7 Steps to Finding and Living Out Our Purpose

What's your purpose? What reason do you have for getting up each morning and going through the day? I'm not looking for some altruistic answer such as: to make the world a better place or to get rich (which is not so altruistic). It can be as simple as: to be a better parent or get a better education or to spend more time with loved ones. The point I am making is that without an overreaching goal or purpose for living we will be at the effect of life and not at cause with it. We would be like a rudderless and powerless ship on the surface of the ocean being forced to go wherever the wind or current takes us.

7 steps to help us define and live out our purpose:

1.     Articulate it. Speak it as if your purpose has already been accomplished. For example say: “I am a great parent” or “I am educated”.  There is power in the spoken word.
2.     Write it down or place an image of it in a place where you will see it daily. This act in and of itself will signal your intellect through the use of your subconscious mind to direct the body’s actions towards your purpose.  This worked for me as a young lieutenant in the Marines when I had purposed myself to become a Naval Aviator. I placed a picture of myself, seated inside the type aircraft I wanted to fly, on my bathroom mirror. Two years later I was assigned to a squadron and flew in that type aircraft.
3.     Trust it. Here is where many of us become discouraged and afraid because we fear the unknown and cannot lay out a specific roadmap or timeframe. In these instances we must trust that our mentor will always lead us in the direction of our highest and best good.
4.     Visualize it. As many times as possible throughout the day use your imagination to see yourself as if you've already accomplished your purpose.
5.     Live it. Allow yourself to act it out in your life. No longer allow yourself to be tied to old ways and habits. Become one and at cause with life and your purpose.
6.     Review it. From time to time review whether or not the results you are receiving are in line with your purpose. Be aware that many times our intellectual nature allows certain negative core beliefs to interfere with the successful achievement of our purpose
7.     Refine it. As we find ourselves nearing our goal it may be necessary that we tweak it to fit our individual circumstances. Don’t be too concerned about this because our mentor/spiritual nature will signal us when necessary.

I hope that you find these 7 steps useful in determining and living out your purpose. Did you notice how our spiritual-intellectual-physical natures complement each other in attaining our purpose? 

Until next time here's hoping that you live today and every day passionately and with purpose. Thank you and God bless!

How to Embrace Life

In this post I will continue with my discussion on how to experience life's tough times and problem areas in a manner that keeps us calm, confident, creative and connected to our goals and ultimate life's purpose. I know it’s a big order but you'll see it's not as difficult as it sounds. We just have to make a few assumptions.

The 1st assumption is you have read and understand my prior posts on our spiritual, physical and intellectual natures. Next, we assume that in tough times our intellectual nature (coach) reviews the possible solutions available to us, chooses the one it wants and then sends in the play for our body to complete. Our intellectual nature performs this function because our “free will” resides there.

So the question really becomes “How does our coach know what play to send in”? In ideal situations the coach has a relationship with and consults our spiritual nature (mentor) prior to sending in a play. This is especially necessary when we are experiencing those one-of-a-kind problems frequently thrown at us by life.

We won’t always come up with the “perfect” solution to the problem. As a matter of fact, we may not come up with a solution at all. That’s because the job of our mentor is to lead us in the direction of our highest and best good. Unfortunately, sometimes we’ll have to experience tough times in order to get there. That's why it's so important that we develop a close working relationship with this spiritual nature. It will somehow let us know that what we are experiencing is ok.

As faith in this relationship increases so will our ability to confidently deal with life's tough times. I'm reminded of a quote by Emmanuel Teney. who says: “As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.”

As the interconnectedness between our spiritual, intellectual and physical nature matures we will begin to embrace life, be less prone to worry and reduce our stress levels by not trying to control how things must be. We will recognize that we have a competent mentor and coach to help us experience life in the physical world as it unfolds. We’ll also learn that tough times occur when we resist what’s going on in our life.

Also, by understanding and utilizing the previously discussed law of cause and effect we are able to choose our response to life. We can choose either to become victors over what's going on in our life or to become victimized by these same issues. The choice is simple and the choice is ours.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series on our spirit-mind-body connection. In my next few posts I'll discuss how to apply this concept to areas of leadership, productivity, health and our work-life balance. Until then here's hoping you live today and every day passionately and with purpose. Thank you and God bless.