Most people will tell you to do a million and one things on your journey to finding fulfillment and purpose in life.
Not me.
Having found purpose and fulfillment both, I can tell you that most things people will tell you are ineffective.
In this blog post, I’m going to break down what it is that you’re actually seeking and give you a step-by-step method to get there.
When do you Start to Seek Purpose in Life?
Let’s start with this question.
When do you start to seek purpose in life?
This process begins when you start to feel bored with your day-to-day life.
Maybe, it’s the same day or week on repeat endlessly and maybe that day doesn’t look like what you wish it would look like.
Generally speaking, there’s an aspect of disappointment with the world, yourself and society when you begin to wonder about and seek purpose in life. Your current day-to-day isn’t fulfilling anymore and you begin to search for more in life.
These feelings might feel really tough when they come up. It could be that on paper, your career is flawless, so why do you feel this way?
The answer is deeper than you think and having these feelings is a blessing.
Let’s get into why.
When you Seek Purpose in Life, you’re Actually Seeking Fulfillment
You may or may not have an idea of what a purposeful life looks like.
What you are sure about, is that a purposeful life will fill you up.
And that’s the key.
What you’re actually seeking when you’re seeking purpose in life, is fulfillment.
You’re seeking an inner feeling of knowing that you’re using your time, energy and skills to the fullest to make a difference in the world, the lives of the people around you and your own life.
Let’s take the example of an assembly line worker.
While the assembly line model is more profitable for businesses in terms of productivity and output, it is harmful to a worker’s mental health.
While that worker may be contributing to the creation of products that are critical for the comfort and wellbeing of the society, when doing one small task repetitively, the worker quickly and easily loses sight of the impact of their work.
The bored worker here can end up feeling like their work is not important, they are not seen and that perhaps they themselves or their position at the company is not valued.
At this point, the worker will start to seek alternative work; work that will allow them to feel that they are important, their work is important and that they are making a difference in somebody’s life.
In this scenario, it doesn’t really matter what work they find, they are seeking the inner fulfillment that the work will bring them.
Similarly, if you are doing a job where your heart’s calls aren’t answered and you know deep in your heart that you can do more and that you’re meant for more, you will start to feel restless in your position.
This is a glaring sign that you’re ready to find purpose in life.
The Problem with how you’re Seeking Purpose
Now let’s look at another level of this.
Maybe you’ve already bounced between a few jobs. Or maybe, you just started a new job and that feeling of dissatisfaction has come back.
This is where maybe you’ve consumed a lot of content telling you to practice gratefulness, journal, try new things, try affirmations and so on and so forth before stumbling upon this article.
The problem with these approaches is that most of them are external.
Most of these practices encourage you to continue to try to find fulfillment in the external world when the feeling you are seeking is internal.
Right now, you might be thinking, but external situations, circumstances and people are what create my feelings and responses.
This is incorrect.
You are in control of what you feel and how you respond to situations.
All internal sensations and emotions are a direct result of your prana or energy level. That’s to say, depending on the amount of prana in your system, the corresponding emotions will show up in your life.
This is why, when you’re having a good day, it’s easy to laugh things off whereas if you’re having a bad day, the same comments can make that day that much worse.
This is all a function and play of the energy that lives inside you.
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So, what exactly IS fulfillment?
There are 5 layers of your Self known as the panchakosha.
Moving inward beyond the body and beyond the ebbs and flows of the prana in your system, you will reach the mind, the intellect and then the realm of the Self.
Fulfillment comes when you’re in touch with the Self – the peaceful, omnipresent presence within you.
When the mind settles enough to allow this reconnection to happen you find clarity in your search for purpose.
The answers you’ve been seeking begin to arise from within.
An inner knowing dawns and you stop seeking validation and answers from anything and anyone outside of yourself.
This process is part of the spiritual journey and the feelings I’ve described above can be signs of a spiritual awakening.
A spiritual awakening is the realization that there’s more to life than just eating, sleeping and working.
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Finding Fulfillment and Purpose in Life is a process of Coming Back into Alignment
When you reconnect with the peaceful presence within you, your answers start to arrive.
You might not always intellectually agree with these answers, but they will feel right and will hover in your mind until you take action on them.
This is what will ultimately lead you toward purpose, fulfillment and inner knowing.
How do you Come Back into Alignment?
Having the awareness that you’re not in alignment is half the battle, so if you’ve made it this far into this blog post, give yourself a pat on the back because you’re doing great.
When you listen to the world and seek externally, you move further and further away from the core of your being and the source of your intuition and inner knowing.
Instead, what you need to do is slow down.
Take a step back from the race of life, even if it’s just for 20 minutes every day and allow yourself to just be.
When you begin to slow down, your attention is drawn to your own state of being. From here, you’ll start to notice what it is that keeps you away from alignment.
The answer in most cases, is your own negative thoughts, tendencies, habits and behaviours.
This all stems from the mind which is in fact the root of all obstacles you will face in life.
Before you start feeling bad and blaming yourself, know that your thoughts, patterns and behaviours have been sculpted and moulded by the society that you live in.
The journey you are on now, the spiritual journey, is a journey of breaking the mould.
By doing the work to release the restlessness and inertia that blocks your access to the Self, you’ll erase the pattern of negative thoughts, patterns and behaviours forever so you can effortlessly reconnect to your Self and come back into alignment whenever you wish.
Practices to Reconnect with your Self and Find Purpose in Life
There are many ancient and modern practices that can help you find your unique purpose in life and bring you back to your Self.
From my experience, a combination of both the ancient and the modern with a focus on the ancient is what will bring you the best results.
The ancient practice of yoga is profoundly linked to spirituality and has been around for thousands of years. Unlike commercial yoga, the ancient practice of yoga encompasses breath work, meditation, self care, discipline, and other facets of life with the intention to help you reconnect to your Self.
Modern practices like mindfulness and journaling help you become more aware of your own Self and can actually be categorized as a niyama (swadhyaaya or self-study).
Skilfully using these tools, you will be able to begin and/or accelerate your inward journey.
If you’re looking for a step-by-step methodology to guide you forward on your journey to finding purpose and fulfillment in life, then our program the Book of Balance may be the right fit for you.
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The Book of Balance is a 4-week program designed to guide you deep into the subtle layers of existence to release limiting beliefs, reconnect with your Higher Self and create the life of your dreams.