by Siouxyan » Tue Feb 23, 2016 1:44 pm
The greater purpose in everyone's life is to make others happy, and when you are not doing your best at doing so, you will feel unfulfilled. If you feel empty, that emptiness is most likely caused by you not benefiting the world to the true extent you are capable of. Though you may not be performing in front of massive crowds or reaching as far as you can to help, guiding people towards happiness and helping to change lives, in any measure, can attribute meaning to whatever you are doing, as long as you put your heart into it.
People with large audiences are thought to be more life-changing, because they can help many at a time and there is much help needed in the world today, and every day, but you can also help in your day-to-day life even if you are not playing concerts or speaking in front of large crowds...
Realize this: though you may not be helping everybody and changing the whole world, if you simply help one person, by being kind to them and helping them to feel their true worth, you are changing their whole world and bringing true happiness to someone who may not have held it before. You can do this for anyone, not just strangers. Friends, family, coworkers, clients... everyone can benefit from simple acts of kindness, and from you bending your mind to assist them along on their path. Kindness is a ripple effect: if you are kind to one person, they are more likely to be kind to another person, and so on. Helping others to find their own worth helps you to do so with yourself, and our personal worth is measured by the extent to which we spread our happiness, not simply what we are doing in terms of reaching large crowds (though that does not hurt, and can boost our own worth).
On the topic of doing things in front of large crowds, your worth- based on how you go about fulfilling your purpose of assisting others in reaching their own true potential for happiness, and therefore in lending that happiness to the next person- can be boosted by creating and spreading art. Art is a way to convey to others what you are facing, a way of putting it in front of them for their observation and analysis, allowing them to feel that other people are going through similar things as them, but note that the ones who truly effect others in a positive way are the ones who do receive benefit from being in front of those crowds (someone who gets in front of large crowds to talk down about people or to bring negativity in to the world do not get any long-term benefit from their performance.
Though it is not the only way to spread a positive ripple, it still is something that everyone should try. It helps to alleviate your own stress, by delving into the causes of that stress, and it enlightens you to solutions to those problems. Then, to publicize your own art helps to give meaning to life, for yourself and for others. You definitely should try to tune into your feelings and to create art, and to present it. I know that doing so would greatly benefit you. Try writing poetry, or writing short stories, or painting, or making music, or getting into photography... there are so many art forms, and at least a few of them will surely speak to you and help you alleviate your worries.
However, like I said earlier, creating and presenting art is not the only way to alleviate your stress and to create a positive ripple; you can help others without doing it in massive proportions, for besides going to art shows, people benefit from positive interactions in their everyday lives. Meditation helps to calm your mind; holding a positive disposition does the same, for when you radiate with a positive vibration, you emanate that vibration, and others latch on, and so you create for them a bit of happiness that they may not have felt before, and that they would not have felt in that instance when you come into their lives if you are not focusing on helping as best you can.
On the topic of feeling strongly enough for something that you are willing to die for it... that is simply a radical thought, and is not actually helpful, for at the root, you can do a lot more for someone in being alive than you can when dead, no matter the profundity of your passing. I know you were referring more to the feelings of willingness to die for something, but what I am saying is that nothing is worth dying for, because you can do the same by staying alive, and, in fact, you can do much more. It is not natural, in fact, to feel so strongly for something that you would be wiling to die for it.
As far as feeling strongly about something, you surely will, but you must first create the path for yourself that fulfills your greater purpose (that purpose which is shared by everyone, regardless of if you see or feel it at any given moment) of spreading happiness to the furthest reaches you can. The other side to this is that when you are fulfilling that purpose, you will come to peace with yourself, for peace is the reactionary outcome to that fulfillment.
Not liking being touched or bothered are symptoms of being busy, whether it be with dealing with sorting out a physical or mental ailment, or simply working through something that takes much focus. You may not feel busy, but your mind is trying to tell you something- it is trying to tell you that you have something to figure out, that you have something to do.
Being busy makes people seem irritable to the outside world, and you are simply seeing that irritability for yourself, since you seem to not be filling your time with finding your path and moving down that path (the path towards inner peace; the path towards helping the world).
Everyone feels compassion once they are working hard towards something positive, because when they are working hard towards something specific, and when that something specific is something that will benefit others in their own quest for happiness, your everyday goal is aligned with caring for people, and compassion itself comes from caring for people. Whether it be trying to put smiles on the faces around you, or trying to extend your reach through the arts, you will feel compassion when practicing these forms of sharing yourself with the world around you.
You simply have to align your life with what you want to be doing, and you have to work towards it, and I can guarantee that you will feel those feelings of fulfillment, because feeling those feelings is motivation to help further your care for others which is the only way to bring true benefit from your life in a way that aligns with your true purpose and everyone's true purpose- creating and complimenting the creation of happiness in yourself, in others, and, ultimately, in all.
Try keeping a journal. It may sound unhelpful, but it really does help. It helps you to sort through your thoughts, and therefore how to move on from where you may be stuck. If you take up my idea of creating art, keeping a personal journal will help immensely.
I hope this helps. If you have any questions about anything I have posted here, feel free to respond with those questions and I will clear up what I have said. Take care.