How to Discover Your Purpose
With 2018 coming to a close and a new year to come, it never hurts to think about what you desire in the new and how to spread your unique gift out in the world. Yes, you have one, we all do. Don’t doubt it.
So, why are we here?
What’s the purpose? What’s your purpose?
What are you here to do?
I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I did appreciate the below statement that speaks to them.
“We are here to help people. We are here to learn how to grow in wisdom. We are here to heal ourselves and others. We are here to help birth peace in the world. We are here to love and be loved. We are here to radiate kindness…..or hope…or happiness.”
-Katherine Woodward Thomas
Each of us will deliver our gifts and experience this life differently. We each play a unique role and spread our purpose or “calling” to this world in our own individual way.
Sometimes the roles we play via the job title we hold is in alignment with the greater mission we have for this life, and sometimes it isn’t. This calling or purpose isn’t always reflected in what your work for monetary purposes is. For some of us our career path and soul calling merges and for others of us it shows up as two different things. Either works.
I will go a step further and say that if you can tap into your true authenticity and bring it to your current daily role, whatever it may be, you will find your way to your bigger purpose. I believe that consistently revealing your authenticity will carve the pathway to your bigger purpose. This bigger purpose or “soul calling” isn’t necessarily fancy. I think many of us get caught in thinking that it needs to be, which it does not. It just has to be rooted in truth and, most importantly, your truth.
For some of us this soul calling might bring us grand attention and for others of us this calling may not be so obvious to others. It actually doesn't matter. What matters is that you’re doing what feels true to you, regardless of what the image of your role reflects to the outer world. What matters is how you feel in the role you’re playing and being.
How can we tap into our calling?
“Discovering our soul’s purpose is rarely an event, although epiphanies do happen. More often than not, it’s a process that requires patience and perseverance. In order to discover it, you’ll want to pay attention to what stirs your passion, lights you up, and just comes naturally. When you are living inside your souls purpose, you are often in flow. You’re not that concerned about how much money you are, or are not, making. You feel alive, useful, of service and a part of all that is.”
-Katherine Woodward Thomas
What’s that thing that you do where time stops and you get lost in the moment of engagement? What’s that thing that you always think about doing, but seem to find a reason why you “can’t” or “shouldn’t” do it now?
Friends……that’s exactly where you should look.
Begin this journey of finding your souls calling by following and engaging in the things that make you feel uncomfortable. That thing that you can’t figure out or imagine, yet desire. I suppose I’m encouraging you to go toward The Dream, your dream.
What’s your dream? What do you want? What are you drawn toward?
Begin by looking deeper into these questions. Begin by seeking your own answers to these questions.
Take notice of what you talk about doing and evaluate if it matches what you’re actually doing.
When we’re operating in alignment with our truth and bigger calling, what we say we’re going to do and what we actually do are congruent, meaning it’s in alignment. We all know the talker that “some day” will do “all the things.” We might also know the person who talks and, soon enough, does what they say.
We trust the person whose words matches their actions.
When it all comes down to it, it’s just a clear decision that deciphers these two ways of living in the world. It’s a choice to live in a way where you do what you say.
We hear this all the time: Go toward what scares you. Go toward your fear. The true adventurer and seeker is the person that actually goes toward the fear. Limitless possibilities will appear for the person who is willing to tolerate the discomfort that it takes to go beyond fear. Even if you make it beyond the fear, there’s still timing at play. Good things can take time. Things don’t always look as we expect them too. ( Isn’t this the truth.) Yet, being brave enough to push fear aside and continue on will reward you; I just can’t tell you when or how.
“Each one of us enters this world called to fulfill a particular destiny. For many of us, this calling lies just beyond our conscious awareness, and often, beckons us with a sense of restlessness and dissatisfaction.”
-Katherine Woodward Thomas
Your true calling can only be ignored for so long. Eventually the resistance of acknowledging it’s presence will become too loud and uncomfortable to ignore. As much as this can be a frustrating experience, your emotions are present to push you toward the role you’re here to play and BE.
Allow the discomfort to push you and trust that life is happening in your favor, even though it might not look or feel like it at times.
Cheers to a new year coming…….
*Blog image by photographer, Amy Lynn Bjornson
How to Tap Into Your Intuition
When your intuition speaks; Listen.
When your gut instinct kicks in; Pay Attention.
It will do you much justice in this life to reintroduce yourself to your inner knowing. Your intuition. Your gut instinct. Tuning into this natural part of your make up will pave the way toward living a life that is aligned with your unique essence. Practicing and then honing your intuition will help you make choices that connect you toward your truth.
Without cultivating the art of listening to your inner world, it’s only natural to look outward for your answers. Ultimately you have to make your own choices and live with the consequences of those choices. This is how you learn. Even when you do act on the advice of others, the consequences of those actions will always be yours. Ultimately, there's no escaping self responsibility in this life.
Learning tends to be more impactful when you're in the front lines, making the decisions and bearing the consequences of those decisions. This is why it's valuable for you to take the time to get in tune and in touch with the inner workings of fabulous you.
A habit of consistently looking to others for your answers will disable your ability to hear your inner voice. Once that connection is diminished, your ability to trust yourself will shut down. This will make it difficult to make decisions that are true for you. If your inner compass is not functioning properly, the results in your life will match that disfunction.
After all, an action always follows a reaction.
With that said, if you're feeling disconnected from your inner voice, here are some tips to help you tap back into your intuition:
Ask Questions
Ask questions; Questions answer.
Let me remind you for a moment that you're not always "supposed" to know what to do. There are times when the empty space between knowing what to do and taking an action is required. It's, often, just not very comfortable, which is why we avoid it.
There's a lesson within this quiet space that can add to your character if you allow it. That space is where the virtues of patience and trust have the opportunity to grow. The quiet space is a chance for you to practice allowing, flow and letting go of your human mind control. This is often hard for us to give up because it leaves us in unknown territory, which we tend to hate. For some of us it's too scary, so we do many things to avoid it. We become chronically busy. We numb out. We do anything to feel more in control. These actions diminish any learning and, ultimately, delay what we're really desiring in our lives.
With that said, instead of being in the drivers seat of life, let go by asking outward. Ask questions. It's natural when we don't know where to go in life, that we ask a question. "Hey, where's the bathroom?" Take that very logical question and apply it to something that's not tangible. "Hey, where should I live?" "What career path fits me best?" "What romantic partner is best suited for me?"
Ask who? Just ask. Put the question out there. Verbalize it. Say it out loud. Ask who your heart wants to ask a question too. This could be a past loved one. The Universe. Buddha. God. Whoever that higher source is for you.
When you become open and vulnerable enough to begin asking these deeper and, possibly, intimidating questions, you will get answers. They will show up in different forms, but if you remain aware and open, you will get a sense of direction.
Here's a great general question to ask with any situation that may be pulling at your heart:
“What's the best choice that I can make in this moment for both myself and all involved?”
Bottom line is to get in the habit of asking inwardly and to something higher. It can greatly help you find direction.
Follow the Bread Crumbs
Life is constantly putting situations, people and events in your life to guide you. Pay attention to this. Follow the breadcrumbs that life is constantly dropping in your path.
Get Quiet
Slow down while making sure that you're doing the things that you need to do in order to feel peaceful.
Meditate, run, jump in the ocean, take pictures, go on a trip, ground your feet in the earth, go to karate, listen to music, cook a badass dinner, visit with a friend. Whatever you need to do for yourself in order to feel grounded and pulled together will help you quiet the noise. Discover what grounds you and brings peace to your heart and do it consistently.
Get Out of Your Head
Stop trying to figure it out. Life is not math. There is no “correct” or “fixed” way of how to approach situations. I would point you more toward tapping into elements such as grace, trust and flow. Get out of your head and into your heart. The voice from your head is often loud and intrusive, your heart is softer and speaks with a very different energy. Tapping into your heart will help you hear the messages it speaks.
“Cease trying to work everything out with your minds, it will get you nowhere. Live by intuition and inspiration and let your whole life be a revelation.”
*Blog image by Amy Lynn Bjornson, San Diego based Lifestyle & Wedding Photographer.
What Does "Following Your Truth" Mean? (Breaking It Down)
(*If you haven't read Part 1, you might want to check out the previous post as this blog is a continuation of that.)
If you’re playing smaller than you’re meant to in this life, I have some ideas that are designed to give you new energy and perspectives. Fresh perspectives can help us clear out old noise in order to bring in the new.
Your new mantra: No more playing small; Start going after what you want.
Below find the steps to hone in order to cultivate the life you want:
Acknowledge It
Acknowledge it. Be aware of what you're doing. Own that you've gotten into a habit of playing small.
Do your best to be self aware, yet patient and kind to yourself. Remember; You are where you are in your life, which is not wrong, it just is. Your story and thoughts around where you are is what’s either working for you and bringing joy to your experience or not. You’re always attracting from where you're at, so if your idea about where your life is at in this moment is negative, yup, you guessed it, you're bringing more of that vibe toward you.
Practicing acceptance and refraining from judging your current reality will push you out of a critical space and into a flow of movement. It always helps me to reflect on the perspective that life is not about getting to a specific destination. It’s a journey. When we can own where we’re at and find peace with our situation, organically, opportunities, people and things have a way of coming into our experience.
Make a Choice
Making a clear decision to tend to and face an area of your life that has been under the radar is a feat in itself. It’s a game changer. Any time that we make a clear choice in life is powerful.
“To decide and pick something is to move out of indecision, which brings flow and change. Choosing to face an area of your life that you’ve been avoiding will lead to change, simply because you’re giving it energy”
It’s like anything that’s been neglected and starts receiving attention: It will begin to grow, thrive, blossom and has the platform to live up to it's full potential. Allowing the blood to start pumping back into an area of your life that you’ve been neglecting will bring new opportunities toward you. It all starts with a clear decision.
Use your Triggers for Momentum
Every person coming into your life presents you with an opportunity to learn, especially the people that trigger you. As I've mentioned before, very often when someone triggers us, there can be something that their behavior is reflecting for us to do some inner work with. By asking self reflective questions you switch the focus off the other person and make the trigger about your opportunity to understand YOU, not them, and in doing so you can become more self aware.
Revive
If you’ve been in the habit of hiding and avoiding, allowing yourself to partake in some “freshening up” in order to clear out the noise that's been holding you back is a must do. Some life moments require freshening up in order for you to reset and feel better. Doing what you need to do for yourself to clean up your energy and clear out bad vibes is so empowering. Tap into what that looks like for you. Do you need to workout, eat healthy, adjust your sleeping schedule, lay off alcohol, go to yoga, find your chi, talk with a close friend, get submerged in nature, go surf? The point is: Do your thing. Do the things you need to do for yourself in order to feel good. Only you know what those things are. Go after them.
Own your Way
There’ s no script or right way in life. Own the way your life is going based on the choices that you’ve made. Be weary of regrets. You made choices in your past based on who you were in that specific time and space in your life. It’s common for us to look back and see our decisions differently from our perspective in the now, although, trusting that your life is leading you in some sort of direction is important to feel more at peace. Practice feeling good about where you’re at in your life now. It's okay to want things that you don’t have.........yet. It’s also important to focus on what you have versus your perceived lack of what you don’t have in order to find peace in the now. Own what's happening in your experience now. Trust it.
Have Fun
Give yourself a break and trust the process. Relax. Have fun. Get out of your head and into your body and heart.
If you generally find that you have a fixed perspective, do your best to get out of your own way by loosening up and staying open to new ways of being. Practice saying “Yes” to something you would normally say “No” too. Try something new without thinking so hard about it and planning it out. Just go. Just do. Get caught up in the excitement of something and be aware of when logic pops in and begins tearing down an idea. Laugh, flow, allow, loosen and be in this temporary moment of your life. Let go and have fun. The power of fun and play is totally underrated in this adult life. Tap back into it.
No more hiding from the things you want and desire for yourself. My intention with this post was to offer you some ways to “try on” in order for you to come out and be seen. There are people waiting to experience you. Life has opportunities and possibilities waiting for you, but you have to dust off and appear before they can show up.
* The above image was taken by San Diego Photographer, Renata Amazonas.