I just deleted another email from a well meaning soul offering a workshop to help me find my purpose. I smiled as I hit delete. I once would have considered this workshop. I remember wishing someone would just TELL ME my purpose. I thought it would make things so much easier. Now I’m glad I was not given an easy, arbitrary answer.
When my office closed in early March and I was sent to work from home for three months, I set ground rules and goals for myself. I wanted to use my time constructively because couch surfing, eating junk food, dinking and binging TV or anything else would wreck my health, both mental and physical. Little did I know that I was setting myself up for the greatest spiritual growth I have ever experienced.
I am in a spiritual community that really stepped up starting in March. Working from home and having no social life gave me time to read, journal, exercise, meditate and create. Slowing down and consolidating allowed me to zero in on who and what was most important to me and what I wanted the other side of COVID to look like. I began to think a lot about the Divine and purpose.
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” The Color Purple
I started small by considering what if my only purpose was to enjoy life, to notice the beauty around me and to be grateful. Alice Walker inspired me to notice and share photos of the purple flowers I came across all spring and summer.
As I practiced yoga I began praying, “May your wish for me come to fruition.” I began to feel myself shifting, relaxing, and staying present.
Following the urges I had to create through writing, photography, a glue book journal and paints lead me to more A-Ha moments. A dear friend who is also on her own spiritual quest shared her thoughts, “Creativity connects us to the Creator which creates alignment.”
One day while driving in the sunshine I suddenly realized that my purpose is for me to be me. My purpose is to embrace my personality, the essence of who I am, and my strengths and weaknesses. I am a spiritual being having a human experience. I believe that when I am aligned with and following the nudges from the Divine I am fulfilling purpose.
I probably will not be the one to find the cure for cancer, but each day I can stayed grounded and aligned to fulfill my purpose. While I do think and wonder about the grand, sweeping, CinemaScope view of my life, I take it day by day. Today my purpose may to to be kind or to create a yoga flow that helps a student or to call a loved one to remind him/her that he/she is loved. It all adds up.
What if my/your/our only purpose is just to notice beauty, to be kind, to love, to laugh and to have fun?
A very interesting and thoughtful personal reflection. A question – Ars we approach the end of 2020, are you more sure of your purpose now than you were when the year started?
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Yes, I know my purpose. It is to be me, to align with the Divine, to notice beauty, to create and to bring the gifts and energy that is unique to me into this world. How I do that varies day to day. Some days are better than other. So it is for a human trying to live honestly and spiritually.
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Yep – you don’t need the workshop as you figured it out on yourself. Now the next step is acting on it and taking it to the next level. Stay the course!
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The light in me sees and honors the light in you.
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😊
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Great post, Sarah. First thing I read this morning. It felt like a reflection on my journey. Thank you for giving an authentic voice to the process of unfolding…at awakening to our true selves. Wishing you peace and safety and a soft entry to the quiet rest of Winter.
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Thank you. 💙
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This was a good read and made me smile. Thank you. 🙂
In my recent decluttering and cleaning adventures, I came across a book I bought years ago about finding your purpose. If I remember correctly, I read only the first few chapters before putting it aside for another day/time. My younger self must have realized that I wasn’t going to find answers in a book. It seems to me, and I could be wrong, that our purpose changes as we go through life, honing us down as we grow older until we find that core of being/purpose (if we’re present and open to it).
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I agree. I think very few find the secret early. A big part of it is embracing who you are.
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It sounds as if you’ve used your pandemic break wisely, Sarah! Would that all would discern their life purpose and enjoy the journey as well as the destination.
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I’m onboard with your purpose. I like how you’ve found your way during the pandemic by meandering down your own path. Many have stumbled, I fear. I’m an introvert so for me the staying-at-home aspect of 2020 has been a quiet blessing.
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Thank you
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Sarah, I tried to find my purpose for years. But starting in my 30’s it became clear that my purpose was the spiritual path. It’s only in recent years that it’s become to embrace and embody exactly who I am.
Love this paragraph: One day while driving in the sunshine I suddenly realized that my purpose is for me to be me. My purpose is to embrace my personality, the essence of who I am, and my strengths and weaknesses. I am a spiritual being having a human experience. I believe that when I am aligned with and following the nudges from the Divine I am fulfilling purpose.
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I resonate with your purpose. We don’t all have the same gifts to offer and it’s good to be content with and appreciate what we were designed to contribute. My grandmother used to say that the best gifts come in small packages. Little acts of kindness add up to a very purposeful life. If we can find the cure for cancer — wonderful! But it doesn’t make other kinds of gifts less important or meaningful.
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