I think lots of people are drawn to non-mainstream spiritual paths because they feel it gives them a purpose. Spirituality won’t give you a purpose. You have to look within and find that for yourself. It can, however, give you a path to go about living on purpose.
So What’s a Purpose?
I think a lot of people want to know why they are suffering. They want their suffering to have meaning. So when a psychic or mystic tells them that it’s because they are a healer, it feels good. It feels like they are special, and who doesn’t like that? Some pursue the healer path for a while and some stay on it forever, but it’s often a diversion from their own healing.
Some feel that they are meant to do something big, so they go about building something or becoming something. Maybe they accomplish this and maybe they don’t. I think what most find out, though, as I did, is that there is always another mountain to climb. We’re not ever “done.” Someone is always on our tail, threatening to outdo us. What we’ve built is always in danger of crumbling. After all, everything dies. It’s a natural cycle.
When the purpose is something to do, become, or acquire, it’s elusive. We can’t hold on to it because it’s always changing. It’s always in front of us. So we can end up feeling like we’ve failed.
How Do I Live on Purpose?
Your purpose is just to be here. To choose. To live consciously and enjoy the experience. You don’t have to be or do anything. You can live on purpose regardless of what you do, achieve, or become.
When you live on purpose, you live mindfully. You engage in the dance of life. Sometimes you do that with joy, sometimes it’s with fear. Sometimes you do it with grace and other times it’s with profound awkwardness. It’s all a wonderful experience if you let it be.
All you have to do is surrender control. Accept life as it is. Choose based on the options, resources, and knowledge that you have at this moment. That’s the sovereignty part.
Now, if you also consider all the plants, animals, minerals, spirits, and people who share this adventure with you and engage with them, that’s connection. How do your choices impact others? How can you include others in a way that honors them? Do you live with Nature and within the big picture of life? See, it’s not all about you. It’s about us.
What’s In It For Me?
If that doesn’t sound sexy or meaningful, try it. How liberating would it be if you felt “okay” with having a 9 to 5 that doesn’t save the world, yet it allows you enough money to live? You could have dinner at night with your family. Maybe you plant a garden. If you like hiking, you could do that on the weekends, or maybe go fishing. And you could love people, provide for them, and laugh with them.
It might sound like a modest dream, but how many of us have that? How many of us grab take out on the way to or from work or eat standing up? How many exercise in a gym? Do you know anyone who puts their hands in the soil? Do you smile at people you love and actually talk to them? That’s not a small thing. That’s everything.
Every day I conduct past life regressions where people see themselves living lives of quiet desperation. Then they die without having lived or loved.
Connection is everything, folks. If you don’t feel safe with people, connect with animals or plants. Let yourself see the wonder that is life. Let others see you. It’s all that matters. Not your luxury car, your six-pack abs, or your travel photos. Try going small and quiet. See how your life changes. Or use Thoreau’s eyes:
“If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal,—that is your success.”
Spirituality won’t give you a purpose, but living in harmony with the sacred wheel will give you that framework to achieve it. Our path through the seasons of life are: Surviving, Coping, Vibing, Tribing, and Thriving. Won’t you join us?