How to Open Yourself to Your Life's Purpose

How to Open Yourself to Your Life's Purpose

In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle writes that to awaken to your life's purpose, you have be ready for a change in the state of your consciousness. But how do you know when that time comes? And where can you even begin?

The one big question most of us ask ourselves is "What should I do with my life?" For most people, it's very difficult to answer. Use these simple suggestions from people who have successfully answered this question and are now living the lives of their dreams. Be inspired to pursue your dreams and discover the impact you are meant to have on the world!
1. Listen to your inner voice. It takes practice to hear your true desires. Your passion will often come as a whisper or serendipitous event that reminds you of what's important and what makes you happy.

This is similar to what is meant by trusting your gut or listening to your intuition. Award-winning actress Sissy Spacek has attributed her success to an experience she had as a young girl, attending a student performance at a neighboring school. Upon seeing a group of girls dancing on the stage, twirling batons and marching in line, Sissy thought to herself, "I could do that."

"Everyone has an inner voice; you just have to listen to it and trust it in order to be led by it," Sissy says. "I did that, and it gave me the ability to live a life that's true to who I am and what I really wanted."

Can you recognize what makes you happy?

2. Recognize crisis. Does your job feel like a grind? Are you spending your free time on something you love? Take an opportunity to appraise your happiness. One of the keys to living a purposeful life is recognizing when you are unfulfilled.

Debrena Jackson Gandy, an author and success coach, recommends women ask themselves one question: What brings you joy? Often, participants at her lectures are unable to find the answer because the joy has been displaced by work, family and day-to-day demands. Debrena recommends that people set aside a half hour to write out at least three things that have brought them joy, and be specific. After a few days, she challenges people to ask themselves what is keeping them from joy and to identify ways to invest in that happiness and make small but immediate changes.

Let your passion be your guide!

3. Dwell in possibilities. Your passions could lead you in a lot of different directions to find fulfillment. Explore your life and unearth of the things that bring you joy.

To begin, life coach Cheryl Richardson advises you to take better care of yourself. Cheryl suggests nurturing your body and mind with exercise, meditation and eating well. Next, be conscious when something excites you or frustrates you. For example, if you read a story in the newspaper that inspires you, take note of it! That story might lead you to your passion.

Cheryl recommends answering a series of questions:
What interest, passion or desire are you most afraid of admitting to yourself and others?
What do you love about yourself?
Who do you know that's doing something you'd like to do? Describe yourself doing it.
How could you make the world a better place for yourself and others?
What's stopping you from moving forward with exploring your passion?
Trust yourself to make the right decisions.

4. Tune out the voice of the world. Make the strongest voice in your life your own. Finding your purpose could mean going against the advice of close friends and family. Take a leap of faith and trust in your dreams.

Martha Beck calls this the "trust-o-meter," the voice inside of you that has been with you since you were born but is programmed by outside influences. If your own trust-o-meter isn't working as it should, Martha advises taking The Trust Test to check if you trust the voice inside you.

What kind of person do you want to be?


5. Decide what kind of person you want to be. Rather than concentrating on what you want to do, think in terms of what kind of person you want to be. Let that guide your choices.

"Life isn't just about what you can have; it's about what you have to give," Oprah says. "What kind of person do you want to be?"

Living with integrity is a good start. Cheryl Richardson suggests making an Absolute Integrity List, which includes making three promises to yourself to restore your integrity. Next, construct your own vision statement to clarify what's most important to you and the person you most want to become. The third step is to ask yourself in which aspects of your life you could be more truthful.

Find a profession you love!

6. Bring your heart to your work. It takes passion and courage to find a profession that you love. Spending the time to discover that job is time well spent—it could make all the difference in your life!

If you don't think you're in the job you were born to do, there's no time like the present. Read eight true stories from women who switched careers midstream and found their wildest dreams realized. Plus, Tamara Monosoff, author of Secrets of Millionaire Moms, shares three, one-page business plans to help bring your big ideas to life.

Even if you're stymied about where to start, there's still hope! Master career consultant Marcus Buckingham has created a printable worksheet for you to use to identify your strengths and help you find meaning in your work.


Embrace change.

7. Trust transformation. Hard times are a natural part of life. Don't be afraid to change because of your experiences. Instead, let them shape and steer your course.

Hardship goes hand in hand with tough times. Instead of ignoring difficult times, embrace them. Poet Nikki Giovanni tells the story of having been pulled over by a state trooper after having gotten herself and a friend lost on the drive to Princeton, New Jersey. She was certain she would be ticketed, but the trooper instead gave her directions and sent the two women on their way. "I realized that when the trooper looked into the car, he didn't see what we thought he saw—two hip, young women going someplace," Nikki says. "He saw his grandmother. It was a depressing moment."

Nikki says that too many people resist change, which never lets them enjoy who they are.

"Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it," she says. "You still bring to bear all your prior experience, but you're riding on another level. It's completely liberating."

Live without regret.

8. Have no regrets. According to the experts, it's easy to regret the time you've spent being unhappy or unfulfilled. Realize that during that time you developed the skills you need to succeed!

Martha Beck has six steps you can take to live without regret. They include letting go, learning to compartmentalize certain feelings and reclaiming your dreams. As important as these steps are, Martha suggests thinking of regret as a tool, rather than an uncomfortable reminder of past mistakes.

"If you've grieved your losses, reclaimed your dreams and articulated your anger, regret will have made you the right kind of tough-and-tender: dauntless of spirit, soft of heart, convinced by experience that nothing based on fear—but everything based on love—is worth doing," she says. "Living this way doesn't guarantee an easy life; in fact, it will probably take you on a wondrously wild ride. But I promise, you won't regret it."

Take the first step now!

9. Take the first step. Destiny can't help you until you are willing to step out of your comfort zone. Get prepared to make changes in your life…and start making them!

It takes courage to even think about changing your life, much less to put that plan into action. Dr. Robert Holden has dedicated his life to studying the pursuit of happiness. He says most people struggle to overcome "destination addiction," which he defines as not living in the moment.

Try taking Dr. Holden's Happiness Test for suggestions on where to make the first step in your life.

Exercise patience.

10. Be patient. Finding your life's purpose won't happen overnight. In every life, there's a fast road and a slow road. Most of us take the slow road! Keep your commitment and take small steps to make it happen.

Writer Amy Gross offers four ways to become a more patient person:

1. First thing: Just stop. Catch the mind ranting that you shouldn't be in this situation—because you are. Give up the fight. You've lost the battle, but not the war.

2. Settle into the moment. You might feel your body ease down, yielding to gravity (wise move). Your shoulders and belly relax, your jaw too.

3. Go into your body with your mind's eye and find out how you know you're impatient. Are you tight, tense, breathing shallowly, clenching, jiggling? Where exactly? Focus on those sensations as closely as you can. Touch them with your mind.

4. See if you can open any tightness, breathe into any clenching. With a really ornery knot, give up trying to fix it and see if you can welcome it, make room for it.

Live Your Passion

Live Your Passion
By Sandra Magsamen

Artist Sandra Magsamen knows firsthand what it takes to make your passion your life's work. Her handmade pottery has become a multimillion-dollar gift business and has expanded to include home décor, jewelry, bedding, greeting cards and more. She shares insight on how to live your passion.

There are no big secrets to making your dreams come true and doing what you're passionate about. But there are three ingredients found in every dream realized. They are:
The belief in yourself and in your dream
A heaping dose of passion and imagination
A lot of hard work
Take the following steps toward pursuing what your are passionate about:

Step 1: Identify your passion
Step 2: Create a mission statement
Step 3: Write a step-by-step plan to achieve your mission statement
Step 4: Put your plan into action

Step 1: Identify Your Passion

First you must articulate and identify what you are passionate about. Dream what it is that you want to do, to have, to give, to be. You must fully believe in this passion. I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised by how many people write me and say they dream to have a pottery business. And when I ask for more details like What kind of pottery? What does it look like? Where will they sell it? What makes it uniquely theirs? they have no idea. They have not dreamed their dream.

It is key to visualize, see, define, redefine and be specific about your passion. Use your imagination and dream, dream, dream. Create a dream journal, and fill it with as many details and specifics about your passion as you can. Don't worry if you don't yet know what your passions may be. As you create your journal, your true passion will begin to reveal itself.

Ask yourself these questions and answer in long lists:

What do I love?
What are my dreams?
If I could do anything, what would I do?
What matters to me?
What do I believe in?
What brings me joy?
What do I find beautiful?
Who am I?
How do I want to spend my day?
Where do I want to live?
Who do I want to be around?
Get to know yourself, honor yourself, nurture yourself. Themes will begin to appear, and your passion will emerge feeling respected and cared for if you take the time to befriend it.

Make jewelry if you want to be a jewelry designer. Find tons of pictures or sketch what you think is beautiful.
Cut images from a magazine if you want to build your dream house and make a book filled with what your house will look like.
Make cakes, decorate them and eat them if you want to be a wedding cake designer. Find, create and save recipes, and photograph every cake you make
Write poems if you want to be a poet. Dream where you want to publish, what the cover of your first book looks like and see yourself at the book signing.
If you want to start a nonprofit for children, then do work with children and discover what work you really want to do.
Use your imagination to create a dream that honors you, your beliefs, desires and wishes for your life.

Create a mission statement

Step 2: Create a Mission Statement

Don't worry, your mission statement can change as your dream or passion changes and grows. This is not set in stone—you can revise the plan again and again until that dream becomes a reality.

Creating your dream is a journey that could take a day, a week, a month, a year or a lifetime. Once you are clear about what you want to accomplish, writing a mission statement will help you define, articulate and solidify your ambition and passion.

My dream statement reads: "My dream is very simple—to create products and share ideas that celebrate the people and moments that make life a gift."

Actually sit down and write and rewrite a mission statement until it reflects what is in your heart. This activity will be both fun and challenging. Take your time in getting your statement to really reflect what's in your heart. This activity will urge you to be specific and to define your dream.

Write a step-by-step plan

Step 3: Write a Step-by-Step Plan

Get creative and put your own spin on the work. Use your imagination and make this your own. Have fun, explore and embrace the infinite ways there are to make your passion into a reality.

I wanted to make and sell things that touched peoples' lives and hearts. So I had to first…
Learn to make pottery well.
Create and design a look that was uniquely my own and make a collection to offer.
Look for retail outlets and learn how craft and wholesale shows worked.
Learn enough about business to get into my first show.
If you need to learn a skill or understand a business model, take a class, borrow a book from the library or become an intern with a master.

Research the area of your dream as much as possible. There is an old saying that I repeat to myself during times of research and preparation: "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail." This little phrase reminds me to do the work I need to do to move my dream forward.

Put your plan into action

Step 4: Put Your Plan Into Action

This is where the hard work comes in. You must work through your plan. Along the way, you will be learning, gaining knowledge, reaching out to mentors when needed and following through on the plan.

The one thing I know for sure is that as you work and grow, so will your plan. Often, people make the mistake of thinking they have to quit their job, change their life and start again to make their dream come true.

My advice is to take your plan and break it up in small steps. Do what you can each day, but use time mindfully so that it feels joyful, not rushed or stressed.

When I created my pottery business, I worked in the evenings and weekends while keeping my full-time job for years. Once I was confident that my dream plans were working, I was then, without stress, able to move to my dream job full time.

Your dream will take you places you never imagine once it takes flight. I never dreamt of the opportunities and people I would meet along the way that have given my dream the breath, beauty and life that it possesses today.

Tips to take to heart

Tips to Take to Heart

A few things to take to heart along your dream journey:

Your dream matters! We need dreamers and dreams that will make this world a better place. Take it seriously, nurture it, believe in it and yourself.
Give yourself permission to be you. Stop censoring your actions. Be you—the only you there is.
Remember, only you can be yourself. No one else is qualified for the job. Ask yourself: If you don't manifest your dream, who will?
Have fun, have a sense of humor and have a million laughs.
Be an optimist. Embrace a positive attitude because, as Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are probably right."
Embrace your inner child. Do something new, exciting and different. Look at life from a different point of view. Get curious, ask a trillion questions and experience the joy in looking for the answers.
Make new friends and cherish the old (some are silver and the others are gold). Make and build relationships along the way that are supportive and helpful as you reach toward your goals.
Let creativity help you solve problems, face challenges and become a part of the fabric of your daily life.
How to be your dream

Be Your Dream

Remember these nine things as you embark on your journey:

BE you: There is only one you. You are a gift, an original, no one else is qualified for the job! We need you. So embrace the world with your own genuine style, do it your way, show us a new way and leave your mark on the world.
BElieve in yourself: Let go of fear and let your skills, talent and ideas shine. If you believe in yourself, you will do the thing that you dream to do.
BE passionate: Go for it, live life like it matters, put your heart into everything you do, feel life, taste life, hear it and celebrate it.
BElong: Join organizations, clubs and groups whose ideas, friendship and values mean something to you.
BEgin today: Every day is an opportunity to dream, to learn something or discover something or someplace new.
BE curious: Play, go out on a limb, walk a new way to work, try a new food at dinner and keep learning and growing.
BEdazzle with your smile and laughter. Laughter is an instant vacation. Have fun, play and enjoy life. Fill the room with sunshine and that beautiful smile, and remember a smile is a little curve that straightens everything out.
BEhave like it's your last day on the planet. Live in the moment, celebrate you and the people you love. Connect, hug, tell people that you appreciate them, sleep late or get up early. Watch the sun rise or set. Use your senses and taste, hear and see the beauty all around you.
BEcome what you dream to be. Set goals, identify what matters, focus on where you want to go and go there. You are in the driver's seat—you are not the passenger when it comes to following your dreams. You are in charge, so take a detour, take the back roads, get lost or decide your dream has changed. Just be sure you stay on the dream journey.