By Tim Kelley / Guidely
Most either don’t know what their purpose is or how to find it, for those who are clear about their purpose, they may have issues with things that get in the way of accomplishing their purpose. Another variable is knowing how to tell if you actually know your real purpose or not. There are actually ways to test whether you’re in your real purpose or not.
“Purpose is The Answer to The Question Why”
Why are you here on this planet?
Who are you meant to be and what are you meant to do?
Why does x-y-z company exist?
Why do we do what we do in our careers, personal life, etc?
All of these questions are based on purpose, yet most people have never asked themselves these simple questions even though many people live happy lives despite that. We don’t all need to know what our purpose is in order to be happy. So then the question is:
Why would you want to know your purpose? Some of the common answers are:
- During times of transition, whether you have become an empty nester, you’re getting ready to retire, have been diagnosed with a disease, you just got married or divorced, or looking to move in a different direction. Whatever the transition, the idea of finding your purpose or your new meaning, seems to come into play
- The need to live a more happy and fulfilling life which is hard to do if you don’t know what your purpose is
- Some people tend to be growth and development junkies so being cognizant of your life purpose is very important
- Some people feel like they have a personal responsibility to change the world. If you understand your life purpose accurately then you have a good idea of how you, personally, are supposed to change the world which is a very useful piece of information for an agent of change
Research will tell you that people who know what their purpose is, live longer, are less likely to get Alzheimer’s, heart disease, have better sex, and earn more money.
So How Do You Find Your Purpose?
The typical method is: You go looking through your history for clues. Often a book, a coach, or workshop will have you answer a whole bunch of questions such as:
- If you only had a year left to live
- You came into a whole bunch of money and didn’t have to worry about your finances
- At what point in your life did you feel the most passionate about what you were doing?
The answers to these various questions are known to give you clues to what your purpose is. Although this is a perfectly legitimate method, I prefer to do it differently. I believe that your answers are already there and are unconscious, so if you go into your unconscious mind we should be able to just find the answers. The way we do that is to go into the unconscious and simply ask what your purpose is. Not only is this method more entertaining but it is way more accurate because you are being informed specifically instead of trying to “find” it.
Depending on your belief system, going into your unconscious mind can mean a variety of different things such as going into your intuition, your heart, your higher self. There are a wide variety of ways that you can do this. Basically it is an interview with YOU as the interviewer asking the questions and some other part of you answering your questions.
Why doesn’t everybody know their purpose?
The answer is simple: Fear. If someone were to hand you a piece of paper with your purpose on it, most of us would be hesitant about opening up that piece of paper to read their purpose. Another reason some people aren’t aware of their purpose is that they have limiting beliefs.
Some limiting beliefs may be:
- Not believing that there is such a thing as a life’s purpose
- Not believing that you deserve to have a life’s purpose
- If you found your purpose then something bad would happen like having to relocate, quite their job, leave your spouse, compromise your reputation, etc
- If you found your life purpose, some other need will go unfulfilled which would create a problem that doesn’t presently exist, which will create more problems
Fortunately, there are advanced methods in which to bypass this problem and hone directly into the source of your own inner knowledge and wisdom and learn to ask the right questions.
How do you know what your purpose is?
Start by saying what it is out loud into a mirror or to another person, then notice your physical and emotional reaction. Not your thoughts, which is thinking about whether you like or dislike the purpose statement you just made. Your physical reaction is about what your body is doing: Are you getting flushed, feeling pain, or lightness? These would be physical reactions.
Anger, fear, sadness, and joy, are some of the emotional reactions. If you have strong physical and emotional reactions then that is probably your purpose. If you experience weak or no physical or emotional reactions, then your statement is probably not your purpose.
Here’s the trick: Your reactions may be strong in the negative or the positive, either way, it doesn’t matter. If you state your purpose out loud and it terrifies you or makes you feel arrogant that you think you deserve it, then that certainly is your purpose. All that matters is that when you speak your purpose out loud, that you have a strong reaction.
Be aware however that purpose statements tend to degrade after a certain amount of time which is an indication that you need to refresh and renew it by going back to the drawing board and updating the original purpose. This doesn’t mean that your purpose has changed, but maybe the original statement has and the statement needs to be refreshed.
The last trick is to do something about it. It can be about making a small step towards your purpose. Of course you can make that giant leap but the recommendation is to start small so as not to overwhelm yourself. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by your purpose then not do anything at all. Find something small that you’re willing to do immediately and do it, then repeat it the following day, it doesn’t matter how small the chore is, if you repeat it everyday then your willingness to do more will slowly grow. As the old adage goes: One step at a time.
It is possible to live your purpose without knowing what it is, it’s just much harder, but here is how to use your purpose even if you can’t put it into words. Ask yourself: What percentage are you on or off purpose right now? Most people can answer this question because most know if they are living their purpose or not, it’s just easier to live your purpose deliberately because you can go seek it out.
If you don’t know what your purpose is, you’re working on trial and error or accident to get you on purpose and keep you there. Evaluate where your percentage point is and decide if that is working for you. If you’re 40% on purpose and you want to be living more on purpose, then you have some work to do. If 40% works for you then that is perfectly fine as well, what matters is what is most comfortable for you.
It may also serve you to come up with four purpose statements that are personal to you. Personal purpose statements help define who you are, what you are working towards, and what kind of legacy you want to leave behind. Writing your personal purpose statement also allows you to return back to it in the event that you move out of your sense of purpose.
Purpose statements can look like:
- To help others succeed in life
- To be in a position of empowering others by empowering myself first
- To move in a positive direction where I can start my own business
- To be a leader and to influence and inspire others to thrive
When your purpose is articulated out loud there is a change that will occur in your feeling state that will verify and validate your true purpose. Just remember that like most everything in life, your purpose statement will grow, shift, and evolve with time just as you do, at which point you can always go back in and tweek it. Once your purpose is clear, then the question is:
- What would that look like if you were successful at that?
- What would your life become?
- What would your world become?
It’s important to envision what you would become if your purpose were driving your life’s vision. From there you can set goals and get clear about what you want to create, then manifest that vision for yourself.
Going within and finding that inner source of wisdom can be very difficult to do alone, especially if you’re not clear about asking the right questions or have a hard time going into a deep trance like state on your own. This is where Tim Kelley can step in to assist you with this very valuable process.
Tim Kelley is devoted to creating and revealing Heaven on Earth, and helping his clients and students to do the same. Tim was born in Japan and grew up in New York City. He earned his degree in mathematics from MIT and worked his way up to the top echelons of Oracle Corporation. Tim’s passion and purpose is to bridge the worlds of psychology, spirituality and business. He firmly believes that business is the key to creating a better world.
If you choose to work with Tim, he will help you get clearer about why you’re here and what you’re meant to do.
You will learn to:
- Increasing your happiness
- Have a clearer path to your purpose
- Shorten the path to a fulfilling life of purpose
- Clarify your life’s purpose in detail
- Discover your true purpose
- Find the real answer to what your life purpose is
But most people spend their lives wondering what their purpose is. Some even treat it as an imponderable, a question that can’t be answered. But your life has a purpose, and that purpose is discoverable in specific and inspiring detail. You will learn what blocks you from knowing and living your purpose, how to overcome it, and the best methods for clarifying your life’s purpose in detail.
