Discovering Your Purpose
3 TIPS ON DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE
Article by Marinna Rose
Photo Credit: Dasha & Mari
Magazine: Issue #26
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” - John F. Kennedy
All it takes is a little enquiring within to uncover the truth of your purpose. Liken it to the sculptor chiseling away at the marble, chipping away one piece at a time unveiling the masterpiece within. Your purpose is just like this masterpiece carved from the marble, simply hovering just under the surface waiting to be shown to the world!
The quickest way to unveil your purpose is through the work of introspection. Through this we dive deep into the essence of who you are, first pulling pieces apart, then putting them back together in the exact placement creating your beautiful sculptor of purpose.
I discuss in detail three tips with action steps of how to begin this process of introspection below:
Tip #1- Self Love
“When a woman becomes her own best friend life is easier.” - Diane Von Furstenberg
It all begins from you. You already have all you need within your self, every answer, all the love you’ll ever need and more. To discover your life purpose you must be able to start loving yourself by accepting. Accepting who you are, your flaws, your crazy personality…You must be in acceptance of all of you.
Then from loving yourself you begin to unveil that inner knowing of why you came here. You start to see that there is so much more to being here than just doing the daily grind and keeping a roof over your head.
• Write down three things that you love about yourself.
• Write down three things others love about you.
• Write down three things that you can begin to accept about yourself.
Tip #2-Discover Your Core Values
"Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose." - Edward de Bono
Defining your values give you purpose. When you have not clearly defined your values, you end up making bad decisions and drifting down the wrong paths.
So many of us base our decisions on outside social influences that we don’t even recognize, instead of tapping into our internal guidance system. Most of us are walking around like zombies actually thinking we are living our lives on purpose when we are just living them all for someone else’s purpose! Before you know it you have no idea how you got here.
Living other people’s purpose and not knowing your own reason for being here is simply a shame and leaves you feeling empty and hopeless. I want to change that for you by suggesting this tip on living life by your three main Core Values. This will organically allow you to discover your purpose and fill your life with joy!
Ask your self some of these questions, write down as many core values that come up, Then weed out the ones that are least important leaving the three most valuable that become non negotiable with every decision you make!
• What is most important to you? For example: Health, Freedom, Fun, Stability..
• What quality do you most admire in a person you think very highly of? For Example: Driven, Innovative, Risky, smart, unique..
• What quality do you most admire in yourself? For Example: Loving, Caring, Empathetic, excitable, authentic, Intelligent…
Tip #3- Ask Your self these Thought Provoking Questions:
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it” - Gautama Buddha
• Why am I here?
• What is my mission?
• What gets me really excited when I think about it?
• What makes me smile?
• What causes do you passionately believe in?
• What am I really good at, so good I don’t even have to think about it?
• What do people come to you for help with?
• Given your Core Values you came up with, how could you use these resources to serve and help others?
After you have worked on these three tips you should have a solid idea of what Your Purpose is. These are tips to use again and again; you change as you go through life. Always be willing to relook at Your Purpose and be willing to carve your marble sculptor even better as time goes by.
As you grow and become more Self Empowered by Discovering Your Purpose, you organically shift from the deeper knowledge that is gained through your wisdom. You must realign with this new wisdom integrating it into your Purpose.
Just as so many of us make decisions based on other people’s purposes, you may find yourself locked into your own original discovery of Purpose. Be open to shifting, just like I suggest when setting goals, set them, but always realign, as you get closer.
The same goes for Your Purpose. You must be open to redefining as you grow!
