Life Purpose

Last year I was given a gift. One I didn't realize I would be so happy with, but without a doubt its been the best gift ever. That was the time when my husband asked for a divorce. Mind you it wasn't such a great gift because I was unhappy, more that I was unfulfilled and he had the clarity to see that we were both in that space and needed to go different paths to get there.

So, nearly 16 months ago I received the gift of going solo. It was perfect timing, for I'd been wrestling with wanting to do something different but had so many responsibilities I felt unable to take any kind of leap. With the time and space I was granted, I took very seriously the opportunity to figure things out...things like my life purpose. This has been no small feat, since there's no textbook answer on what it should be or how to determine it. There are a lot of opinions on it and I'm a libra - so I can jump sides pretty easily. That meant step one would be to do some initial research on the topic.

Some would say your life purpose is to do the work of God. Many have begun to shun the word religion and would say its to discover your own spirituality / connection and then life a good life accordingly. Still others would say the purpose of life is to live a full one. I say its to just be you - the real you, which admittedly does require soul searching of some kind. I'm still in the process and who knows, maybe its a life long pursuit. One thing I'm starting to wonder is whether or not we make it harder on ourselves than it needs to be. Of course, some parts of the journey have been fun - like my law of attraction vacation to Key West, quitting my job and taking a 6 month road trip :)

Other parts have been more on the interesting, eye opening level. In my search for what feels like the holy grail - I've hired a life coach, read the gamut of books and blogs, made lists, tried to uncover limiting beliefs, gone to energy healers, studied some eastern beliefs around the body-mind-soul connection and chakras, talked to intuitives, tried to understand the biological and quantum physics that play into spirituality and enlisted the help of a spiritual guidance counselor of sorts. I've also tried to find quiet time to be quiet and listen, I've asked questions right before going to sleep asking for answers, I've used my pray rain journal to spark future possibilities, I've made a bucket list, I've used the 5 why's method when asking myself what makes me happy and then analyzed it all to look for themes that may hint at my life purpose. I'm not sure if you get my drift - but I've been exploring a lot!

All that said, here's where I'm at now. I know that my life purpose involves travel, freedom, and sharing. Without a doubt those are precious values to me that repeatedly show up in my dreams and thoughts. What I don't know and am struggling with now is how to apply those in what I do for a living. That's the million dollar question - lemme know if you have the answer, I'll do what I can to settle up with you ;)

On one hand I'm sure you've heard sayings like, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." I and many others have translated that to mean figure out your life purpose and then do it for a living. Well, I'm starting to wonder if it works that way. In my 15 years in corporate training I was quite happy the vast majority of the time, but I can assure you that working for a financial institution isn't anywhere in my life purpose. I read a blog by Anna Conlan recently that discussed this very issue and helped me consider a middle ground. She suggests that our life purpose is expressed in three ways: at our soul level (deepest desires), in our personality (likes and dislikes), and what we do (job, hobbies, relationships). She further expands on them to say that by paying attention to clues, we can find ways to further incorporate our life purpose into daily activities. What I took from it was that we don't have to kill ourselves trying to create a perfect marriage between job and life purpose...it doesn't have to be an all or nothing situation. We can know our life purpose, see it reflected in our personal preferences, and tweak what we do to include more or different pieces of it. We can feel good that it will come through naturally in all that we do because its such an innate part of our core values. Or maybe we'll find the ideal work that is in fact that perfect marriage...I still believe in such possibilities you know.

As for me, I'm still working out how I feel about everything. There's so much information, both internally and externally, to sort out - it just takes time. I feel so blessed to have so much of that these days, as many in the corporate world know that a 40-hour week is anything but. I'm starting a 6-week teleclass in a couple of days that I plan to assist me in sorting out some of this stuff. You know, a number of people referred to my recent actions as a mid-life crisis and I took it as an insult (both because I'm no where near the halfway point and because I felt I had a better grip on my life than many others). Now that I've gotten some distance from that, I understand the reference a little better. I think part of our experience as humans will include questioning ourselves and our place at some point. Seems it usually happens a little later in life for many, maybe because they're so busy in their mid-30s with kids and such. Since I'm not on that particular train ride, I'm here now and given the avalanche of questions that has befallen me since cracking open Pandora's box - I now totally understand why its called a crisis. For the first time in my life there is a burning desire to be so honest with myself that I am willing to give up everything to find it...throw out the norms and make my own decisions for my own reasons and be damned if things have to change because of it. I am now 3 months into my 6 month trip and what I'll do when I'm "done" weighs heavily on my mind.

Regardless of where my answers take me from here - one thing I do know is that by being aware of my purpose will help ensure that my life will be LIVED...the rest will just have to fall in place behind it.