What’s Your Life Purpose – Part Two

Dear Reader,

In a recent post, I told you that my life purpose is to love and be loved. Then I asked you what yours is.

Have you thought about it?

Life purpose is one of those huge topics that people in metaphysical circles focus on extensively, and that many seekers spend a lot of time trying to figure out. In general, opinions about life purpose include:

• You have no purpose in life.
• Your soul chooses your purpose before you are born.
• Your purpose is sort of chosen, but sort of flexible.
• Your purpose is completely up to you to create once you arrive on earth.

Who is right?! Regardless of the answer, I’ll say that “What is my life purpose?” is a thought-provoking, imagination-stimulating, intuition activating question. It can be a powerful question for self-reflection, similar to “Who am I,” to help you drill deep into your inner core.

Let’s consider our options one at a time.

We have no purpose in life – doubtful. And I have a feeling that even people who believe this option deep down act in a purposeful way, with some bigger guiding principle to follow – especially if they are happy. Losing one’s sense of purpose (and closely related, one’s sense of meaning) in life can be deeply challenging.

Your soul chooses your purpose before you are born – possibly. Many metaphysical practitioners advocate this option. This one is tricky, because people can become hooked on finding their purpose – I know, I have spent some time that way myself – and get completely distracted from living their lives. They start to think “If I can just find my purpose – or if someone can just tell me my purpose – everything will be OK.” The down side is that, if you don’t figure it out right away, you can start to worry… “What if I never figure our my purpose?!”

Your purpose is sort of chosen, but sort of flexible – also possible, even though it sounds a little wishy-washy. It makes sense that your soul would choose some experiences or lessons before being born, and leave other possibilities to be determined once you arrive here.

You create your purpose once you arrive on earth – very possible. This option holds that you come here to exercise free will and discover, for this lifetime, what your deepest motivation is. This option can be scary if you just want to be told the answer! It can also be very empowering, creating a sense of personal responsibility for your own life.

So here’s what I really think.

We as souls have an essential nature that can be expressed in many different ways once we make the choice to wear the human suit. If, once we arrive, we give ourselves over to the beautiful process of exploring what we love and becoming aligned on all levels – body, heart, mind and spirit – with our original source, we will inevitably grow into our purpose. Because of our essential nature, there will most likely be themes that run throughout our lives, but we have choice along the way as to how we express those themes.

My own purpose didn’t come to me in a blinding flash, nor was it revealed to me by a psychic. Numerology has given me some uncanny insights into my true nature, gifts and soul choices for this lifetime, but my purpose came to me quietly, almost unnoticed. One day it was simply present in my awareness, “I am here to love and be loved.” And that was it. I have never questioned it since.

I don’t really care whether my soul chose it in advance or I created it once I got here. I tend to think that how things really work is beyond our human ability to understand fully, aside from brief flashes of truth. That’s ok with me – even though I still love trying to solve the mystery! I do know that my purpose feels true for me, in a very lived way, and that awareness gives me great strength and joy.

Ultimately, dear reader, you need to discover what feels right for you. Some of you may not choose to focus on your life purpose at all, but instead focus on living a genuine life that is true to who you are. Who knows – that approach may well get you to the same exact place.

I honor your loving heart,

John