I smile to myself when I ask this question (I’ve asked it a lot in my life) because I’m just now starting to answer it for myself… and it is not the answer I expected to hear.
I’m a writer and graphic designer. I use to believe that was significant because… if that’s what I do then it must mean something about who I am.
We’re all looking to identify ourselves. Looking for that one thing that we can say, “This is me. I AM this.”
I am a teacher. I am a mother. I am a volunteer. I am a good friend. I am, I am, I am.
Throughout my life I’ve searched for something that would define me and show me the path I was meant to take. I always thought that, if I just found that one thing, then life would sail by and I’d be happy, content, at peace… because I would have found that one thing that I was meant to do.
My purpose in life.
I believed I had found that in writing… I love to write! I get to have adventures every day, I get to share some of the insights I’ve learned, my schedule is my own and people have to listen to what I tell them (albeit, imaginary people but still).
It seemed to fit very neatly into my pre-defined box of a ‘life purpose.’ writing fulfilled all those requirements I listed above… all those things that I thought would make up MY PATH.
But…
Is that what I am? Am I a writer?
My heart echoed back to me a loud and resounding, “No!”
A writer isn’t who I am. It doesn’t define me. It is merely an expression of myself. When I write I am showing a portion of my personal truth, my life purpose… but I do not end or begin as a writer.
And that’s when it hit me…
We can’t become anything to live our life’s purpose. We can’t learn a new skill or meet/ fall in love with a certain person or try to be anything more than what we are. We often look outside ourselves and hope that that something out there will lead to our life’s purpose. It won’t… ever. Because our life’s purpose is already inside us, whisper into our ear every day.
You were born with your life’s purpose already inside you.
You are everything that you need to fulfill what you were meant to do.
When I was a young girl I had a massively active imagination. I was always thinking up stories where I was the hero and I would go on grand adventures to save the world. My adventures usually had a hard and arduous journey where I had to stretch and grow and learn and give more of myself than I ever thought possible but, in the end, I would slay the dragon and rescue my knight in shining armor. (I was always the one doing the rescuing. Go girl-power!)
I made up these stories, as a child, because I believed—fervently believed deep down in my heart—that life was meant to be more. More than school, more than a job, more than a house… more than just existing.
That young girl believed that we are each sent here for a purpose, and that purpose is meant to be grand adventure. That life is to be experienced and fought for and lived till you’ve rung out every last drop. As a child it led to me to slay dragons, have magical powers and dream of places far away where amazing miracles happened every day and a no-body from no-where could still go out and conquer all.
Then I grew up…
But I never stopped believing in that core truth about my world. That we are meant to do more than just exist.
It is my personal truth to caress, squeeze, tease, pull and coerce every speck of life out of the time that has been given to me. I want to expand so far beyond myself that I stretch to the breaking point. I want to purge and purge and purge some more until all that is left surrounding me is life and love.
How does this help you with your life’s purpose?
Here’s my thought…That above statement about my personal truth? That is my life’s purpose.
It is not something I needed to learn or find… I’ve always had it all along. It is me. It is the message my soul was born with and that I am compelled to live.
I cannot become my life’s purpose. I have to simply let go and be it.
To say you need to find your purpose or your path implies that you lack something and that, at a future point in time, that thing you lack will be given to you and then you can start to live the life you’ve always dreamed of.
But you don’t lack anything. You’re purpose is already with you. What you need to do is find it and then focus all your power, all your energy, all your thoughts and imagination on being what you are.
No one can take it away from you and you won’t find it outside of yourself. It’s been with you since birth, instilled inside your form when you were just ether and spirit. You may have picked it out yourself before you were even conceived inside the womb… because it comes from the Infinite Source that surrounds us all.
You were meant to live this way in your truth.
When I act from my personal truth I am walking my life’s path. When I express my personal truth I am completing my life’s purpose… and that can be expressed in an infinite number of ways.
I do not need to be a writer (or to always be writing) to have a purpose in life. Writing is merely an expression of me… of my purpose (it isn’t the purpose). A thing (or job, or child, or significant other) will not give your life purpose. You are the only one who can do that.
When I’m not walking in my personal truth—my life’s purpose I can feel it. It feels wrong or like something is off. Usually I get this when I start to be driven by fear or need— like a better job because I want more money or security.
I felt it every day when I had a ‘normal’ job in a office and went home to the giant house I bought with my husband because it ‘was a good investment.’
But that was not my life’s purpose. So it never brought me what I really want… which is the feeling of life and love (for what I am doing, for who I am with and for myself).
My mission now… my purpose in life after I have discovered my personal truth, is to commit to walking that every day. The best way I can bring about the life I want to live is to honor my life’s purpose by always trying to be who I am…
Which all starts with love for myself and respect for that path. After that everything else will fall into place… and it will finally start to feel right.
What’s Your Purpose in Life – Thoughts to Help You Along Your Journey:
Ready to discover (or uncover) what your core life purpose is?
Ask yourself these questions:
What were you like as a child, before the world ladled expectations and fears onto you? What did you believe and live for as a child? Before the people around you told you that you couldn’t be or do something or that life had to be a certain way. What have you always believed in or acted upon?
What aches in your soul to be free?
What is inside you that is never quiet? When does it sing?
What wants to come through you?
It isn’t a ‘thing’ – like a job or a title – it is a feeling. It comes from that place deep in your subconscious. Your subconscious mind had no capacity for language so it communicated with you through emotions and feeling.
Pause to listen to it—because it knows. You know. Your life’s purpose is buried inside you. And it has been there all along.
Often times a lot of crap gets piled on top though and we have to dig to find it again (like buried treasure). We have grown up and forgotten that gift that we were born with. And it may not turn out to be what you think (because your logical brain will come up with a million other things that should be important to your life).
Remember that it is all about how you feel.
Dig. Journal. Dig. Journal. Dig some more.
When ever you come up with a “ah-ha!” moment ask yourself, “Am I this?” Then train yourself to say, “No.” and ask again, “What am I?”
When I completed this exercise for myself I came down to my final answer:
I am love.
Living, breathing, vibrant, intense, crazy, happy, sensual, booty-shaking love. And as long as what I am doing falls within me (and my love)… I am walking the path I was made for. I am living my life’s purpose.
Live hard my friends!
Olivia
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