Awareness of the purpose of life

I know this topic doesn't seem to fit he criteria of this blog, but in the big picture it does. I am curious about spirituality because even after achieving success in academic life, having a good job, beautiful children, and a famous husband, I still feel that somehow we are missing the point of living life. It could be my sagittarian nature that I get bored with routine and my curosity to know so much more about so many things.

The book "How to have an outstanding life/ Paul Smith" is an excellent book. It seems to give practicle advice but if you read the book and think of the philosophy applied to provide solutions, it almost seems like a religious book without any religious content as such.

On page 96 it mentions Self-awareness, smile and life. In the questionaire "Do you really know yourself?" the author asks

"What is the best thing about being alive?"
I don't know the answer to this question.

My whole problem in life is I don't know what I am searching for. All I know is that I am searching for some answers. I am not satisfied that one should try so hard to succeed in life, only to die. If life is precious then why am I wasting most of my life doing mundane routine jobs, which do not change anybody's life. For example, why do people iron cloths? Some times, I like to dress up for myself, to feel good, that is a good reason to iron them. But I am talking about most other times. How does that fit in the big picture. How does that affect the life on earth, 100 years from now? Is that going to achieve something for long term use, for the betterment of mankind or the planet? There are million other paid jobs in today's world that fall in this category of needless jobs from the long-term point of view. I think the current credit crunch will somehow answer that question and set things right. We are so engrossed in money making that we don't have any time to contemplate on why we are living and what is most important? Capitalism and consumerism has blinded us. We shop and buy stuff for no reason or for momentary pleasure. Have you noticed the stuff in two dollar shops, observed our dress-up parties and the trivia nights. How does that useless knowledge benefit anybody?

The funniest thing is that the people living in developed nations with dollars that have the capacity to buy just about anything, with high standards of living, low unemployment, no hygiene problems, clean water, beautiful natural heritage and less population are the one's with high stress and suicide rate. Why are they stressed more than those living in poor conditions with no future? The whole lot doesn't make any sense. On page 88 of the book mentions above, the author says that stress is a mental problem and suggests to get physical. That might be why poor nations don't stress, they don't have time to worry as they are busy doing physical work, to earn some money for the day. He also suggests increasing body awareness as step 1 in self-hypnosis for success. Meditation also starts with the body awareness and awareness of the breath.