How to Fulfill Your Purpose

INTRODUCTION Our life has a purpose. The purpose is to consciously experience the events that arise in the course of our life. It's said that nothing happens by accident. This is true. There is a reason for each experience we encounter. We don't know the reasons. Life would be much easier if we did. All we can do is to follow our heart's desire, notice what we notice, show up, and do our best. Achieving your purpose is predicated on your ability to have the courage to engage in the experiences that show up. That's your purpose -- live the experience. Fortunately, there is a plan -- a blueprint. We come into life with an imprinted plan designed to offer us all of the experiences needed for the work of this life. I suggest you google soul imprint, or soul blueprint to learn more. The imprinting resides in our unconscious, which is the source of our heart's desire. The reason we notice something, or someone, in the first place is because we are supposed to experience something. We may need to experience a relationship with someone or have a career that offers us the experience needed for a future challenge. Notice I haven't mentioned knowing or understanding as our life's purpose. Knowing and understanding are not required. It's the experience that's required. When we decide to fulfill our purpose, we are deciding to evolve from an ego-centered to a soul-centered life. I think of the ego as having a fear-based orientation. The ego is supposed to keep us safe, know what to do, and be in control. The soul is free from debilitating fear. Our soul knows it's safe, doesn't need to be in control, and is our Divinity within. I'm sharing my experiences as an example of how to move from an ego-centered to a soul-centered life. It's a story that's intended to provide all you will need to make your life a spiritual journey. A spiritual journey is simply a life that's lived with the intention to fulfill your purpose. It's a life that's soul-directed instead of being mind-directed. When your soul points the way, all you have to do is to show up and do your best. As you might imagine, the shift from a mind-centered to a soul-centered life requires creating a new normal. The first task in creating a new normal is to become aware of your current normal. It's hard to be aware of what always has been your normal. It takes some kind of experience that causes you to recognize a pattern or behavior that has been automatic. The experience doesn't have to be anything other than a wakeup call. One such experience happened during a horseback ride. I'd never been on a horse before. I had watched a lot of cowboy movies, which made riding look easy. I climbed up on my horse and said the magic words. Just like in the movies, the horse started to walk down the path. I thought I was in control, but I wasn't. About thirty minutes into the ride, the horse took the bit in its teeth and started towards the barn. No matter how much I tugged on the reins, the horse didn't flinch from its intended path back to the barn. Life is like a horseback ride, and I'm the horse. I have a rider that I mostly ignore because I know where I want to go. I want to stay on the familiar path and return to the barn. This is my normal, and that's just the way it is -- and always has been, and will be. I don't realize how hard my soul is tugging on the reins to get me to go where it wants me to go -- to experience what it wants me to experience. I have to take the bit out of my teeth if I'm going to create a new normal. This is an act of self-sacrifice necessary to become free from my mind's agenda. I have to sacrifice my thinking mind. I have to walk in the moment-by-moment experience of the ride, noticing the slightest movement of the reins. My mind is too limited to know what's best for me. However, I will continue to take my mind along on the ride so I will be able to participate -- enjoy what's around the next bend. Thus my purpose: to carry my soul through life as it guides me from one experience to the next. Now that I'm an old horse, I can look back in retrospect and recognize how my life fits together. I'm amazed at how experiences unfolded in just the right order to prepare me for what was next. There was no way to prepare for what was coming. All I could do is to show up and do my best. The chapters that follow chronicle my journey to fulfill my purpose as it teaches you how to fulfill your purpose. The process begins with becoming conscious. You must develop your internal witness who listens to what you are saying and allows you to become aware of awareness -- aware of your automatic thinking and everything you take for granted. Without awareness, you don't recognize that you are living the same day over and over. You will not recognize that your mind is keeping you from achieving your purpose.