Your purpose in life is to be YOU.
That’s it.
Everything else will flow from there. When you allow yourself to live authentically, moment by moment, you will begin to discover a more rewarding existence and help create the circumstances for more of these gratifying experiences to emerge.
When you practice being your true self, at every moment possible, you will build a life that is meaningful for you. I choose the word practice because the context of your life may be asking for something different, so it becomes a practice to take action from a place of inner truth rather than from a place of external pressure or societal expectation.
The key to embracing your purpose may sound simple, but the path is not necessarily easy. Fully following the path of our own creation will call for us to continue evolving in order to accommodate our deepest wishes into our daily lives. You will need to stretch yourself, often, but when the intention comes from a strong calling, it also becomes a path for your own growth and development. Just like a butterfly breaking out of a cocoon, it requires us to grow out of our shell.
What's more, creating a fulfilling life for ourselves is a journey, one that is never finished. The definition of a meaningful and fulfilling life may change with time as we are naturally ever evolving. In the same way the physical manifestation of ourselves progresses, so do our needs and desires throughout our lives. This is why purpose is not static in time, but directly related to our own process of self-discovery and expression. We never get there and that’s sort of the point. Once we have achieved what we set-out to do, the moment we are done celebrating, a new vision for self-expression and life goals will appear in order to continue evolving and expanding the world around us.
Constantly choosing to grow and stretch ourselves in a new direction, even when it is in a direction we are longing for, can be overly demanding if we don’t have the right support. Support without judgement or agenda, to help remind you of your strengths and resources available to make the life you want happen. This type of support could come in the form of community, mentor, coach, healer or therapist. Someone to help us do the inner work necessary to move forward courageously, or at least with a level of fear we can work with.
It’s actually a pretty exciting way to live, but it takes commitment, compassion and a lion’s heart. Generally speaking, we have not been formally taught how to be ourselves, quite the opposite! We have been taught to follow rules and teachings generated by others, not how to follow our inner guidance and create a life that is meaningful to US. As we create lives that are aligned with our deepest wishes, we will get to know ourselves better in the process of making decisions that feel right to us. In order to do this, we need to practice checking in with ourselves and listen to our inner compass at every moment of every day.
This is why I believe the path to our purpose is to get to know and accept ourselves first, which can be enhanced by:
1) Taking time for self-reflection consistently. This may include meditation, self-expression through creative activities, spending time in nature on your own, journaling your thoughts or dreams, practicing mindfulness, yoga or other physical activities that allow you to get out of your own head for a while and connect to your physical self, receiving Reiki or other energy healing modalities, etc.
2) Connecting with what we love and becoming acutely aware of what does and doesn’t inspire us in life
3) Practicing choosing what we feel is the right thing for us as much as possible, at every moment. From what to have for breakfast, to saying “No” to commitments we don’t want to attend, to choosing a career we love, to making it a priority that we get the amount of sleep we need, to surrounding ourselves with people that lovingly support who we are and our dreams, and so on
4) Noticing what is stopping us from having fulfilling lives with compassion and kindness to ourselves
5) Finding the support we need to overcome the blocks that keep us from living the life we most desire
Living this way is life-changing.
If you long to live a life that is extraordinary, the invitation is to rise above the ordinary and craft your own path, listen to your own rhythm, starting from a place of love and kindness for yourself and others. When done from a place of love and acceptance of what is true for you, creating a life you find fulfilling will be your own unique contribution to the world around you.
This is how you can embrace a sense of purpose. The world is waiting to see who you become. And what you create.
Photo by tabitha turner on Unsplash