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 Meaning and Purpose: Midlife and beyond!

When I was in college in the early 70’s, I was enthralled by the small group movement, especially that which focused on human relations training for organizations large and small. I had the privilege of working with some of the finest of that day and cut my proverbial teeth on those dynamic small group weekends in which so many people walked away with changed self perceptions that led to changed lives!

History, fads and culture have a way of repeating themselves. What Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and others are saying in today’s best sellers is not so different than what us ‘groupies’ were saying in day. The language was different and those who served at the table of self-discovery came from a slightly different life perspective – but the messages are basically the same.

Human folks are designed for the discovery process. Life is about discovery! Just watch an infant as she begins to discover her surroundings and learns to crawl; then walk toward everything in sight. Watch him as he picks it up, turns it around over and studies the object of his senses. It’s about discovery – discovering the world into which she has been born.

Human folks are also designed for meaning and purpose. When we don’t engage in discovery of who we are, what we can do well and not so well, and fail to explore what we are passionate about, we don’t begin to touch that for which we were made – the purpose for which we were designed. And we won’t be totally until we do. Oh, we’ll have a level of satisfaction – for brief periods of our lives – but we won’t achieve that deep inner peace that comes from KNOWING that we are doing and being all that we were designed to do and be.

If you’ve read the Warren book or the Osteen book or any of the many others that deals with purpose, meaning, discovery, etc. – then I encourage you to put into practice each author’s recommendations for moving from the status quo into the awesome – even miraculous!

And my own professional recommendation is that you not do it alone. That you not try to maneuver through the maze of ‘stuff’ through which you have to maneuver without someone to support, encourage, exhort and to whom you must be accountable for the process and its outcome.

One additional suggestion: choose that person wisely and make certain he or she is someone you trust with the “deep stuff” of your life and a person who will speak the truth to you lovingly. Otherwise, you’ll only hear what you want to hear and do what others think you ought to do.

The outcome of such a decision will be that you’ll have engaged the process, but the process will not have engaged you.


Linda S. Fitzgerald, M.S.Ed, has a passion for enriching, empowering and encouraging women to achieve their God-given destiny. A professional therapist by background and destiny-design coach, she is chief architect for the web’s newest online COMMUNITY for women age 45 plus!