Purposeful Growth

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You have a purpose in life. There is a reason you were born, the reason you’ve experienced the events of life that you’ve experienced, and the reason you’re still alive. If your life is less meaningful, less satisfying, and it’s bringing you much less happiness than you hoped for in your youth, the thing that’s missing is purpose.

Your seeking may take the form of changing jobs, changing spouses, cars, and other aspects of your life, but—as you’ve no doubt found—these changes do not bring the answers you’re seeking.

The answer to the universal questions all humans eventually ask, “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, and “What is life all about?” are already stored within each of us. The process of living is designed to give us opportunities to find these answers.

The processes I’ve been covering in recent articles provide opportunities for insightful self-reflection, opening you up to hear your true life purpose. The process I’m covering today, Stream of Consciousness, provides for a direct path for your answers to surface—if you’re ready to hear them.

The Meaning of Life Through Stream of Consciousness

Find a quiet place, somewhere you won’t be disturbed for at least forty-five minutes. Turn off your cell phone. No TV, no music, no sources of interruption. Equip yourself with pen and paper or your computer open to a blank word processor page.

Get yourself comfortable, feet flat on the floor. Take a few very deep, very slow breaths. Breathe in for a count of four or five, hold it for a count of two or three, and exhale for a count of two or three. Pause for a count of two or three and repeat the whole process. Do this four or five times, until you’re relaxed and peaceful.

At the top of your page write My Life Purpose Is.

Skip down a couple of lines and start writing. Write whatever comes into your mind. Don’t think about it, don’t re-phrase it, don’t worry about grammar and spelling. Just write what comes into your mind.

Initially you’ll probably think of things that “should” be your purpose, but probably aren’t. That’s okay, the process requires that you purge these things, getting them out of the way for the real stuff to come out. Keep writing. Don’t think, just write. If it comes to mind, write it down.

Ignore the clock, this could take some time—twenty or thirty minutes to get clarity is not unusual. Stick with it until you write something that seems to come with a blast of clarity and a burst of emotion.

Positive Emotion Indicates Life Purpose

When I used this process, after about twenty minutes I wrote something that I knew in my heart was my purpose—and I cried, tears of joy filled my eyes and I could feel the joy of purpose surrounding me. It was a wonderful emotional event, bringing me the freedom and joy of finding life purpose.

Your reactions may be different than mine, but when you’ve purged the false purpose components you’ve accumulated over the years and opened the path for true purpose to surface, you will experience strong positive emotion. Your purpose statement may lack polish and completeness at this point, but if you felt strong positive emotion, you’ve just uncovered the core of who you are and why you’re alive. Congratulations!

What now? Just relax and absorb the revelations of purpose for a few days. Let this new understanding of life rest in your subconscious. Over time your subconscious will surface insights that further clarify your purpose. Give the process some time to flesh out the details.

Example: My Life Purpose

You may recall my life purpose from previous articles. My purpose is to be peaceful, to be unconditionally loving, to be courageous—unafraid of rejection and failure—and to use my insights in the service of others while allowing my life to flow as it will.

This fairly articulate and grammatically correct (I hope) statement isn’t what initially surfaced for me. As I recall, what popped out of my mind and deposited itself on the paper in front of me was this: to be peaceful, to be unconditionally loving, to be unafraid. The rest of my current understanding of purpose surfaced a bit at a time. I say my current understanding of purpose because the full extent of born-in purpose evolves and unfolds as we grow into it.

Life Purpose Through Stream of Consciousness

I hope the self-reflection introduced by this process helps you move closer to finding your life purpose. The articles listed below contain even more tools for finding the meaningful life you deserve. A useful summary of the entire process for finding life purpose can be found in Find the Purpose of your Life.

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