Background
As a coach, you have probably sat across from someone who looks successful on paper but hollow inside. You know the feeling when a client lists achievements and then shrugs, as if those things do not answer the most private question they carry. Helping people move from achievement to belonging, from accomplishment to finding purpose and meaning in life is the quiet work that changes lives. Below are three short fictional stories built on everyday coaching moments, followed by practical prompts and interventions you can use straight away with clients who are searching for clarity about purpose. Each story and exercise is informed by positive psychology and keeps the human experience at its centre (Kim et al., 2022).
Story 01: Mara and the Monday morning emptiness
Mara is a physiotherapist who runs a busy clinic. She loves anatomy and the science of recovery, yet recently has begun to dread Monday mornings. In a session, she told her coach that nothing felt wrong in a single moment, but everything felt wrong all at once. Together they explored Mara’s daily rhythms. She loved teaching students and telling stories about small victories. When asked what she would do if money were not a concern, she immediately said she would run community classes for older adults and mentor new therapists.
Mara and her coach mapped her strengths. Skills that had been spent on clinical work suddenly rewired into a small plan that honoured both her craft and her desire to connect. Within six weeks, she piloted a free community class once a month. The Monday emptiness did not vanish, but it softened. Her work gained another layer. For many clients, the change that matters most is not a new career but a shift in how they use their day to embody values. Helping a person align daily actions with what matters gives them a living answer to the question of finding purpose and meaning in life.
Story 02: Omar and the lost compass
Omar was a health coach in his early thirties. He had advice for everything and a thousand bookmarks for trendy diets. He loved learning but felt like a tourist in his own life. During a guided journaling exercise, he drew a simple map of moments that felt alive. He remembered his grandmother teaching him to bake and how he felt when he coached a neighbour through a panic attack. He noticed a pattern around care and learning.
Omar’s coach introduced a small experiment. For one week, he would spend thirty minutes each day teaching something to someone else. It could be a breathing technique or a recipe, or a short talk about sleep. The point was not mastery but practice. By week three, Omar reported a steady warmth when he spoke about helping someone understand a small thing that made their day easier. The experiment did not answer every question, but it provided signals. For many people, the experience of teaching or serving is a gateway. If you help clients design short, low-risk experiments, they begin to test what feels like purpose. This is a gentle route to finding purpose and meaning in life.
Story 03: Lila and the slow return
Lila was recovering from a long illness. She had lost work and a sense of identity. Her coach asked a single, simple question: Who were you before this happened? Who do you want to carry forward? Lila described a younger self who loved spontaneous music nights and walking in the park. She had assumed illness meant those things were gone. Instead, the coach invited her to name three small invitations to life that felt possible that week. Lila chose to listen to one new album, to walk once on a green route, and to say yes to a short open mic. None of these events solved everything, but each acted like a tiny bridge back to a self that mattered.
The work here is subtle. Purpose is rarely a manifesto. Often, it is a series of smal,l consistent choices that reweave identity and community. When people who have been ill or stuck start to take these tiny steps, they regain agency. That steady practice of choosing again is a core path to finding purpose and meaning in life.
Practical Coaching Tools You Can Use Tomorrow
These tools are quick to explain and easy to adapt for one-to-one sessions or group work.
- Values sorting with a twist
Give clients a short list of values or ask them to brainstorm ten words that matter. Now ask them to pick one value they can practice this week and one value they can stop practising because it drains them. The second choice is often overlooked, yet letting go can free space for what matters most. After the exercise, they ask, Which daily action will show this value by Friday?
- The signature strengths spotlight
Invite clients to tell two recent stories where they felt strong and alive. Identify the strengths in each story. Ask clients to plan one 20-minute activity that uses one of those strengths at least three times in the coming week. Strengths are engines. Repeated use of signature strengths creates positive feedback and clarifies what work or roles might sustain someone long term.
- The one-month experiment
Support clients in designing a one-month experiment built on curiosity. It must be small, measurable, and reversible. Ideas include volunteering for two hours a week, teaching a micro workshop, or calling three old friends. At the end of the month, review feelings, energy, and unexpected doors that opened. These experiments help clients sample possible directions without needing life-changing decisions.
- Narrative reframing
Ask clients to tell the story they tell themselves about why they are where they are. Then ask them to retell it from the perspective of a wise friend who has seen growth and resilience. This shift often reduces shame and uncovers agency (a person’s sense of control over their own actions and life, their ability to make choices, take initiative, and act in ways that shape outcomes). Purpose grows when shame and rumination drop and curiosity rises.
- Daily micro rituals
Purpose is built through repetition. Co-create micro rituals that anchor values into daily life. Examples are a morning intention of one sentence; a midday check-in with breath, and a one-line gratitude note at night. These are low-cost practices that gradually orient attention toward what matters.
Language to Use with Clients
Use language that invites, not pressures. Try prompts like this. Tell me about a moment this month when you felt like yourself. What small thing can we try this week to honour that moment? On a scale of one to ten, how much energy does that idea give you? How would your future self thank you for this action? These prompts help people move from abstract longing to concrete steps.
Common Stumbling Blocks and How to Support Them
People often expect a single big answer. They imagine a career revelation or an epiphany. The reality is usually incremental. Remind clients that purpose can be expressed across work relationships and hobbies. Another barrier is fear of making the wrong choice. Use short experiments and reversible commitments to reduce the cost of trying. Lastly, some clients equate purpose with productivity. Invite them to explore purpose in being, not just doing. Purpose often shows up in presence and care more than in output (Schippers & Ziegler, 2019).
Final Thought
As a healthcare or wellbeing coach, your gift is to hold space for curiosity and to help people test what matters. The question of finding purpose and meaning in life is not a puzzle to solve once and for all. It is a practice to live into. The stories here are simple reminders that listening closely to small signals and designing tiny experiments can lead to deep shifts. When you can help a client move from wondering to trying, they begin to build a life that answers the heart of their question (Dezutter et al., 2013).
References
- Dezutter, J., Casalin, S., Wachholtz, A., Luyckx, K., Hekking, J., & Vandewiele, W. (2013). Meaning in life: An important factor for the psychological well-being of chronically ill patients? Rehabilitation Psychology, 58(4), 334–341. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034393
- Kim, E. S., Chen, Y., Nakamura, J. S., Ryff, C. D., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2022). Sense of Purpose in Life and Subsequent Physical, Behavioral, and Psychosocial Health: An Outcome-Wide Approach. American Journal of Health Promotion: AJHP, 36(1), 137–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171211038545
- Schippers, M. C., & Ziegler, N. (2019). Life Crafting as a Way to Find Purpose and Meaning in Life. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2778. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02778