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I am a Community Alert Development Officer for Muintir na Tire, advising and supporting Community Alert Groups in the Western Region of Clare, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and Longford. I went back to collage as a Mature Student and studied Community and Family Studies for four years.

I am involved in various community committees.

You can contact Gerard by email.

By Gerard Costello

The Definition of ‘Purpose’ – the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists:

Without you Eoin, would anything get done or created? We all need a reason and a purpose to exist in life. The word Purpose is very powerful, like all words it has different meanings and must be understood in each aspect of its use.

Synonyms associated with the word Purpose provides a large bank of words linked to previous topics Community and Leadership. Synonyms like : motive, motivation, grounds, cause, impetus, occasion, reason, point, basis, justification, intention, aim, object, objective, goal, end, plan, scheme, target, ambition, aspiration, desire, wish, hope, advantage, benefit, good, use, usefulness, value, merit, worth, gain, profit, avail, result, outcome, effect, behoof, boot, function, role. Very important words to help with life.

Take Purpose in Life – Everything has a Purpose and in Death – Everything has its Purpose also. We all need a Purpose to do and to live. To psychologists, purpose is an abiding intention to achieve a long-term goal that is both personally meaningful and makes a positive mark on the world.

When the Purpose of something / everything is established, documented, explained and reviewed it makes achieving an outcome easier to understand, follow and achieve Goals. Documenting your purpose and reading the Purpose of other things can help to make life better for you and others. Documenting the Purpose of a Task or Project gives direction and guidance to help achieve Goals. Being aware of the Purpose of a Task or Project is very important to achieve Goals.

The goals that foster a sense of purpose are ones that can potentially change your life and the lives of other people, like launching an organization, researching a disease, or teaching kids to read. The Purpose of anything must be understood and respected. But purpose and meaning is not something that can be determined quickly.

In your everyday activities – You need a Purpose and to know what that purpose is and the same in business activities.

Congregation has a Purpose – what is it? For me the Purpose of Congregation is:

1. Learning – Life Long Learning from the experience of others in a huddle.
2. Meeting – Different people in the relaxed and natural environment of Cong.
3. Establishing – New thinking
4. Sharing – Stories, Concerns, Issues and Contacts.
5. Reflecting – On the word and the way others see a word.
6. Finding – What I didn’t know.
7. Achieving – More Life Hack’s to carry me over another winter, spring and summer until another Autumn for Congregation.

Your Life Purpose:

Your life purpose consists of the central motivating aims of your life—the reasons you get up in the morning.

Purpose can guide life decisions, influence behaviour, shape goals, offer a sense of direction, and create meaning.

For some people, purpose is connected to vocation—meaningful, satisfying work.

For others, their purpose lies in their responsibilities to their family or friends.

Others seek meaning through spirituality or religious beliefs.

Some people may find their purpose clearly expressed in all these aspects of life.

Purpose will be unique for everyone; what you identify as your path may be different from others.

What’s more, your purpose can actually shift and change throughout life in response to the evolving priorities and fluctuations of your own experiences.

Questions that may come up when you reflect upon your life purpose are:

• Who am I?
• Where do I belong?
• When do I feel fulfilled?
• Will success bring happiness or will happiness bring success?

Taking the steps to find your life purpose:

Finding your life purpose is a lifelong journey.

It’s OK to take it one step at a time.

It’s normal to pause and re-evaluate long term goals regularly. And it’s OK to feel overwhelmed.

Nothing worth doing is easy, and this will not always be easy to understand.

You will encounter frustrations and challenges along the way. Some days, you’ll throw your hands up in the air in defeat. But then, you’ll remember what drives you to keep going.

You’re driven to solve this problem, and for some reason, you won’t let yourself give up.

Why is it so hard to find our life purpose?

There certainly is no short supply of problems in this world that need solving. There is no limit on the number of people whom we could help, or inspire, or support. There is no cap on the number of passions we could pursue. Yet, our life purpose often feels hard to pursue.

There are many reasons why you may not know your life purpose.

Sometimes it’s because the world’s problems seem too big. Or we seem too small. Or maybe we are just exhausted from life and don’t know where we’ll find the energy to fight for what really matters to us.

But finding and living our purpose is key to having a meaningful, fulfilling life, so strive to help people insert purpose into their lives.

Some of the Key Steps to get started exploring your purpose.

Step 1: Find out what drives you.

One way to find your purpose is to ask yourself: What pain or injustice or unhappiness, have you witnessed that you just can’t live with? Is there anything that touches you so deeply that it drives you? Often, a powerful purpose can come from powerful pain.

Step 2: Find out what energizes you.

You can burn out your life purpose if you pursue it in the wrong ways — ways that deplete rather than energize you. It is not enough to know the problem you want to solve; you have to think carefully about the way you want to solve it.

So to find your life purpose, ask yourself: What energizes you?

Step 3: Find out what you are willing to sacrifice for.

When you find something that you are willing to sacrifice a lot for, you know that you’ve found your purpose.

So ask yourself: What are you willing to sacrifice for?

Step 4: Find out who you want to help.

To find your life purpose, ask yourself: Who do you want to help?

There are many ways to chip away at the same problem, and it’s up to you to find out who you want to help. By figuring out the specific person or people you want to help, you can more easily find your purpose.

Step 5: Find out how you want to help.

Ask yourself: What do you love to do? And how do you apply this passion to your purpose? To find your purpose, you need to figure out how you can best use your passions and skills to achieve your unique goals and solve your unique problems.

To conclude:

Congregation provides a fantastic purpose to stop and think about a word, about life.

Congregation has a Purpose to stop me thinking about everything and starts me critically reflect about one thing. However, that one thing critically reflected ‘Purpose’ broadens the mind and starts fresh thoughts.

Congrats and well done to you Eoin.

Sorry I am not attending this year.

As said, absence makes the Heart grow founder – My absence has started growth, knowing I will not be attending Congregation 2022. However, your Theme ‘Purpose’ as always has prompted me to do something about something I had forgotten- Thinking – Critical Thinking.

Congregation is like my annual medical check-up or my NCT.

Thank you and best wishes to you and all with the event.

Gerard Costello.