LET’S TALK SOUL’S PURPOSE

For a very long time, I agonized over the word PURPOSE…like, really agonized. My body would have an automatic negative response every time I hear some one say they were living theirs. I thought purpose was this the ultimate endpoint, something you achieved. Something you ticked off your list that signified a successful, fulfilling life.

The deeper I go into my own journey, which I’ll highlight below, the more I see this vision of purpose is actually wrong. It’s something that a combination of society and self constructed. Once I started seeing soul purpose through the lens I look at it through today, well, everything changed.

So, what am I talking about when I say SOUL PURPOSE?

Many of us will often associate purpose with the job we do or how we make money. Your purpose may have something to do your career, but it may not.

At the core of your soul’s purpose is the whole package of things that make up YOU. These are the gifts, talents, symbols, teachers, stories, experiences, beliefs, shadow, scars, wounds, and woes - from this lifetime and many before it. So, it’s easy to see why everyone’s purpose is completely unique to them.

MY OWN JOURNEY

Growing up, I saw a life ahead of me lined with career, financial, and relationship ‘SHOULDs’ which felt all wrong to me. I knew this couldn’t be it and there had to be something different in store for me. Like many of us, I muffled this inner voice and took the path most traveled. I completed a degree in something I wasn’t interested in, stepped into a career that was wrong for me, and married my future ex-husband. I completely ignored what my heart and soul were calling me to do. I learned quickly that you can ignore your inner guidance system for only so long before the rug will get pulled out from under you.

My marriage exploded, my heart broke wide open into a million pieces, and my life got turned upside down until I managed to course correct. I picked up and started a new life on the opposite side of Canada. I went inward, I broke down, I healed, I listened and I stepped into the person I was meant to be all along. For the first time, my true light began to shine brightly.

But, I started to get comfortable in the mundane routine of living the life I ‘should’, striving towards someone else’s definition of success. I became so disconnected from myself that I couldn’t hear my soul screaming “HECK NO!” as I accepted jobs that were completely out of alignment with my true calling. I shut my inner voice down for the price of a pay cheque. Life responded with a vengeance (are you starting to see the pattern yet?).

Subtle nudges I’ve been receiving from the universe turned into knee-buckling lessons. I was let go from THREE jobs that my soul had begged me not to take in the first place. I shed many tears and spent countless hours complaining about the position I was in. I looked EVERYWHERE for answers to what my purpose is, my passion, for what lit me up. At this point, I was so cut off from my body that I felt dead inside. I figured I must be one of those people with no passion.

I was, once again, forced to come to a screeching halt in order to tune in and listen. So, I thought the answers had to be out there somewhere. I spent countless hours googling how to find your purpose, taking online personality tests, hiring intuitive, registering for trainings, jumping from partner to partner. Heck, I even went to India, Southeast Asia, and New Zealand to see if the answers were there.

But the answers didn’t come. In fact, years later, the answers are still unfolding in small incremental ways, exactly how they are supposed to be.

Lessons from my journey

While on my own journey, it became glaringly clear that purpose as humans we evolve, as does our soul’s purpose. We gain clarity on that purpose through a process that can take a lifetime.

⟁ It’s about the JOURNEY

The biggest lesson that I’ve learned is that finding your purpose is, indeed, about the journey and NOT the destination. My purpose has unfolded in an imperfectly perfect way, just the way it is supposed to, and will continue to until I leave this physical body.

When I went to India and did my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, I thought, “This is it, I’m going to be a yoga teacher.” But, the further I went down that path, the more I realized it wasn’t the physical practice that I loved. It was the slow moving, spiritual and emotional side. It was when I felt connected to my body and my soul spoke to me. So, I followed that breadcrumb on my path, which lead me to continue to study Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Mindfulness Meditation, Reiki, and now Breathwork.

I can see now that these experiences and learnings are all pieces of a whole. They are tools in my toolbox that make up SOULBODY, that make up me - and that is living out my soul’s purpose.

⟁ It takes STILLNESS

I’ve spend years turning down the volume of my soul’s whispers and completely disconnecting my head from my heart and soul. I’ve lived from my head and not my heart. I was so disconnected from how my body communicated with me that I only saw lessons in hindsight, when my intuition was screaming at me the whole time. Finding that voice again has taken stillness, healing, trust, and space. This is why my meditation practice has become such an important part of my journey.

⟁ It takes CURIOSITY

I’ve learned that curiosity is the foundational building block of living our Soul’s Purpose. The curiosity to try new things, to explore old ideas, and to dig deep into your soul. Elizabeth Gilbert talks all about this in a recent podcast she did with Oprah, you can find that here.

⟁ It takes COURAGE

Living your soul’s purpose will require you to get messy and uncomfortable. It will require you to do things differently. And you know who doesn’t like that and will make it difficult? Your ego, your thinking brain. I once had a teacher tell me that if that purpose isn’t asking something of you or challenging you, you are still in your comfort zone. I’ve learned, however, that living your soul’s purpose doesn’t always require you to jump off a cliff without a safety net…unless that’s what you like to do. It takes courage to take one tiny step, then another, and another.

⟁ It takes ALIGNMENT

Moving in the direction of your soul’s purpose also requires maintaining DAILY ALIGNMENT. At the end of the day, all we want is to feel good. I have learned the more we put ourselves in a place of feeling good, the more the path to our soul’s purpose will illuminate. This doesn’t always have to be ‘work’ it could be as simple as doing things that your soul loves to do. For me, that’s moving my body daily, walking my dog, and going to the beach as often as possible. I find, when I do these things, I get spontaneous ‘hits’ of inspiration, wisdom, or a-ha’s, Pings as Lacy Phillips calls them.

⟁ It takes ACTION

I would love to tell you that the journey to your soul’s purpose is all feel good and fun. But, it’s not a journey at all unless you are moving. It takes action, regular and consistent action. How do you know if you like to do something or not if you’ve never tried it. If I had never gone to India to learn to teach yoga, I would never be in the exact place I am right now. Action doesn’t have to be travelling around the world. It could be something so small and insignificant that you snicker at it that it is so easy. It takes following the hints, clues, breadcrumbs that life is throwing at you and trusting that the path you are on is the right one.

Tony Robbins always says we overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade. Start taking steps. Right now. And commit to showing up daily.

⟁ It takes TRUST

As you start moving down the path of curiosity, courage, and action, the path to your soul’s purpose will illuminate itself. Trust it will and that you are supported. Sometimes, what you soul is calling you to do may not make sense to your rational brain. It is in the trusting that you strengthen the relationship with your soul and open the lines of communication that we’ve spent years, decades cutting off.

⟁ It takes SOFTENING

Softening goes hand-in-hand with trusting. It is letting go of the firm grip we keep on a particular outcome and allowing what is will unfold to do just that. It is surrendering. Allowing space for expansion and clarity. You can read more on What it means to Soften here.

Are you interested in uncovering your own SOUL’s Purpose?