Purpose answers the question, “Why do I exist?” And as we ask it and explore it, I encourage you to study and look at the purpose statements of others, and of organizations, to fully understand the idea. Remember that your purpose is transcendent, and it is permanent. It doesn’t sway with the seasons of life. It is something that brings you fulfillment at every part of your life, and guides you.

The heart follows wherever it is led. It swings back and forth like a pendulum. Just embrace that, learn to laugh and cry when you should, and don’t expect those emotions to be a roadmap to your destination.

Feelings are great, and they have a purpose, but it’s certainly not to guide your life. Whoever said, “Follow your heart” was a fool. Your “heart” is your emotional center. Emotions have a great purpose – to allow us to enjoy life, to mourn loss, to have a tangible way to experience love – but feelings are fickle, and they are not meant to be the guiding force in our life.

As men, we often identify with our career, or some thing that we DO.But what we DO is not who we ARE.

Sir, you have a purpose. You are here, breathing, moving, living, for a reason. Part of that reason is the process of discovering it, and discovering yourself.

You can’t live without purpose. You exist for a reason. You didn’t just “poof” into the world, meant to suck in oxygen, and eat and poop, make a kid or two, and then disappear.

If we are not careful to understand who we are, which is transcendent above our roles, above our duties, then we are at risk of collapse when something happens to change our roles and to change our duties.

There is one question that gnaws away at the heart of every man, and has done so since the beginning. “Why am I here?” I can’t tell you that there is an easy answer. But I can tell you part of the answer to that question, is the journey of discovering it. The other equally pressing question is “Who am I?