose. 

The latter will excel by leaps and bounds, but the former will progress incrementally, if at all.

4) You just know it

Finding your true purpose is kind of like finding your true love. You just know in your bones in a way that’s impossible to articulate with words. 

Every cell in your body resonates when you’ve found your purpose. Even when things get challenging, you’ll still be as dedicated to your life purpose as you were  at the start.

You’ll feel a sense of harmony and rightness.

Because when you act in accordance with your life’s deeper purpose, it feels easy and natural and … right.

5) Time flies when you’re having fun

Time flies when you’re having fun, right? And what’s more fun than discovering your life purpose?

There are so few activities that allow you to mentally transcend the passage of time. Pursuing your true calling is one of them. 

Time can fly by at breakneck speed when you’re in tune with your life’s purpose. Being consumed with passion motivates you emotionally and intellectually.

6) Things fall into place

And when you find your life’s purpose, you’ll find that many happy coincidences’ pop up out of nowhere.

People who can help you along the way show up at just the right time, or the perfect opportunity presents itself when you need it most. 

This is because the Universe knows what you need. It will send you the mentors and teachers who can help you along the path of fulfilling your life’s purpose.

So, if you have a passion you’ve been wanting to pursue and start seeing information about classes pertaining to that subject and keep bumping into people with  experience in that area, consider that a hint to pursue this special interest of yours.

It will feel almost unreal as opportunities present themselves to you, ones that are exactly as you need. 

This happened to me when I began writing professionally. I felt like I was being swept along by benevolent unseen forces leading to the people and opportunities I needed to realize my dream.

And boy, did it feel great!  

I had a strong sense of synchronicity, like everything in my life suddenly “clicked” and everything made sense.

7) Your tribe finds you 

Before your quest for your special purpose, you might have had a hard time connecting with people who were on the same page as you. 

Even in group settings, you may have felt like you didn’t belong and couldn’t get in sync with the rest. 

But when you’re aligned with your authentic self, others with similar interests will be drawn to you. 

Synchronicity in action once again.

Mentors may appear in your life to help you forward in your life’s journey. And you’ll finally feel that sense of belonging that had been missing in the past.

8) Money isn’t everything

When you’re in tune with your true calling, money isn’t your driving motivation. Your purpose doesn’t hinge on financial gain, but great financial rewards can result from living your purpose. 

You’re invested, motivated, and in love with what you do. That’s a recipe for value. 

You also spend less money when you’re attuned with your real purpose. You’re happy with the basics and a few ‘wants’ here and there.  

The more unhappy you are, the more prone you are to overspend to temporarily boost your mood. But when you’ve discovered your purpose, you’ll spend much less on frivolous items because you’ve found contentment everywhere. 

9) A call to adventure

As you are honing in on your life’s purpose,  you’ll feel a powerful urge to change your life in a major way. This is true even when you typically prefer the safety of your comfort zone.

This irresistible pull is sometimes referred to as a “call to adventure”, and it’s an inspiring and exhilarating experience.

But sometimes there’s the temptation to dismiss this calling as irrational. Not surprising, really. Society admonishes us to cultivate five-year plans in stone rather than trusting our gut instincts.

How sad to miss out because of past negative conditioning.

So if the call to adventure beckons to you, heed that call, particularly if it’s almost physically impossible to deny the urge. 

This could be our life’s purpose knocking on your door so swing it open and welcome it with both arms.

10) No external validation required 

In varying degrees, we’re all sensitive to the opinions of others in our lives. 

However, when you’re actively engaged in discovering your true purpose, you care less about external validation than most.

When what you’re engaged with feels so right to you, you’re not really interested in others’ opinions of what you’re doing. It’s the most freeing, calming feeling you can imagine.

Final thoughts

Pursuing your true purpose can be quite intimidating, as it usually involves risk and learning to embrace the unknown.

But even when you may have been anxious or even afraid in the past, you are more likely to feel calm when your spirit and purpose are in sync. 

This is because your inner self knows that you’re in the process of fulfilling your true potential and has faith that you will prevail.

There’s a prevailing sense of calm and focus when you’re aligned with your true purpose. You know deep inside that you’re living your life the way you’re meant to live it.