[Note: This is an updated article originally posted in March 2015]
Many people are much closer to living their life purpose than they think. Yet there’s a myth that can blind us to our deeper purpose …
The faulty thinking goes something like this: “I just need to know exactly what I’m here to do. Then when it’s clear to me, I can successfully live my life purpose and fulfill my mission.” Here’s the problem. Your purpose isn’t an exact thing to do. It’s not one narrow, fixed task you are meant to accomplish.
Let’s explore this myth about life purpose a bit more so we can be free from its spell.
Your life purpose lets you live deeply, breathe deeply — and you can turn even your life into a work of art.
[Note: The above video is from our weekly “Circle of Light and Love” Show on Facebook. We do it weekly live at Sunday 9am pst. Live and past shows can be found here.]
Your purpose creates a a life rich with meaning and connection, for yourself and others’ benefit.
As you are guided by a deeper purpose, you live as a meaningful specific, rather than a wandering generality, as Zig Ziglar noted. You are motivated from within, not following the dictates of others.
In short, your purpose is precious and invaluable. Let’s examine five crucial parts of being on purpose and the wonderful life it will create for you.
We live in a mental, scientific-dominant world. This costs-and-benefits world, where things must be physically measurable, has helped us make progress – but there are problems and limitations. Yes holistic-minded people and practitioners are aware of this needed balance. Yet too often the heart is undervalued. It just remains at the knowledge level, not really …
How blissful are you? And for that matter, what is “bliss”?
Like happiness, bliss can be a feeling (“I’m feeling blissful”) as well as a state of awareness (“I am in bliss”).
Joseph Campbell, renown scholar and author, famously gave the advice to “follow your bliss.” He connected this intention to the hero’s journey and following your deeper passion.
To put things in perspective, a blissful journey sometimes is fun and spontaneous. It can also involve challenges, with no easy fixes or instant gratification.
In this context, following your bliss means engaging your body-mind-spirit with goals larger-than-self.
The Alchemy of Bliss
Let’s examine further the different, jewel-like facets of bliss. Bliss is a transcendent flow – it allows you to let life flow though you. It’s a heartfelt mixture of happiness, joy, wonder and more.
Bliss also has a strong unconditional element to it. It’s not conditional, like “I’m only happy when I’m ____ [with my friends, partner, family].
Yes bliss recognizes preferences — but does not get attached to them: “I’d prefer being with him, but I’m good being by myself now.”
Bliss is the master converter and alchemist, truly making lemonades out of lemons. It also savors the sweet moments, the triumphant moments, and the quiet moments.
We’ve had an eventful year in 2022 and look forward to this new year! We’d like to share some of our top 2022 articles (with accompanying videos) from our award-winning Holistic Life Coach Blog: The titles of the article link to the full article. The One-Step Miracle What’s a miracle hidden in plain sight? It’s …
Is your soul calling you? … Yes, it is – so then the question becomes: Are you listening? At first, the messages may seem like an inkling, or perhaps a glimpse. “Maybe I just imagined it,” you might say, part dismissively, part wondering.
Yet by paying attention to the promptings from your deeper self, your life takes on a different quality, with more meaning and depth.
Two Important Questions
A central theme to life is waking up. This awakening leads to two important questions: What are you waking up to, and what are you doing prior to awakening?
Which of the following scenarios is more inviting?
You struggle in a dog-eat-dog world, continually trying to be on top of things. Life becomes a daily survival of the fittest. Or…
You know that you live in an inclusive world, where everything is connected. You learn from the challenges, creatively and compassionately problem-solve and live your heart’s desires.
The first scenario illustrates existing on the Competitive Plane. The second one gives a taste of the Creative Plane. More on these important terms in a moment.
A helpful way to understand yourself is to observe how you operate, what model of reality you tend to use. Said differently, what is your framework? How do you orient yourself to being in the world?
Here is a great clarification for this important topic. Over a century ago, Wallace Wattles described the Creative and Competitive Planes in his classic works The Science of Getting Rich and The Science of Being Great.
These “planes” are states of mind that govern our thoughts and actions. They determine our way of being and how we show up in the world.
What lights you up? What brings a smile to your face, straightens your posture, makes you lean forward and ready to go?
Our dear friend and colleague Micah Blacklight discussed activating your creative spirit on a past Soulful Living Show. He emphasized finding ways to embody a space that lights you up, which serves yourself and others. This light-you-up spot is the “happy point, the juice.”
The phrase “what lights you up” contains many wonderful elements. Let’s unpack four of its treasures, so we can use them to create an extraordinarily fulfilling life.
As a note, know that the “lighting up” can come from within or without. Internally, we may get sparked by a thought, feeling, memory or energy state. Externally, we might connect with a person, place, event or thing.
What lights you up has all of the following elements:
Two things are required to awaken in this lifetime: opening your mind and your heart.
As you open your heart and mind, wonderful things happen to you.
With an open mind and heart, life becomes a wondrous adventure, one of continuous learning and creating. You are able to be more in the moment ─ and notice more of the synchronicities that surround you.
On the other hand, when the mind and heart are closed, our view is limited. These blinders reduce emotions to constrictive ones, like fear, doubt, and anger.
It’s essential to open both the heart and mind. A too-open heart can cause you to be naïve and overly trusting. You lack discernment and can be the fool rushing in where angels fear to tread.
On the other hand, if your mind is open but your heart isn’t active, then you may become overly mental and analytical. You know things but are lacking a feeling about them. Feelings may be hard to fathom and identify. You can grow detached from life and love.
As a note, for this article we are speaking of the mind that connects with source, not the physical brain, which filters the mind’s thoughts and energies. The mind uses the brain to communicate with the physical body.
We are also speaking of the spiritual heart here, not just the anatomical heart. The spiritual heart is a bridge to the soul and spirit. It opens us to the timeless realms ─ this connection then sends a transmission so we can be more in our body and present to our experience.
Here are a few suggestions for opening your mind and heart.