As humans, we all believe that we have a preordained purpose; a spiritual calling to answer to.
This is evident in how philosophers over the centuries have debated—and continue to debate—over the meaning of life, and what purpose we all serve;
How preachers believe they were “called” by God to fulfill a bigger purpose;
And even how Japanese people believe in ikigai—a reason for living.
But how do you really know you have a spiritual calling? And how on earth do you find yours?
If you find yourself asking the very same questions, good news: you’re in the right place.
In this article, we’ll discuss the 10 signs you may have a spiritual calling (and 4 tips on how to find it).
Without further ado, let us begin!
1) You feel a deep discontent with your current life
Have you ever felt dissatisfied with your life?
There’s just a piece in the puzzle that is your life that seems to be missing…you feel you’re looking for something else, something more, though you’re not quite sure yet what this is.
Well, don’t worry, because feeling dissatisfied with your life is not a completely bad thing. This is actually the first sign that you might notice if you have a spiritual calling.
When you have a spiritual calling that you haven’t yet fulfilled, you’re bound to feel deep discontent in your life.
Why is this?
Because you’re not doing what you know, in your heart, that you need and want to do, and because you have yet to figure out what it is that you’re truly meant to do.
Not knowing what this is at first can be distressing, which might lead to you feeling lost.
2) You feel lost
Feeling lost is a strange, isolating feeling.
It’s when you know you’re in the wrong place, but don’t really know where to go or how to get there. It makes you feel helpless and uninspired, which, more often than not, causes you to lose interest in everything in life.
But amidst all of this, there is a silver lining.
What is it, you ask?
Well, it’s the simple fact that you need to get lost before you learn where you need to be.
This means that if you have a spiritual calling, it’s normal to feel lost at first, because naturally, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do yet.
Thus, being lost is the beginning of your journey to find your true purpose.
This is why there’s no shame in feeling lost. It’s a perfectly normal, human response to your situation. Instead of feeling ashamed, try to acknowledge and accept your feelings.
Then, ask yourself: what do I really want?
If you don’t know the answer to this yet, don’t worry One of the things that could help you is to look at your daydreams and what they entail.
3) You daydream about a different life
As adults, we perceive daydreaming to be a childish activity. We don’t allow ourselves to dream anymore because most of us believe it’s too late to change our lives.
But if you truly want to have a different life, it’s never too late to dream.
In fact, if you have a spiritual calling, one of the things you will usually find yourself in is in the middle of a daydream.
You might find yourself asking, “what if?”
As in:
What if I moved to the mountains and lived a life as one with nature?
What if I went back to school to pursue a masters degree?
What if I change my career into a drastically different one?
These daydreams are important, because it points you toward a vital component in following your spiritual calling: desire.
The most important thing is for you to allow yourself to follow them, and go where your mind takes you. Doing this will soon lead you to what you truly desire and, eventually, what your spiritual calling might be.
Don’t be ashamed if you feel that they’re ridiculous. These are simply daydreams, after all. They can be as ridiculous and unrealistic as you want to be.
Remember: no dream is too crazy as long as you’re brave and determined enough.
4) You’re jealous of others who seem to have ‘figured it out’
You see it all on social media.
You see other people living the dream life. Maybe even living the life you want to live, achieving things you’ve always wanted to achieve yourself, and you think: I want this for myself, too.
While jealousy is a generally ill-perceived feeling because it often drives people to bring others down, sometimes, it can actually be good for you.
Quite surprising, isn’t it? But why is this?
Because when we feel jealousy, there’s an underlying feeling when you peel back the layers: that of desire. And we already know that desire is instrumental in our journey to follow our spiritual calling.
This means that jealousy can help you do just that, because when you don’t know what you want, it will show you.
Jealous of an acquaintance who recently passed the bar exams? Perhaps you, too, want a law degree.
Jealous of a friend who’s been traveling around Europe? Perhaps you also want to travel the world.
What this tells us is that it’s not bad to feel jealous if you don’t use your jealousy to take other people down. In this case, use your jealousy in order to find what you want to do with life and follow your spiritual calling.
This jealousy might also signal your desire to change.
5) You want to change
Too many people hate change, and it’s understandable. Change is scary. It poses the risk of losing everything we’ve gotten accustomed to, taking away our blanket of safety and security.
This is why we see people who have negative traits refuse to even try to be better.
However, if you start feeling a desire to change yourself and your life, that is a good sign that you have a spiritual calling.
It can start to be something as small as starting to feel bored of the usual: wake up in the morning, eat, shower, dress, go to work…
It’s all starting to feel a little too mundane. You find yourself wanting more out of your life, a purpose outside of your 9-5 corporate job, something that will bring you more fulfillment.
But what is this something?
Even if you don’t know yet, it’s perfectly fine, because this is just the beginning.
And this feeling might lead you to re-evaluate your life.
6) You’ve been re-evaluating
Evaluating our lives and past decisions is a habit all of us could probably benefit from, though not a lot of us do this.
At some point in our lives, we need to start re-evaluating, especially in times when we feel as if we’ve been lost.
So when you start looking back and evaluating your past actions and decisions, that might be a sign that you have a spiritual calling.
If you find that you’ve made many mistakes and maybe even have a few regrets, don’t worry. It’s alright! It’s all part of having a spiritual calling.
Remember that where you are now is brought by your past decisions, and right now, you already know that you want to change your life—and that’s a start.
It’s never too late to begin to change, to chase after your spiritual calling, and today is the best time to begin.
Perhaps you feel the need to change because you have a feeling that the world needs you, and you haven’t been of service to it…yet
7) You have a feeling that the world needs you
Maybe you have struggled in the past and wished someone was there to help you, but no one was there for you.
There’s a common saying that goes: be the person you needed when you were younger.
I can relate to this personally because when I was younger, I looked for an older, wiser person to seek help from…unfortunately, I didn’t find anyone.
And that’s the reason why I try to be that person for other, younger people now.
Now, I know that my spiritual calling is to reach out to other people—younger people, especially—when they need help.
Maybe it’s the same for you too: perhaps now you also feel that the world needs you.
When you have a calling like this, it can be pretty hard to ignore because you know you’re capable of helping others, which is always a noble pursuit—a purpose that is bigger than any of us.
8) You believe you have a bigger purpose
Preachers believe they were called by God to fulfill a bigger purpose. As a non-believer myself, I used to call BS.
But now that I’ve found my spiritual calling, I get it.
Because when you have a spiritual calling, you know you were called by a greater, higher power—whether that is the Christian God or some other absolute being you believe in—to fulfill a purpose that is greater than any of us.
Maybe you have the power to change the world, even if you believe you’re not capable of that.
But even if it’s not as big as changing the world, maybe you can change other people’s lives, still. And that in itself is a purpose that is greater than anything on our material plane.
And perhaps you feel that this purpose is to be of service to others, which brings you more fulfillment than anything else.
9) You feel fulfillment in helping others
Have you ever helped an old lady cross the street, or held the elevator doors long enough for someone in a rush to catch up?
If you do, then you know that feeling you get when you help other people.
It’s a feeling of fulfillment, a certain kind of happiness that you only get when you lend a helping hand to others.
And if you get that feeling, that is a sign that you have a spiritual calling.
Most people who have a spiritual calling have a purpose to help others. This is because a greater power is calling you to listen and reach out to those in need.
This means that because you have a calling to help people, you naturally feel compassionate towards those in need.
10) You’re compassionate towards those in need
As a person who grew up in a modest household, my parents always remind me that I’m luckier than most people, even if we live a pretty humble life.
Growing up, this made me aware of the reality of people who are less unfortunate than we are.
The kids who grew up without parents in the streets.
The disabled who sing in the streets to make a living.
Even stray cats and dogs who were rarely fed and even maltreated by strangers who pass by them.
And when I see them, I almost feel their pain. Along with it is an overwhelming desire to lend a helping hand.
Do you feel the same?
If you do, that means that you, too, have a spiritual calling.
Feeling compassionate towards others, especially towards the needy, is a tell-tale sign that you have a purpose that calls you to help other people.
For me, I try to follow that pursuit every day, because I feel the most happiness and fulfillment when I’m able to be of service to others.
And I’m sure you will feel that way, too, when you start to answer to your spiritual calling.
How to find your spiritual calling
1) Listen to your heart
In this article, we have mentioned over and over again that in order to follow your spiritual calling, you need to first figure out what you want.
And that’s because you wouldn’t know what your calling is until you listen to yourself, to your heart.
So drown out the background noise and listen to what your heart is trying to tell you: what does it say?
Does it tell you that you need to change your life?
Does it push you to quit a job that makes you so unhappy and follow your creative pursuits?
Whatever it is, don’t block it out—listen, and soon enough, you’ll find what your true calling is.
2) Have faith in yourself
When you believe that you’re capable of doing anything you set your heart and mind to, the sky’s the limit.
That’s the importance of having faith in yourself.
This is because even if you’ve already figured out what your spiritual calling is, if you don’t believe in yourself, your plans and goals won’t manifest into reality.
Even if you have the grandest ideas that could possibly change all of mankind, if you don’t believe you have the capability to execute them, they will never live to see the light of day.
And how could you chase after your spiritual calling if you’re too scared to run?
So face the mirror, look yourself in the eye, and tell yourself: I can do this.
Don’t listen to the people telling you it’s not possible. That it’s not realistic. If you know, in your heart, that you’re capable, and that this is it, your true spiritual calling, then they’re just background noise.
But if you find that you’re still too scared to try, facing your fears is the way to go.
3) Face your fears
All of us are afraid of something. Fear is the natural human response to danger, to the unknown.
So if you’re afraid of failing, of making the wrong decision, or maybe of wasting time and money, know that it’s all perfectly normal…and they’re also completely possible.
I know admitting the possibility of it all makes it even more scary, but that’s the first step we must all take when we face our fears.
Acknowledge that all of these are possible, because you can’t avoid them—but at the end of the day, no fear is bigger than your spiritual calling.
All you have to do is be strong enough to face them when they come, firm in your goal to find your spiritual calling.
5) Live and let live
Live and let live. It almost sounds like the cliché “live, laugh, love”, doesn’t it?
Well, cliché as it is, there is some benefit to adhering to this philosophy when you’re trying to find your spiritual calling.
Having a spiritual calling is all about finding your greatest passion; the purpose you were called to serve in this lifetime.
If you try too hard, if you force yourself to pursue what is not meant for you, your spiritual calling will not come to you.
At the end of the day, having a spiritual calling should be as natural as breathing. It should not be something you force yourself into, but something that comes naturally to you.
And sometimes, it only comes to you when you stop chasing after it.
I wish you luck on finding your true spiritual calling!