Podcast #1 Transcription, Unfurling Your Life Purpose

I consider it the highest honor and privilege to work with people and their desire to know their life purpose. It's a vulnerable space...one of tender reflection that deeply matters to people...and so it's important that we hold this with reverence of the highest calling, because, really, what's more important than to attend to the deepest questions of... Who am I? Why am I here? and What’s my purpose? So, let's dive into this a little deeper... (Audio version can be heard here.) If we look under the hood of Life Purpose, we find the invisible parts, ya know...curiosity, passion, and inspiration...people want to know what they can “do” and “be” that is fulfilling and fun, and celebrates life. Some people want that and also have it be in the context of service...giving back to their communities or taking action with specific issues that they’re passionate about. Whatever calls to you, whether it’s service-oriented or not, the reminder here is to follow and trust the energy of the desire, because there is truly something magnetic about it that changes your life for the good once you lock on to it. And just as the word “it” comes out of my mouth, I realize there’s another nuance to talk and that's the perception of there being this ONE thing we’re searching to find. From my point of view, though, I see the purpose exploration as one we never completely come to the bottom of... as in finding a singular purpose...or a final destination. To me, it’s something that’s super-multi-faceted even though, at any given time, it can seem to have a primary focus, maybe even for an extended amount of time. But as we go through life, we find that there really isn't any one thing but always a combination of factors, including both doing and being. But, for most people exploring their purpose, they're primarily focused on solving the question, "What am I supposed to be doing?" Likely very few people ask the question, “How do I want to be?” which is very different from asking “What do I want to be?” which elicits an answer of becoming something that is doing something. For instance, I want to be a dentist, or a journalist, or scientist, etc. How do I want to be,” is a very different angle pointing to being... and this gets to the juicy inner work because being is an inside job. When we take doing out of the question, there’s nowhere to go but inside onself. So the question is a call to pay attention and notice, "How am I being in this moment?" "Am I being bitchy? Unappreciative? Complacent? Anxious?"

And then going deeper with that, ask... "How would I rather be right now? Light-hearted? Compassionate? Trusting? Generous?" As we practice “being present” like this with ourselves, it becomes natural, then, to extend this in other ways...deeply listening to life, to our inner guidance, to the concerns of others. Before long, we notice how our conscious attention helps create the rich moments of life we hunger for. And that begins with us, from within...from how we’re being. As we become top-notch observers of ourselves, a shift happens that has us see purpose with new eyes. And then you’ll likely find yourself noticing, “Maybe it doesn't matter so much what I’m doing as it does how I’m doing it.” For instance, in any crappy situation, if we’re being relaxed or light-hearted, or even neutral (rather than emotionally charged, let’s say), we can change the tone of everyone around us who may be freaking out.

The more we’re fully present in our daily lives, the more we experience the understated power of it and how important it is to our definitions of Life Purpose. But, if I may...shift the conversation back to the "doing" part because it may seem as if I'm suggesting that what people choose to do doesn't really matter. And, that’s not my position at all...

Because when people do what they are passionate about, everybody wins. And naturally I'm speaking of passions that support the well-being of oneself, and in many cases the well-being of many people as this ripples out into our world. So what we do impacts our world and can make a significant difference to the quality of life before us.

It's this level of importance that turns me on to this work, to be attuned to my purpose, which in large part is also about helping others attune to theirs. As a fervent creator-type person, I trust the fire of desire that burns within people to live in a way that leads them to no regrets and experiencing pure joy and enthusiasm for life, which they might also describe as being fulfilling.

Moving to another angle of the Life Purpose conversation, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up the issue of how we often struggle with the confusion of not knowing. For most people, and I include myself in this... the process of trying to understand one’s Life Purpose can feel perplexing and exhausting—even maddening at times. For me, the pain of being in a long-term tangle with this eventually showed me the gift of going through a couple of dark decades of the Soul. You could say I’m an extreme case in this regard because whenever I felt out of synch with this thing, I experienced pretty deep depression. That wasn’t a constant state, but it was something that came in cycles because I had not really gotten clear on this topic. So, without clarity, you just kind of drift. As you drift toward it, you feel energized. As you drift away from it... you feel drained and other things that don’t feel good. And for me that tended to express as depression. I noticed that when I was doing creative works, or helping people, and resolving problems, I felt alive and full of energy. Doing most other things felt draining. So this is part of the key of getting clarity, watching your energy level. It’s very revealing. In the life purpose treasure hunt, you’re always looking for clues to solve the riddle. And I use that word specifically because the search can feel like a real conundrum. With so many facets to life, it’s easy to get twisted in the details so much that you can’t see the big picture. Even when you know something in general feels good, like helping people, in my case, there’s still the question of, “In which way do I do that?” When you don’t know, like I often didn’t, you just try stuff...keep trying stuff and noticing, “How does it feel?” As you keep going with conviction, the things that energize you start to reveal the answers you're looking for. It's like you just keep pulling the thread, and that gives you more evidence of a specific direction to focus your time and energy.

That really works, and yet, it can take a while to connect the dots because there a lot of factors you're considering...like, what changes will this require I make, or what if I go in this or that direction & then not like it. Sometimes your interests might involve extra training or education which would require some investment of money & time, and that can bring up fear or a reason to talk yourself out of trying a new direction.

It's this part—the confusion—as well as fears, that can make this process long & frustrating because we're just too close to it. We tend to get tangled up in just one perspective, which is often wrought with fear, and not at all objective.

For me, on one hand I wish I would have gotten help with this, and on the other, I see how going through that long process helped me really know the intricacies of it so that I would become very effective in helping others' process.

Taking the long way I think is pretty common for teachers, that way we have a comprehensive understanding of the ins and outs & how to help others find a more direct path.

Ok...So, we’ve covered a lot today, and there’s infinitely more aspects that we’ll drill-down with in our upcoming podcasts, videos, blog postings, etc. So if Life Purpose is a topic you’re interested in exploring, i invite you to subscribe on our web site, which can be found at the bottom of every page, and then you'll receive updates on some of our latest releases. I’m going to wind down today's conversation, sharing a core part of my philosophy about unfurling your life purpose, and that is this...There are no wrong steps on your journey. Everything serves and informs your recognition of why you're here. And, everything is working on behalf of your highest calling. When you surrender and know this wisdom fully, you’re able to take the pot holes and road blocks in stride and use them as indicators of which routes to take, and not to take. So... as we become top-notch observers and are adept at being fully present, we can ask, "How is this situation informing and serving me?" when challenges come up. Because, oh yes... they do. Nonetheless, the answer to the question always comes. You hear it when you give it space to be heard wholeheartedly. It's helpful to remember... All there is is an endless stream of being right every time you act upon your heart, doing what you feel led to do, and being what you feel called to be. When we trust and follow inspired desire, we're truly living the lives we're meant to live.