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Still Searching for Your Path? Look Under Your Feet

Still Searching for Your Path? Look Under Your Feet

Last updated on: July 13, 2026 at 9:50 am by Tom Rapsas

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Still Searching for Your Path? Look Under Your Feet 2026-07-13T09:50:26-06:00 Tom Rapsas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Casting a line into the quiet waters of the here and now. Image by Gemini.

On the importance of finding what makes you come alive—and why it may be closer than you think.

Since I started writing the Wake Up Call column at Patheos in 2013, I have written some 177 stories related to finding your purpose, path, or meaning in life. I was surprised when I saw that number myself. Why so many? I suppose because I find myself often dwelling on my own path. I want to be sure I am making the most of this one precious life and I’m sure you want to do the same.

Which brings me to a small publication on the Maryland Eastern Shore called the Tidewater Times. When I say small, I mean literally small, an inch or two shorter than the Reader’s Digest. They recently published a story titled “Of Fathers and Fishing,” by Michael Valliant. A church worker in Easton, he discussed his childhood memories of fishing with his grandfather, father, and today, his two daughters.

Valliant finds peace on the waters of the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. When he’s fishing, he says he encounters “the wild mystery of God.” In his words, “when I am not outside experiencing God and creation, I am less myself, I am less alive.” Valliant goes on to quote the author and civil rights leader Harold Thurman, who said:

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who come alive.

After writing all those stories, I don’t think I’ve ever better summed up what purpose is all about: Discerning what makes you come alive and doing it. That said, you cannot stop there. Just like Valliant has shared his love for fishing and the water with his daughters, you must share the thing that makes you come alive with others. As Thurman reminds us, that’s “what the world needs.”

Our purpose can change during our lifetime.

If you’ve raised a child or children, I don’t have to tell you that your purpose can change during your lifetime especially as your kids gets older. I know that when my daughter moved out of our home and went to college, I momentarily lost the plot.

Up until that time, while I engaged in spiritual pursuits in my spare time, my main focus was on earning a living and raising my family. When that dynamic changed, after several days of being lost in the wilderness, I realized what had been my secondary pursuit was now my primary one. As the writer Kendall Cotton Bronk reminds us in Greater Good magazine:

We tend to pursue multiple purposes across our lifetimes. Purposes wax and wane with the other things going on in our lives.

Is your own purpose less than obvious? Bronk reminds us that when you’re unsure of your path, you need patience. It’s not a time to sit around idly. It’s a period to engage in “the personal reflection and intentional conversations that help us figure out how we want to contribute to the broader world.” Spend time in deep contemplation as needed, but then “connect with others who can support your search.”

Still uncertain of your path? Look at your “tribe.”

When you feel lost or uncertain about our life’s purpose, the first thing to do is look inward. But if you’re coming up empty, sometimes the secret to finding your path involves looking outward, at the people around you. I’m talking about your “tribe,” the circle of family and friends whose lives are intertwined with your own.

We often undervalue our everyday contributions to those around us. That’s because these contributions come natural to us. We do them without even thinking. Stop and consider your circle: Where do you provide presence, support or influence? You might ask yourself:

Are you the person friends call when they need a safe, non-judgmental space to vent or share their innermost thoughts?
Are you the steady presence who brings calm to chaotic situations?
Do you connect people with similar interests or motivate others to take action?

You may find that you’re already offering a service or activity of crucial importance to those around you. Once you recognize what you already bring to the table, the next step isn’t to reinvent yourself—it’s to double down. Can you be of even greater value? How can you expand on your gift and become even better at it? Can you channel your energy into your local community?

It could be time to “dig in.”

Gary Snyder is a poet from the Beat Generation who was pals with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. A Zen Buddhist, Snyder is often called the “poet laureate of Deep Ecology,” as his writing advocates for a respectful coexistence between humanity and the earth. Now 96 years of age, he offers us the ultimate roadmap for purposeful living:

Find your place on the planet, dig in, and take responsibility from there.

For Snyder, digging in meant settling in a homestead along California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. He came to the same conclusion that we all might: It’s pointless to search for a “better life.” This life and this moment are enough. When you dig in, you allow yourself to plant roots. You commit to the slow, steady work of building relationships, and navigating the seasons of life alongside your tribe.

Maybe purpose isn’t a grand mission statement.

Maybe it’s the simple act of claiming ownership over the space where you already live. Like Michael Valliant on the peaceful waters of the Eastern Shore, you just have to look at your here and now. Notice what makes you come alive and cast your line from right where you stand.

When you stop the endless search for meaning and start looking at the immediate needs of those around you, you may realize that your path has been under your feet the entire time. Almost one hundred and eighty stories in on my personal quest to define purpose, that may be the most comforting truth I’ve found.

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