Life Purpose 101
I was doing my daily reading and a statement caught my attention:
“My goal is to become the person I need to be to create the success, freedom, and quality of life that I truly want.” Hal Elrod
So, I thought to myself, exactly what kind of person DO I need to be to create that? Here are my thoughts on that. I don’t think most of us intend to not be successful in life. I think, when we don’t do certain things on a daily basis, we slowly erode away from whom we’re meant to fully be and slip into a mediocre version of ourselves who lives day to day, never really examining if the path we’re on is satisfying or likely to lead us to the success we say we want.
You might be wondering what I think those “certain things” are that we need to do every day in order to create our ideal life. The overall “thing” is to be living in alignment with our life purposes. I pluralized that because I think we can have multiple life purposes and they can morph and change as we grow through our lives. For example, a while back I rewrote my life purposes and here’s what they were at that time:
Guiding and supporting others to become their most authentic, highest vibration versions of themselves.
To have a place where people can come to rest, rejuvenate, and become closer to Spirit and their real self.
To be a steward for this spiritual portal and raise it to a new level.
To mentor future generations on living their full lives of meaning.
Interesting to note another brilliant statement from Hal Elrod, the gist of which is this: When I am committed to my life purposes that are bigger than any problems I encounter, those problems become relatively insignificant and I will overcome them with ease. Love this! It reminds me of an old saying, “If you have a problem and you upset yourself about it, then you have two problems!” Again, the keen eye kept on the ultimate life purpose allows us to move more easily through the flotsam and jetsam that comes up in life. For example from my past: someone backed into my driver’s door in a parking lot rendering the door unusable. so for 4 weeks I climbed across through the passenger door in order to drive, while waiting for the other person’s insurance company and the repair shop to work through how this was going to get handled. Now this could have been a really upsetting and off-putting event, but I chose to look at it with humor (won’t be wearing any pencil skirts for a while!) and it really didn’t slow me down too much.
The important point from the above paragraph is keeping your eye focused on the goal, your life purpose, so as to not get knocked off your path. So, what happens if one doesn’t articulate or keep focused on a life purpose? We tend to wander off, further and further adrift from our purpose, feeling less and less satisfied with life, becoming more irritable, prone to addictive behaviors, and wasting our valuable time here on Earth in pointless endeavors (how many hours of TV do YOU watch a day?) If that last sentence made you wince a bit, good. Now let’s talk about what you can do about it.
First, just take a minute to write down all of the people, things, activities you LOVE.
Second, list all of the causes, movements, beliefs that you espouse.
Third, look at all the potential ways you can serve those in your life day-to-day.
I’m going to borrow my friend, Donna, as an example here. Donna worked a long, hard job at one of the local mills in Green Bay. That was her job, it paid the bills, it was not what she loved. She loved animals and she loved card-making. She combined those two loves into an endeavor that brought her great joy and satisfaction. She made cards for animal rescues which they auctioned off to raise money for their rescues. She also sent packets of cards to veteran’s groups to be distributed to those who were wounded and recovering. How’s that for creating a life purpose?!
Your life purpose doesn’t have to be what you earn your living doing. It doesn’t even have to be what you spend a ton of time doing. Your life purpose is something that moves you heart and soul, mind-body-spirit, toward becoming the person you need to be to create the life you want to be living.
So I challenge you to write down a few of your life purposes and carry them with you. Look at them several times a day. I have mine posted on my computer below the keyboard, stuck to the cover of my planner, on the dashboard in my car, and on my wallet. They’re always there for me to reference and reflect upon. It really helps me stay focused on what I’m here to do and not succumb to the pull of daily life events.
Here’s to you becoming the person you need to be to live more fully your life purposes!