Your life purpose unfolds in the present moment
As much as we want to have it all figured out, we don’t always help ourselves when we do
The best way to know if you are living your life purpose is to ask yourself if you are.
Wait for an honest yes or no answer. (Hint: If it’s not an unequivocal ‘yes’ then it’s probably a ‘no’.)
If it’s a ‘no’ - not to worry! That is 100% ok. Nothing has gone wrong. You are exactly where you are meant to be.
And if you are a ‘no’ and you seek to find your life purpose, it can be helpful to think of your purpose as a path. A path that you are either on or off at any point in your life.
Being on the purpose path is something you can know only in the here and now.
Once you start to plan how your purpose path will unfold, you are in a mental concept of your purpose path, not the path itself.
In other words, we can only answer the question “Am I on my purpose path right now?” and “What’s my purpose saying right now?” not “Will I be on my purpose path once I get a degree in nursing?”
Part of this is because living our life purpose and doing what we are meant to do is supposed to feel a certain way. And we can’t always know how something is going to feel in the future.
My clients seeking their purpose have described living it as feeling:
Calm
Aligned
Grounded
Motivated
Energized
Certain
Complete
Free
Comfortable
Fulfilling
Empowering
Exciting
Exploring
Curious
Outflow of Passion
This isn’t an exhaustive list. The feelings of the purpose path are unique to you and they are part of the map back to it.
Sometimes the world creates a path for us. For instance, the journey of going through med school, residency, and then board certification is a clear life path. But for some people the uniqueness of their purpose path doesn’t follow what has already been created. This doesn’t necessarily mean they need to leave med school!
There are some steps you can take if this example resonates with your situation, though.
First check in with what the purpose path should feel like in your imagination. If you know you are meant to feel connected and successful on your path, take a small step towards whatever brings the most connection and success today. Even if it’s a small dose.
That’s how you get back on your path.
And of course once you find it, staying there requires presence and awareness. I find it helpful to ask myself “What do I truly want right now?” and “What will bring me the feeling I seek?”. Both of those point me back to the path.
Naturally, you might be wondering where goals come in. How do goals fit into purpose? Are we still able to set goals for ourselves into the future on the purpose path? My answer is: Absolutely.
I invite you to create goals once you are on the path. If you do, the goals you create will feel as though they stretch you to be the best version of yourself. For me, the goals I create when I’m on my purpose path feel like they are meant for me. As if they have an energy and their energy is saying “Yes I want you to achieve this too!”.
And personally when I create a goal while off my purpose path, that goal stretches me too. But I must transform who I am in order to attain them. It feels out of reach and sometimes even makes me feel worse about myself.
Either way, the goals are not the path itself.
The path might meander and might bring about some small and some big life changes from time to time.
But each step on the path is a present moment decision.
That’s it.
Hello, I’m Serena. I am a life coach. I help high achievers live their life purpose without giving anything up. If you would like to receive thought-provoking content, join my email list. If you are interested in 1:1 coaching, get in touch with me here.
