How to “Find” Your Purpose

How to “Find” Your Purpose

“Life without passion would be a dull wasteland of neutrality, cut off and isolated from the richness of life itself.” - Daniel Goleman

Passion and Purpose are our main focus here at Pure Impressions this month. Regarding both, the #1 searches are people asking how to find them! That makes sense. It is easy to get cut off from what truly makes us fulfilled in this high-tech, high-distraction, high-stress day and age. Rest easy. If you’ve lost your purpose (or never even knew what it was), you can make your way back to it. We’re here to talk about how.

Purpose means what you are here to do. (It is very intertwined with passion, but not quite the same thing. More on passion in another post.) You probably have more than one main purpose in life.

The first thing to realize is that your purpose is not “out there.” You don’t have to go find it. Your purpose exists within you. It’s not something you have to catch or snare. Think of it more as connecting with your purpose. Some people feel they need to go on huge vision quests - wander in the mountains, fast for 40 days, or do a plant medicine ceremony. None of those things are wrong, but they’re probably unnecessary to connect with your purpose.

Essentially, to “find” your purpose, you need to get good at three things:

Get good at noticing.

Scientists are basically really good noticers. They spend a lot of time noticing responses to stimuli. I want you to do the same thing in your own life. Start to notice what lights you up. That is, what makes time fly by? What makes your heartbeat quicken? What makes your eyes sparkle? What makes you impassioned? What tugs on your heart strings?

Get good at being still.

In order to do all that noticing, you’ve got to create the right conditions. Generally that means slowing down or stopping (your body AND your mind) completely to listen. Most people rush around all day long, and then immediately turn on the TV or start scrolling their phones when they get a chance to rest. This leaves no room for observation. The best insights come through when we are still. If this feels uncomfortable for you, try these baby steps: 

• Wake up ten minutes early to do nothing except drink your coffee and look out the window. Don’t clean up the kitchen, don’t start breakfast, don’t pick up your phone. Just be.
• Before you drive home (or before you drive to work), take five minutes in your car to sit and breathe. No TV, no phone, no other people. Set a timer and just be.
• Take a walk without headphones. Listen to the sounds of nature and nothing else. Resist the urge to make to-do lists in your head. Just walk and be.

Get good at following through.

All your stillness and observations, over time, will likely lead to some pretty profound epiphanies. Your job now is to follow through on them. Trust that little voice that says, 

“I REALLY want to sign up for a yoga class!”

“I’m ready to adopt a dog from the shelter.”

“What if I signed up for this online course?”

“I’m craving chocolate.” (YES, this is valuable information! 😆)

 The more you follow through, the more information will come back to you. A series of observations and follow throughs could lead to all kinds of purpose for you, small or large!

Some examples of Purpose others have found by listening and observing:

To be that person who always compliments others.
To start a farm for rescued animals.
To build a business.
To feng shui their home.
To feed their family healthy meals.
To make life easier/more pleasant for a particular someone.

As you can see, purpose can be huge and life-altering, AND it can be tiny shifts in day-to-day life. Aren’t you excited to see what comes up for you?

 

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Since we were little we were told about all the things we couldn't do.