"Living with purpose" is a philosophy for individuals where its meaning and experience varies from person to person. For the longest time I have grappled with the philosophy and practice of living with purpose. Finally, at 17, I have been able to gain some clarity. This summer, I went to my ancestral hometown in Ladakh on the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern India. When I met my cousins, ranging from ages 4-12, they all huddled around me with a piece of paper and pencil challenging my American self to write the Tibetan alphabet. I quickly wrote it down and handed them back the piece of paper as I saw their approval from their faces. "We thought you wouldn't know how to speak Tibetan let alone read or write," they said. "Why?" I asked in confusion. "Because you are an American", they said while laughing together.
As a Tibetan-American born and raised in the U.S, I have lived with the privileges of Western education, healthcare and material comfort but have also experienced and witnessed alongside my peers the stress, burn out, social media addiction and mental health challenges. That was invisible to my cousins as they only saw the outer appearances. Everyday would start with my cousins waiting excitedly for me looking at me with fascination, carefully observing everything— from the way I dressed, acted, and appeared.
Ever since my first visit to Ladakh, when I was 20 months old, I have repeatedly seen and experienced the traditional Tibetan way of life preserved amid harsh conditions. From leaking roofs leaving their beds wet to taking a truck ride for half an hour to get to a communal place where they would receive signal on their cellphone. A girl of my age would engage in labor (cattle rearing & cooking) everyday of the week for an average of 14 hours a day and would still go to bed with a warm heart and a generous smile. I was inspired by how the living conditions and the hardships did not deter them from living a fulfilling life seethed in an ancient tradition and true to a cultural heritage. Their lives were driven by a purpose to protect family, community, way of life, culture and in doing so finding joy and fulfillment. This stood in sharp contrast to life in America where machine driven algorithms and capitalist systems take away the essence of human connection, sense of community and care. My own experience attests to the fact that in the quest to fulfill and unlimited wants, I was dithering from who I am and what my purpose is. This is when I was inspired to bring the two worlds to bear on each other and shape individual lives with a sense of purpose. That led to the founding of Zampa.
"Zampa" is the Tibetan word for "bridge" and this social innovation project plans to bridge the two different but connected worlds that shape who I am today: Namdol. Now that I am back in the U.S I hope to share my knowledge and lived experience. In the meantime, how do you live with purpose?
