A Person's Life Purpose
Author: Inguna Balgalve
People often ask whether I can tell them what their mission or task is in this life. Books and online materials discuss numbers called the Destiny Number or Life Path Number. The explanation of this number also includes the essence of a person's life task.
To calculate your life-task number, add the digits of your date of birth until you get a single digit.
For example, someone born on March 15, 1987: in numerology, the date is written in a specific order, day, month, year, so the number sequence is 15031987. Add the digits: 1+5+0+3+1+9+8+7=34=3+4=7.
Therefore, the life-task number of someone born on March 15, 1987 is 7.
What Does the Life-Task Number Mean?
Some tasks in life come more easily, while others require effort and patience. A life task is to overcome intolerance and arrogance towards other people in one area of life. If the task has not been fulfilled, life itself creates different obstacles to bring a person back to it. If we want to know how long life's trials will continue, the answer is: until we learn to live with the task we have been given, without anger or resentment. The sooner we learn the lesson of life, the sooner a harmonious and orderly life can begin. It is impossible to deceive or bribe life; it has a direct connection with our conscience.
Explaining the Life-Task Number
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (10, 19, 28, 37, 46) reduces to 1
A person must learn to be an individual with their own opinion and position in life. They need to take responsibility for their words and actions. It is not advisable to side with the majority simply for convenience, because life sees this as avoiding responsibility. If someone joins the majority because it is easier or because they lack confidence in themselves, they will be held responsible both for their own inaction and for other people's irresponsibility. Each person must understand that they shape their own life and must decide what matters most to them and what is within their power. The quality of life is shaped by one's own choices. If a person cannot make their own choices and direct their life, they become a puppet in other people's hands. In that case, the results rarely bring satisfaction or joy. Even then, there is no right to blame or be angry with anyone, because allowing oneself to become a puppet in someone else's hands is also one's own choice. No one has to prove anything in this life. Learn to live so that each morning, when you wake up, feels like an opportunity to realise your potential.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Recognise your gifts, opportunities and resources.
- Set priorities in your life.
- Learn to say "NO" without feeling guilty about it.
- Develop and improve your personality.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (11, 20, 29, 38, 47) reduces to 2
A person must learn to accept other people as they are, without judging them by their skin colour, nationality, gender or social status. Do not consider yourself superior because of your education, position, social status or skin colour. Everyone has their own view and understanding of what happens in life, so we must accept that other people's opinions may differ and that this does not mean they are wrong. As we know, each of us has our own truth. If a glass is half full, is it half empty or half full?
Let go of the self-deception that another person's character can be changed without their own will or consent. The behaviour of the people around us reflects our own inner nature. There is a reason for the saying: "Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are."
Learn to take on only as many responsibilities as you can manage. You may ask others for help or agree mutually that someone will help, but do not demand or use others for your own needs after taking on responsibilities you cannot handle. Then there will be no reason to be angry with or reproach others for not doing things the way we want.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Avoid being arrogant.
- Give advice to others only when you have personal experience with the matter.
- Live your own life and let others live theirs.
- Remember that other people are people, not instruments in our lives.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (12, 21, 30, 39, 48) reduces to 3
A person whose life-task number is 3 must learn to live so that their thoughts align with both their words and their actions. Avoid emphasising that you do things for other people's benefit. It can sound like: "I meant well, but it turned out..." We may know what is best for us, but how can we know what is best for someone else? Before doing what we think is best for another person, first ask for their opinion. This helps avoid misunderstandings and disappointment.
Avoid criticising other people because of their taste or behaviour. People's sense of beauty, ethics and aesthetics varies greatly. What one person finds beautiful, another may see as the height of bad taste. Some people dress to please others, while others dress for comfort. Instead of judging others, think about and take care to create harmony in your own life. Create an environment where you can feel good at home, at work, and with your friends and relatives. Do not exploit or make others subservient. Build a life that makes you happy and brings a smile to your face!
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Learn to be glad for what you have already been given.
- Do everyday tasks for yourself, not for other people.
- Explore and understand yourself so it is easier to choose what you need and what you do not.
- Accept that other people may also be tired, sad or in a bad mood.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (13, 22, 31, 40) reduces to 4
A person with life-task number 4 must learn to gain independence and stability. They should have their own place to live, a steady income and freedom of movement. If they expect someone else to create or provide these things, they may face humiliation and difficult situations. This means a person needs to own some property or a share of property. If they live in a spouse's property, they need savings that would allow them to continue living independently at any time, should the need arise.
Number 4 as a life task also indicates that a person must understand and follow the laws, both those made by people and the laws of nature and God. This is also expressed in familiar sayings: "Treat others as you would like them to treat you" and "What you give comes back to you." The easiest path is not always the best one. While life is still unfolding, you can never know what tomorrow will bring, so things are never so bad that they could not be worse, and never so good that they could not be better.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Choose a profession that is close to your heart and enjoyable, not simply the one that pays more.
- Learn to take care of yourself and create your own prosperity.
- Remember that it is easy to damage your reputation, but you will have to live with that for the rest of your life.
- Before making a final decision, consider whether it is truly what you want.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (14, 23, 32, 41) reduces to 5
People whose life-task number is 5 try to be precise and follow rules and standards. Sometimes they are too proper. Their life task is therefore to learn to be simpler and more natural. They set high standards for themselves and want everything in order, both at home and at work. Remember that life contains values more important than duties and responsibilities: other people. Duties and unfinished tasks existed before we were born and will remain after we are gone. Not every task can be completed, and there will never be enough time to do everything. The people who are beside us are with us for a moment, and no one has told us how long that moment will last. Live so that news of someone's passing does not bring pangs of conscience about all the things you never said. Do not leave the last flowers for your conscience to carry, because they cannot make up for lost time or for opportunities we declined because of responsibilities we set for ourselves.
Learn to make time to enjoy life with the people close to you. Some things in life cost nothing: a smile, a kind word, genuine laughter and joy. Together, they help us feel happy.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Learn to use the opportunities life offers in order to be happy.
- You have no right to demand that others do things the way you do; everyone has different priorities.
- Do not worry about what other people will say, because you can never please everyone.
- Pause for a moment and ask yourself: "If I had to leave this life tomorrow, which moments of my life would I want to take with me as memories?" It is unlikely to be a pay rise at work or the completion of duties.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (15, 24, 33, 42) reduces to 6
A person whose date-of-birth digits reduce to 6 has the task of creating a family in which they and the others are happy. These are not relationships based on convenience or simply ticking a box. Remember that another person is not given to us for comfort or advantage, but for the heart. Children are not given to parents for convenience, and parents are not given to children for convenience either. One person is not another person's property. To receive something, one must first give. Give from the heart, not as a calculation. Otherwise, all relationships will be short-lived. A person must know how to ask, rather than demand, for help from another, and know how to appreciate and thank the other for being able to help.
A home should become a paradise on earth, where a person is happy and can be who they truly are. It is terrible when a person does not want to go home.
A family is happy when its members can accept one another with all their character traits, not only the good ones. There is no place in a family for the wish to remake another person in one's own image.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Remember that love is the voice of the heart.
- Another person's behaviour reflects your own inner nature: like attracts like.
- In marriage, "I" and "you", "mine" and "yours" become "we" and "ours".
- Home and family are places to regain your strength and feel loved and needed.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (16, 25, 34, 43) reduces to 7
This person can safely be called a "why-kid", because almost everything interests them. They learn throughout their life, gaining knowledge and experience through reading, studying and travelling, then testing what they have learned in practice. Over time, they may want to give advice even when no one has asked. When someone makes a mistake, they may say: "I told you that would happen. I thought it wouldn't work out." A person with life-task number 7 must learn to be more tolerant of those who are still learning or doing something for the first time. We all make mistakes, and there is no need to be ashamed of them, because making mistakes means that we are trying to learn rather than giving up because we do not know how.
Before offering advice or criticising another person's lack of skill, think about how awkward and confused that person already feels. Is this really the right moment to undermine their confidence and belief in their abilities even further? The best thing to do at such a moment is to offer help or advice in a friendly way.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Avoid being arrogant.
- Do not impose your advice and knowledge if the other person has not asked for it or shown interest.
- Give advice only about matters you have tested in your own practice.
- Remember that other people may also be right and have their own experience.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (17, 26, 35, 44) reduces to 8
Who has not heard that the golden mean is best in life? This is something a person with life-task number 8 must also remember. They must learn to live in balance: time spent at work and time spent resting and looking after their health; time spent with friends and time spent with family; entertainment and self-education. As soon as one thing takes precedence over the others, the other plans also fall apart. If a person gives too much of their time to work, health problems may arise and could lead to losing the job. If they spend too much time away from home, serious problems may arise in the family. This does not mean giving anything up. The most important thing is to organise life so that there is enough time for others and for one's own needs.
A person must learn to resist the urge to tempt fate, as they may have to pay for it with their health or prosperity. Ignorance of the law, whether it is written by people or set by nature or God, does not release anyone from responsibility. Deliberately breaking laws or acting recklessly brings consequences.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Remember that life changes every day and nothing lasts forever.
- Remember the saying: "As you sow, so shall you reap."
- Learn not to put off today's tasks until tomorrow, because tomorrow has other plans.
- Learn not only to work and earn, but also to rest and enjoy life.
If the sum of the digits in the date of birth (18, 27, 36, 45) reduces to 9
If your life-task number is 9, you need to learn to set priorities and decide what is more important and what is less important to you. You also need to let go of things that have served their time and are broken. Each time you throw away old, useless things, you make room for new and much better ones. If a person keeps everything because they feel bad about throwing it away, there is no room in their life for the new things that drive development. They become stuck in time and life turns into a routine.
Learn not to consider anything in your life more important or superior to yourself, because whatever you value above yourself gets in the way of your development and may lead you to be disappointed in the people you have idealised. Likewise, if you become too attached to a person or thing, life will take it away, because every attachment slows progress. Learn to live here and now, and assess in every moment which choice is best for moving forward.
Suggestions for fulfilling this life task:
- Live by the principle: "Only what changes will endure!"
- Choose what is best for you, not what others impose on you.
- Let go without regret of outdated things, ideas and traditions.
- Keep moving forward in life, whatever has happened in the past.
After reading about the life tasks, you may sometimes ask: "Why did I get the hardest task?" It is like school: we often felt that the assignments given to the other group were easier than ours. Feelings can be similar in this school of life. In this way, life helps a person learn new skills and abilities. Life asks each of us to complete our own task, and then we can do what we want. There is no set deadline for completing it. There is only one condition: when the task is completed, life stops creating obstacles in our way; until then, we will encounter difficulties. It is all in our own hands.
I wish you good luck and patience in completing your task.