“Don’t worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
― Howard Thurman
“The best advice I have is: Don’t think ‘What is my life purpose?’ think about ‘exploring’ purpose and ‘connecting’ with it. Take the pressure off.”
3 Tips to get Started on Connecting With Purpose*
1. Reflect on How You Are Wired
What do you value? Can you list your core values? Have you every taken a personality quiz, and if yes, what did you learn about yourself? What are your top skills? Overall, how connected are you right now to how you tick? (A.K.A. How you are wired.)
2. Reflect on How You are Inspired
When was the last time you were super-stoked to be in the moment? When was the last time you were proud? What brings you inspiration? What are you passionate about? (A.K.A. How you’re inspired.)
3. Draw a Venn Diagram of Wired & Inspired
Taking time to reflect on how you are wired, how you’re inspired and the overlapping region between these two, is where you get to explore your sense of purpose.
4. Meditate
… because some questions can’t be answered by Google!
5. Pay Attention
Once you embark on this journey of exploring how you are wired and how you’re inspired, if you pay attention, you’ll start to notice the things that light you up, the things you enjoy, how you tick, and more.
*This blog post addresses the sense of purpose we have as humans… You know, frolicking around in our biological spacesuits… Interestingly, according to Pew Research, 90% of adults in the USA believe in the afterlife. For that 90% they likely ponder a larger-than-life purpose: a spiritual purpose. From a spiritual perspective then, purpose can be quite simple: The foundation of everything (even the universe) is conscious awareness, described (based on NDE research) with such words as boundless, love, timeless, warmth, compelling, home, etc. Taken as the foundational truth (love), the spiritual purpose for us earthlings could perhaps then be articulated simply as:
“I’m here to expand what already exists within my consciousness and that of everyone around me (love)… to connect to the beautiful, perfect energy inside us all… Seeing from a place of love, expansion, kindness, compassion, and non-judgement. I’m here to shine love into the world and into others. To amplify the one truth that is love, and to call back to love anything which has been imprinted with the energy of anything other than love. I am here to serve, to amplify and breathe life and love and joy to all around me.”