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I was reading in More magazine’s May 2012 issue about a research study that suggests a strong sense of life purpose correlates with enduring mental health, clarity and cognition through the aging process. (Article here: http://www.more.com/healthy-20-years-brainpower)

That’s great news! But here’s the thing about “life purpose.” People often relate to it as if it’s an elusive treasure, something rare, secret, or slippery… hard to find.

Life purpose isn’t something you find as much as it is something you acknowledge and choose. Chances are you already have clues, hints, or outright memos from God indicating your purpose. Your purpose probably has been showing itself to you since you were a child. Your work is to say yes to it.

It’s easy to miss the clues about your life purpose if you’re expecting it to be a grand task, as in “my life’s purpose is to end world hunger.” That’s an awesome ambition and a tremendous organizing principle for a human life. But in my experience as a coach, I have found life purpose to be more of a trajectory than a task.

Your life purpose may be a simple clear directive — “love” or “create” or “heal” or “celebrate” — that expresses itself in and through many tasks.

It’s even possible to mis-assign yourself a life purpose. How many people do you know who live their lives as if their life purpose was to suffer, hate, or punish?

Underneath it all, it’s a choice. You can choose a life purpose that’s punitive and small. Or you can choose a trajectory filled with grace. Or you can claim a world-changing task as your purpose. It’s up to you.