How to find fulfillment in life: The kind that NO ONE can take away

If you could peek into the inner world of almost anyone, you would find an aching—something they feel unfulfilled about.

Look into the heart of a single woman or someone in an unhappy marriage, and you’ll often find her quietly aching for a soulmate, or wishing her partner understood her in the way she yearns to be seen. She’s constantly asking herself how to feel fulfilled in love, how to stop feeling unfulfilled even while sharing a bed.

Look into the mind of an entrepreneur, and you might find them caught in a cycle of striving. That one missed sale, that income milestone just out of reach—they feel unfulfilled, like they’re chasing an ever-moving target, always wondering how to find fulfillment in life without giving up their ambitions.

Or the career woman, exhausted under fluorescent office lights, trying to meet another deadline, another expectation. She questions if this is all there is, silently craving fulfillment beyond a title or raise.

Even the ultra-wealthy—yes, even her, with the ocean-view penthouse and the luxury skincare routine—might be feeling unfulfilled because the custom tile in her spa-like bathroom isn’t the exact shade she envisioned. Her Michelin-star dinner doesn’t quite hit the spot.

As long as we live with the human mind, there's often this haunting sensation that something is missing. The mind convinces us, “Once I have this one thing, then I’ll be fulfilled forever.” That thing might be a six-figure business, a fairytale marriage, or a dream home—but the mind clings to it like a dog with a bone.

And when we get that thing?

The marriage brings new challenges—navigating chores, parenting, emotional labor. The business thrives, and suddenly you're worrying about how to scale, sustain, and surpass your last launch. Fulfillment remains elusive, moving just out of reach like a mirage in the desert.

We’ve been taught that this is normal. That feeling unfulfilled is simply part of being human. And instead of showing us how to feel fulfilled in a deep and lasting way, society sells us a fix.

There’s always another product, another treatment, another course for manifesting stuff. From Botox to luxury retreats, entire industries profit from our discontent. They depend on you feeling unfulfilled, so they can sell fulfillment in a bottle, a meal plan, a new identity.

But if you're here, reading this, maybe something in you has started to see through the illusion. Maybe you're sensing what I did—that the external fixes never truly fix the ache inside.

How I found fulfillment: An unexpected journey

Like many high achievers, I once believed fulfillment was something I had to earn.

My father celebrated my successes but rarely my presence. So I wired myself to chase gold stars. I thought if I became a perfect achiever—polished, competent, enviable—I’d know how to feel fulfilled at last.

This mindset followed me into entrepreneurship. I bought into the dream: sipping piña coladas in Bali, laptop on lap, basking in the glory of being "self-made." I saw other coaches and creators smiling on Instagram, and thought: When I check all these boxes, I’ll finally feel fulfilled.

So I hustled. I built my business. My launches sold out. Clients came in. And at first, the PayPal "cha-ching" sounds gave me a sweet hit of dopamine. But soon, the sound began to echo with dread. I felt the pressure rising—more to deliver, more to maintain.

I was “living the dream” and yet… inside, I felt strangely hollow, like a once-juicy fruit now dried out under the sun.

I thought, What’s wrong with me? Isn’t this what fulfillment was supposed to feel like?

The Bali trip felt like a checklist item to show off to the world more than a genuine love for travel. My wins didn’t fill me up the way I imagined they would. I didn’t feel fulfilled—I felt depleted. And that's when it hit me: I had everything I thought I needed to feel fulfilled, and yet, I was still feeling unfulfilled.

That moment changed everything.

I didn’t need to chase seven or eight figures or scale to the moon to know: external success would never be the source of my deepest fulfillment. And thank goodness I saw it early enough to stop climbing a mountain that would never end.

So I paused. I stepped back. I asked the quiet question: If not this… then what?

And to my surprise, I found fulfillment in the softest, simplest places.

As in watering the plants in my backyard as the morning sun kissed my shoulders.
In plucking dandelions for tea while walking barefoot on the grass.
In writing words like these, one emotion at a time, with no goal but presence.
In watching birds flit over a stream glimmering with golden light passing through tree branches.
In the silence that holds me when I’m not “doing” anything at all.

In other words, I found fulfillment from just living, breathing, simplicity.
I found fulfillment from simply being. And most importantly, I found fulfillment inside of me.

How to find fulfillment in life: Discovering the Source within

To someone living in constant chase mode, finding fulfillment within can sound like spiritual fluff. But when you finally taste it, you realize it’s what you’ve been starving for all along.

This kind of inner fulfillment isn’t flashy or dramatic. But it is profound. It is life-changing. It's a wholeness that arises not from earning your way to something, but realizing that you never need anything to “add” to begin within.

No six-figure launch, marriage, or luxury escape can compare to the fulfillment you find inside. (And I say this as someone who has a deeply loving marriage—it’s icing, not the cake.)

To the ego mind, this kind of peace is unimaginable. It’s like describing snow to someone who’s only ever known desert heat.

But your soul knows. She remembers.

Spiritual texts across traditions have whispered this same truth:

“Everyone who drinks this water (i.e. the earthly pursuits) will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give them (i.e. the fulfillment within) will never thirst.” — John 4:14
“The kingdom of God is within you.” — Luke 17:21
“One whose happiness is within… attains the eternal bliss of the Brahman.” — Bhagavad Gita
“Having gained this, he thinks there is no greater gain.” — Bhagavad Gita
“The ignorant turn their attention outward… The wise turn inward.” — Buddhist scripture

These truths aren’t abstract—they’re instructions. They show us how to find fulfillment in life by returning inward, again and again.

And the more you do, the more resilient, radiant, and rooted your peace becomes. Even when external things fall apart, your inner world remains untouched.

The path to lasting fulfillment

True fulfillment requires intimacy with yourself.

But the thing is, many of us don’t feel safe in our own presence. When we slow down, we hear the harsh voice within—the inner critic, the fixer, the judger, the shamer.

We inherited these voices. From parents. From a culture obsessed with perfection. We learned that we must constantly improve to be lovable or valuable.

But that pressure to always improve only creates more of feeling unfulfilled. It's like trying to grow a flower by beating it for not blooming fast enough.

So the first step to feeling fulfilled comes down to becoming freed from this voice in your head. 

And that’s not about trying to stop it (because it won’t—the mind is just like a tape recorder, automatically playing in the background because it’s been programmed that way). But instead, you stop identifying with it. And through that shift, you become free from the fears that the mind projects.

Instead, you begin to see that the real you is something much deeper, quieter, and permanent—unlike the mind, whose thoughts endlessly come and go. This real you is the one watching all that is unfolding—witnessing the thoughts, emotions, and stories playing out inside the mind. 

It is like the blank canvas on which all the stories and images are projected. And as you become aware of that—the awareness itself—you begin to taste permanent peace, love, and fulfillment. It feels like coming Home to the place you’ve always longed for, yet never knew how to find.

The first time you discover this real you—the centerpiece of who you are, untouched and unmoved by the world—this stillness beneath all chaos, it can feel like total bliss. 

One can abide in this bliss for hours and hours, basking in a state of inner fullness that no outer achievement could ever replicate. This is true fulfillment. And once touched, you will see how nothing in this world can ever compare to it.

And even when the bliss (and fulfillment) fades, you don’t chase it or identify with the emotional absence. 

Instead, you gently notice what drifted you away from the source. And in that noticing, you return. Again and again. 

In other words, instead of your fulfillment being dependent on the external world, you become free to receive it at any time. It’s like realizing you never had to wander out into the desert searching for water—because you’ve always had an oasis, ever-springing, right at home.

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Personally, this inner rerouting—from trying to “get” fulfillment externally to finding it internally—took time to adjust to. 

And even before that came the slow, necessary process of releasing the fears and stories that the mind had been suffering from. Fears of what if I don’t get the “success” I wanted, stories of why I can’t have the things I want.

But once I began tapping into this inner Self-fulfillment (note: from the capital “S”—the Higher Self, the God Self), living life became effortless, almost as if a Universal hand was moving me. 

Instead of trying to “figure out” life all on my own, I began to feel guided by the hand of God. There’s a deep sense of connection with all things and beings. You start to feel what others are experiencing before they even speak. Psychic and intuitive insights arise naturally.

And even more importantly, there is an unwavering fearlessness—because now, you no longer fear that someone or something could ever take away the fulfillment that already lives in you. 

From this place, you begin to move through life not from lack or worry, but from the abundance of what’s already overflowing within you.

To me, this inner fulfillment looks like doing things simply for the joy of it—not because I “should” or “have to.” 

In the past, for instance, working on my business came from the need to survive, the need to avoid a 9-5 job, or the desire to impress people on social media. 

But now, living from that old place feels like carrying an unnecessary baggage. The will becomes more pure—rooted in a simple desire to serve, to radiate what’s already alive inside the Self.

To you, this inner fulfillment may express itself in different ways. 

But no matter how it appears, your life will begin to feel more whole, more fluid, more in harmony. 

Once fulfillment is sourced from within, even the most mundane tasks take on a new energy—filled with presence, wonder, and quiet curiosity. Relationships also begin to transform, because you’re no longer trying to “get” love and validation from others. Instead, connection becomes a sacred exchange—a harmonious dance of energies.

And of course, life becomes far more simple and at ease, because all you truly need is to sustain this earthly body. Your wants are softened. Your striving quiets. And your inner well—once thought to be dry—proves itself to be endless.