Do you ever feel like there is more you are meant to be doing with your life? Perhaps you have a clear sense of what it is, but there is always something that seems to get in the way of you actually doing it (or doing it fully). Or maybe you have just a vague nagging sense that you are not fulfilling your potential.
My Story
From a young age, I had a clear sense that I was meant to be of service to others. This led me on an exploration of different ways to fulfill that purpose, including spending close to a decade working on international human rights issues in conflict zones in Asia and the Middle East.
In 2004, I had an internal crisis that led me to question my purpose. I was working in Indonesia at the time, and the area where we had been accompanying human rights activists was under martial law. Internationals had been kicked out, and we were reporting on the human rights abuses from afar. We felt helpless to do anything, and tensions within the team were high. After months of this, I developed repetitive stress injury in my arm, and eventually had to leave to take care of my health.
I went into a period of deep questioning: if this was what I was meant to be doing, why hadn’t I felt that sense of cosmic alignment and ease I get when I’m on the right path? I started meditating, doing yoga, and studying Chinese Medicine to heal my body, while continuing to work in the human rights field, this time in Nepal. During a process of soul searching, I eventually took a leap of faith in 2010, and moved to the East Bay. It has been an ongoing journey of clearing blocks and coming into ever deeper connection with my soul’s guidance.
These are some tips that I learned along the way, along with a guided meditation to help you get in touch with your life purpose.
Connecting to Your Inner Wisdom
The first step to living your life purpose, is to be connected to your own wisdom. This might be through guides or having a gut feeling which you follow. You might get support from others in the process, but ultimately you want to be able to access your own information. Some of my favorite methods include automatic writing, movement, meditation, being out in nature, and through body awareness. I have learned to pay attention the moment my body contracts, because that’s its way of telling me that something isn’t right. I discovered the hard way that each time I’m not paying attention, or I override my own no, it gets more and more difficult to access my intuition.
How do you connect to your intuition? Do you have a clear sense of your yes and your no? What happens when you override your own guidance?
Asking Your Knowing
This may take some time, but once you feel clear about how you connect to your own intuition, you can practice with small daily decisions. When that feels comfortable, ask yourself: what is my life purpose? This might be during a meditation, working out, driving, being out in nature, or through a form of creative expression. And just see what comes to you. You might get a felt sense of it, hear words, or see images. Whatever it is, just let it come to you. It may come to you right away, or it may be a process that unfolds over days, weeks, months, or even years. The main thing is to trust the information you get. Often, we are expecting something earth shattering. But it might be very simple. In my experience, our life purpose is more often about our being-ness and the qualities we embody, than anything we might do.
Intention Setting
The next step to living your life purpose is intentionality. While this has become a buzz-word, especially in spiritual circles, I have found it to be one of the keys to fulfilling my potential. It is all too easy to get caught up in distractions and the mundanity of daily living. Your intention might be to get clearer about your life purpose.
In the morning, I set an intention for the qualities I want to embody that day. At the end of the day, I review my day for what I am grateful for. When I forget to do this, I find it is much easier to take the things I have for granted, and to focus only on what isn’t right about my life.
Knowing your Saboteur
The closer we are to living our life purpose, the more likely it is that our protective strategies kick in. This is because somewhere along the way, we learned that it wasn’t safe for us to be all we could be. We fear ridicule, failure, or punishment if we are too visible or don’t fit in with the mold. We may also have a strong fear of the unknown or of change, so that we hang onto what is familiar.
How do you know when you are in resistance? Do you start distracting, avoiding, or acting out in some way? Do you start focusing on others and what they should be doing differently? Once you start recognizing your inner resistance, you can begin to befriend it. What is it trying to tell you? Is it afraid? Does it want you to slow down? After you get a sense of what your saboteur is trying to achieve for you, you can send it gratitude for trying to protect you, even if its tactics may be a little outdated.
Living a self-actualized life is always a dance between setting intentions for yourself, and then letting go and surrendering to what is. In the end, living your life purpose is not about achieving something external, or becoming something you aren’t. It is about clearing the voices of doubt and fear so you can access more of what is there already. The following guided meditation is intended to help you get more fully in touch with your purpose. Enjoy the journey!
Guided Meditation for Finding Your Life Purpose
© Jenny Brav
