How to Determine Your Life’s Purpose

If you don’t already know what your purpose is in this life, you’re probably in the midst of searching for it. This can be frustrating because humans are built to work and because we’re built to work, we also have the desire to enjoy the work we do. Aligning your work with your purpose is what sets you on the path of true contentment in your life, and this is what allows you to live in a true state of authenticity. Even if you don’t realize it, this is every human’s goal in life.

So, how do we reach this bliss? Well, there is no one path to enlightenment but I can look back through my life and pinpoint when I felt most useful, joyful, and gratified. It’s when I’m in service to women, helping them to change their perspective on the version of who they think they are, all in an effort to live their most inspired lives. I do this through Reiki and photography, but it wasn’t always through these specific mediums.

What I realized is that my purpose has always been the same, but the vehicle that delivered that purpose has changed throughout the years, which has allowed me to evolve and deepen my gifts. The one thing that has remained constant throughout my purpose is that my gifts are most effective when I’m working one-on-one with women. That’s when I light up and all the stars align. Being focused on them as an individual and hearing their stories unfold helps me identify the roadblocks that I believe are impeding them from living their life’s true purpose. It’s more satisfying and mind-blowing to me than I can describe to you. < — That’s how I know this is my purpose.

But if you’re having difficulty looking back and clearly pinpointing the definable moments in your life that clearly shine a spotlight on what makes you tick, here’s a suggestion I think will work for you. It’s a pretty widely-known question but if you haven’t heard of it yet, get ready for some clarity.

What can you talk about for 30 minutes straight with no preparation?

I know this sounds too simple. However, if you read this and thought, ‘Wow…whomp whomp…disappointing…’ then you haven’t taken a moment to let it sink in. It really IS that simple. When I heard this question, I could’ve already told you what my purpose was, however, this question helped me refine it even more. It helped me go from the general concept of “helping women live their most inspired lives” to digging deeper into honing in on the one thing that I could talk about for hours and have zero prep time to do so, and that one thing is engaging in a deep journey of self-love with the purpose of designing and living your most authentic life.

Now let’s be clear. Though the answer to this question will identify what you’re passionate about, thus identifying where you should put your energy and effort, it’s unlikely to identify the way in which you should deliver your life’s true purpose. Ultimately, the vehicle you choose to deliver your gifts is up to you, and that’s exciting. This is your chance to consider every avenue you could possibly go down to live your life’s true purpose and this puts you in the driver’s seat. The skies the limit, friend.

One last thing I’d love for you to keep in mind while pondering all of this. Most of us have one, specific purpose and passion that rises above all else. However, there are those of us that live a life of such curiosity and wonder that it would be detrimental to our journey in this life to adhere to just one thing. So, if you’ve read all the self-help books, attended all the expensive retreats, and wandered the earth in search of your elusive one-and-only purpose only to come up short, I’d like for you to consider that your life simply may not be able to be confined in such a way. In this case, the world is your oyster and you should immediately go about trying absolutely every experience possible, exploring all of life’s extraordinary gifts, and discovering new and wondrous curiosities as much as you can. Bust out of that box and get to living your life.

Whether you fall into the ‘one-and-only’ or ‘wondrous curiosity’ camp, this next statement applies to us all.

No matter where you go and what you do, let the smile on your face be your compass.