Your Purpose is Living You
There's no need to go out and find your purpose. You just need to feel and follow your passion.
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
In a recent conversation, a young woman and close friend shared that she’s becoming burned out in her current job. She said, “I just really need to find my purpose.”
She is certainly not alone. Burnout is on the rise ~ and Gen Z, young millennials and women seem to be the most impacted.
An updated version of the Playbook for Success provides the antidote: Find your purpose. Lead a purpose-driven life. Live your purpose.
This well-intended advice can backfire though, leading people to spin their wheels in a sea of increased pressure, angst and even more burnout.
Here’s the thing:
Your purpose is living you
You are already living a purpose-driven life.
You do not need to find your purpose ~ you couldn’t be without it if you tried.
Imagine with me for a minute that, in a moment of singularity outside of time and space, you designed the story of your life. At the center of this story is your Original Intention ~ the primary theme of all that you desired to do, experience and embody during this lifetime.
Every experience, relationship, job or career you have engaged in has been a part of this grand design. Every dream, vision or inspiration you have received has been a gentle nudge from this multi-dimensional aspect of you ~ whispering its guidance to you along the way. Every challenge, disappointment, and heartbreak has been forging you in the fires of your Original Intention.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” ~ Steve Jobs
As you move through the breadcrumb trail of your life, you collect experiences, insights, and greater self-awareness. When you’ve collected enough breadcrumbs, you begin to see core themes woven throughout these seemingly random occurrences ~ revealing the grand purpose of your Original Intention as it unfurls itself in its own perfect timing.
You cannot get it wrong.
There are no mistakes ~ only more breadcrumbs, more data, more fodder for the fulfillment of your Original Intention. And, despite what it may feel like, you can’t really take a wrong turn and veer off your path.
You can, however, numb yourself in a way that makes it very difficult to hear the whispers and feels the nudges of your own inner guidance.
Suffering is not about the challenging, gut-wrenching and heart-breaking experiences. Often your greatest challenges are those that crack you open and catapult you into deeper awareness of your purpose.
True suffering lies in a life half-lived ~ so afraid of dying that you’re never really living, not experiencing to the fullest all that you intended for yourself when you chose to inhabit this body in this time and place.
Burnout is a valuable signal that the season and reason for the experience you’re in has come to an end and it’s time to move on. This is when the multi-dimensional awareness that resides within you is whispering, nudging, and maybe even screaming to get your attention ~ reminding you that you came in to experience something far greater and more fulfilling than what you’re currently doing and being.
Fully Living a Fulfilling Life
So how do you thrive in a life fully lived?
The best way I know is to stop chasing someone else’s definition of Success, and begin to identify and understand the Original Intention that you specifically set out for yourself.
"Follow your bliss.” ~ Joseph Campbell
One day long ago I was contemplating the shift from a focus on Success to one of Fulfillment. Fulfillment of what? I asked. The answer came in clearly, almost before I completed the question: Fulfillment of your Original Intention.
The more aware you become of your unique purpose {that has been with you all along}, the more clarity you will have in making decisions that are right for you.
In this way, you are guided far less by thoughts and logic, and more by resonance and passion.
What is it that lights you up, grabs your attention, and excites your curiosity? Move in that direction.
Because passion is the fuel for your journey ~ the fire that illuminates the next breadcrumb along the trail of your amazing, fulfilling life.
I’ll leave you with one last inspirational quote ~ this time from a woman….
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
p.s. All of this applies equally to experiencing true prosperity and thriving in your business or community initiative, as you consciously tune into and align with the ongoing emergence and fulfillment of its Original Intention.
Thank you for reading & engaging!
Holly McCann