Getting Unstuck. 3 Frameworks from the Ancients to Help Us Understand "Purpose" Today.

Plus Practical Exercises to Apply to Any Phase of Life

At some point in life, almost everyone confronts the same unsettling question: Why am I doing what I’m doing?

Sometimes the question arrives quietly during reflection. Other times it appears through disruption.

And when it arrives, it rarely comes only once.

We revisit it when choosing our life’s work. When stepping into leadership. When committing to a partner or raising children. When the house becomes quiet after years of parenting. When we step back from careers that once defined us.

These moments can feel unsettling. But they also contain something powerful. The opportunity to realign our lives with deeper clarity and intention.

Ancient wisdom traditions approached this question very differently than we do today. And some of their insights are surprisingly practical.

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In this piece, we’ll explore three frameworks from Eastern and Western philosophy that can help us regain clarity whenever life leaves us feeling stuck. Toward the end you’ll find bonus video clips from a community discussion.

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A Moment That Forced the Question

Purpose is not a question we answer once. It’s a question life asks us again at every major transition.

I remember going through a phase of anticipatory grief when I was about to become an empty-nester. Up until that point, I had only seriously paused twice since adolescence to reflect on the question of purpose. But that transition forced the issue in a deeper way.

During that time, a wise and practical Eastern philosopher shared something that stayed with me: We may never fully understand our purpose, but we can explore it by starting from what we know, and moving from the known toward the unknown.

That idea opened the door to a number of frameworks and reflection exercises that aim to explore purpose without pretending we can always define it perfectly.

Over the years I’ve encountered many such frameworks, some from ancient philosophical traditions, others from modern psychology and leadership training.

Today I want to share three that have proven particularly powerful. Think of them not as definitive answers, but as tools for inquiry.

Framework 1

Ikigai: Finding the Intersection of Energy, Skill, and Contribution

One of the most well-known frameworks for exploring purpose comes from Japan: Ikigai.

Ikigai loosely translates to “reason for being” or “that which makes life worth living.”

The word combines:

• iki = life or living

• gai = worth or value

In modern Western interpretations, ikigai is often visualized as four overlapping dimensions of life.

Your sense of purpose tends to emerge where these four areas intersect:

• What you love

• What you’re good at

• What the world needs

• What you can be paid for

Purpose often reveals itself where three things meet: What energizes you, what you can contribute, and what the world genuinely needs.

Reflection Exercise: Exploring Your Ikigai

Take a few minutes to reflect on each of these questions.

Write without filtering or overthinking.

What do you love?

• When do you lose track of time?

• What topics do you read about or explore naturally?

• What activities energize you even when they’re challenging?

What are you good at?

• What do people consistently ask your help with?

• What abilities come naturally to you?

• What skills have you built through experience?

What does the world need from you?

• What problems frustrate you most when you see them?

• Where do you notice gaps others overlook?

• Who might benefit from your perspective or experience?

What could you be paid for?

• What value have people already compensated you for?

• What capabilities could realistically become a livelihood?

Finally, ask yourself: Where do these answers begin to overlap?

You may not find a perfect center. That’s normal.

What matters most is noticing where the energy is - and where there are gaps.

A few helpful caveats about ikigai:

• It’s a compass, not a GPS. It suggests direction, not a single destination.

• The original Japanese idea was often simpler and more everyday than the four-circle model.

• Your ikigai may evolve over time.

• Many people discover a cluster of purposes, not a single one.

The real insight isn’t finding a perfect answer. It’s noticing what draws your energy, and what quietly drains it.

Framework 2

Svadharma: Discovering the Path That Is Truly Yours

While ikigai focuses on the intersection of passions, skills, and contribution, another ancient tradition approaches purpose from a deeper question: Who are you by nature?

In Indian philosophy, particularly the Vedanta tradition, there is a concept called svadharma. It roughly translates to “one’s own path” or “one’s own duty according to one’s nature.”

A famous passage from the Bhagavad Gita expresses this idea: “Better is one’s own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed.”

The insight is simple but profound. A meaningful life does not come from imitating someone else’s path. It comes from discovering and living the path that aligns with your nature.

The deepest question of purpose is not “What should I do?” but “Who am I when I’m not trying to imitate someone else’s path?”

The Four Yogas: Four Natural Temperaments

Vedanta suggests that people tend to gravitate toward one of four natural paths of growth. Each reflects a different temperament.

Jnana Yoga: The path of knowledge

People drawn to inquiry, understanding, truth-seeking.

Bhakti Yoga: The path of devotion

People moved by love, beauty, connection, and reverence.

Karma Yoga: The path of action

People energized by building, contributing, serving, and making things happen.

Raja Yoga: The path of discipline and mastery

People drawn to introspection, meditation, and mastery of the mind.

Most of us contain elements of several paths. But often one feels especially natural. That natural inclination can be a powerful clue toward your svadharma.

Reflection: Understanding Your Natural Path

Ask yourself:

When do you feel most alive?

• When understanding something deeply?

• When connecting emotionally with people or beauty?

• When building, helping, and contributing through action?

• When cultivating inner discipline and self-mastery?

Your answer may not define your purpose completely. But it can reveal how you are naturally wired to pursue it.

Purpose Changes Across Life Stages

Ancient Indian philosophy also recognized that purpose evolves with time. Traditionally, life was viewed as unfolding across stages:

• Youth: The stage for learning, discipline, formation

• Adulthood: The stage for work, contribution, and family for some

• Later life: The stage for mentorship, reflection

• Elder years: The stage for wisdom and a “spiritual” focus

The key insight here is that purpose is not static. What you are called to at 25 may be very different from what you are called to at 55.

Resisting that shift often creates the very feeling of being stuck.

A Different Possibility: What If Purpose Emerges From Presence?

There is another possibility worth considering.

Sometimes the search for purpose itself becomes a source of restlessness. We look endlessly for answers somewhere in the future - the right career, the right mission, the right calling.

But some wisdom traditions suggest a different approach.

What if purpose is not something we eventually discover? What if it emerges naturally when we become fully present in our lives?

A Five-Minute Presence Practice

If the search for purpose ever feels overwhelming, try this simple practice.

Sit somewhere quiet.

Take five slow breaths and bring your attention fully to the sensation of breathing.

Notice three things around you:

• a sound

• a physical sensation

• something you can see

Then ask yourself a simple question: If nothing in my life changed tomorrow, what in this moment is already enough?

Finally, write down three things you are grateful for right now.

Repeat this practice daily for a few weeks and notice what shifts in how you think about purpose.

Often, clarity emerges not from thinking harder, but from quieting the noise.

Three Traditions, One Question

So far we’ve explored purpose through two lenses:

• Ikigai: The intersection of passion, skill, and contribution

• Svadharma: Alignment with one’s deeper nature

But a prominent thinker from a third tradition approaches the question differently.

Instead of asking what your purpose is, he asks a more confronting question: What are you actually doing with your time?

Framework 3

The Stoic View of Seneca: Purpose as How We Spend Our Time

Western philosophy also offers powerful insights about purpose. The Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca explored this question deeply in his book / essay “On the Shortness of Life”.

His opening idea reframes the entire conversation: Life is not short. We simply waste much of it.

His argument is not that we lack time. It’s that we give it away carelessly.

What you spend your time on is what your life becomes. Purpose is not declared once. It is built hour by hour.

Seneca’s Lessons on Purpose

1. Many people live someone else’s life

People chase status, approval, and ambition without ever asking whether those pursuits are truly theirs.

They are busy, but not purposeful.

The implication is clear: If you don’t claim your life, others will claim it for you.

2. Time is the only truly finite resource

People guard their money carefully. But they give away their time freely.

From a Stoic perspective, how you spend your time is the clearest expression of your purpose.

3. Reflection transforms existence into living

Those who regularly examine their lives possess their time more fully. Without reflection, decades can pass almost unnoticed.

Purpose, in this view, grows from attention and examination.

4. The preoccupied person never truly lives

Seneca had a word for people who were constantly busy but rarely fulfilled: The preoccupied.

These are people who are always planning to start living later.

After the next promotion.
After the children grow up.
After retirement.

But that future rarely arrives in the way they imagined.

5. Mortality clarifies what matters

Seneca frequently reminded readers of life’s finitude. Not as a morbid thought, but as a focusing lens.

When you remember your time is limited, trivial pursuits begin to fall away.

The One Line That Captures It All

If you had to distill Seneca’s entire argument into a single purpose principle, it might be this:

Stop waiting for your life to begin. Examine it, claim it, and inhabit it fully. Now. The time you think you have is already leaving.

Where This Leaves Us

Across cultures and centuries, thinkers have wrestled with the same question we ask today: What is my purpose?

Some traditions suggest discovering it through what you love and contribute. Others suggest uncovering it by understanding your deeper nature. Still others suggest that purpose emerges naturally when we become fully present to life itself.

Perhaps the real work is not finding a single permanent answer. Perhaps it is learning to return to the question with greater wisdom at each stage of life.

And perhaps that is what keeps us from becoming stuck.

A Question for You and Community Discussion

Think about a moment in your life when you felt most aligned - when what you were doing felt meaningful, even if it was difficult.

• What were you doing?

• Who were you serving?

• What qualities were you expressing?

Sometimes our clearest clues about purpose come not from abstract thinking, but from moments we have already lived.

I share with you a few reflections through a video interview with Sara, a philosopher and community member. In the first short video clip we discuss how philosophy may help us explore purpose. In the second short video clip, we discuss the similarities and differences in how eastern and western ideas approach the concept of purpose at different phases of life.

And now the second clip…

Perhaps the real work is not finding a permanent answer. Perhaps it is learning to return to the question with greater wisdom at each stage of life.

If you’ve encountered the question of purpose at some point in your own life, I’d love to hear, What life transition has most forced you to rethink your purpose? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Sincerely,