Achieve Your Dreams- Step by Step (#3)

What is Your Purpose?

Here is a test to determine if your mission here on earth is finished. If you’re still here, it’s not.
-Richard Bach, Illusions

At some point in life, we all ask the same questions: Why am I here? What am I supposed to be doing? How can I live a life with purpose, passion, and meaning? “Life purpose” is about more than just your work. It is an overriding philosophy of life that guides you in every area. Remembering your life purpose is just as important in the grocery store or on the freeway as it is in your work. For many people, it is connected with their spiritual life. I believe that everyone shares the same life purpose: to be of service and share unconditional love. However, there are many different ways of expressing that purpose. Some people may express their purpose in a “big” way, like Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and others is a “small” way, as a bus driver who simply greets all passengers with a smile. Truly, there are no “big” and “small” ways, just ways to bring more love and joy to people. Each one is important. You don’t even have to have a spiritual belief to choose a life of service.

In my teens I was involved with a religious group and then attended a religious college. While at the college I experienced people talking about unconditional love, but few seemed to be living it. With the wisdom from this part of my life, it’s clear that living from that place all the time isn’t possible, but I was distressed at the lack of congruency I experienced in college. It was also a turbulent time in the US, with rising consciousness about women’s rights, race relations, and war. I began to question my life and what it meant. I decided then that I was an agnostic (not knowing if God existed) and that my life would be about service to people on the planet. I left graduate school to become a social worker in a rough part of Los Angeles. While the experience provided me with a view of life very different from my “middle class” upbringing, ultimately I realized that the way I could be of greatest service was to assist people in changing inside, which would lead to outer changes. Eventually, I found my spiritual connection again through meditation, even though I started meditating just for reducing my stress! Over the years, I’ve had many different jobs, but almost all of them had a common theme- they were focused on service to people in some way.

You can start living from a sense of purpose today. If you want to experience peace, be peaceful with others. If you want to experience love, share love with others. If you want to change the experiences you’ve been having at work or in a relationship, BE the change you want. Waiting for others to change before you can be happy will result in eternal waiting!

To get more in touch with your own sense of purpose, set aside a half hour or more when you won’t be disturbed. Have a journal nearby to write in. Put on some relaxing music and meditate for several minutes. Then begin to write spontaneously about your purpose. See what emerges after writing for about 10 or 15 minutes. You can also use a technique pioneered by author Luca Cappachione, right hand- left hand dialog. We have access to “right brain” wisdom by using our non-dominant hand to answer questions posed by the dominant hand (the one we normally use.) So, to have a dialog with your Inner Wisdom, with your dominant hand, write: What is my purpose? Switch the pen or pencil to your other hand, and without thinking, let it write and answer. Continue going back and forth with your questions and answers. You may be surprised at the wisdom and direction that emerges!