Trading Purpose for Passion
Three Ways to Begin Living with Passion instead of Searching for Purpose
Have you ever watched ants building a nest or moving from one nest to another? Each ant seems to know exactly what it is doing, where to go, and how to accomplish its goals. If it doesn’t know, per se, it has a singular focus on completing the task that I admired
It seems the ant knows it’s purpose and is living it out with such determination. I wondered what that would be like, and I wondered why human beings didn’t seem to be granted that same peace of just knowing.
I decided to ask the Universe—God—I Am—Presence that exists so subtlety just beyond where what we know ends.
Why do human beings seem to be the only beings that have to discover their purpose in order to live it out?
Why are we, seemingly, the only species that is compelled to make meaning from our lives in order to feel fulfilled and satisfied with it?
I wonder if perhaps we are living out our purposes just as surely as the ant is, though we may not be aware of it and this forgetfulness is what is causing our confusion or pain at not knowing.
Perhaps, as human beings who have—arguably— the most power of any species on this planet to affect our environment and shape reality to our will, we are not meant to live merely for purpose.
Perhaps we are meant to live for something that is beyond purpose.
Moving Beyond Purpose
When people think of “Purpose,” it is usually tied to what you do or what you produce — the ant for example had a purpose that was focused on feeding, protecting, and growing the colony. Every single one of its movements was undertaken with a clear end in mind: build, feed, reproduce, grow. The ant’s purpose is the purpose of all of life: to keep living.
As humans, we take all the same needs.
But we also have access to an even greater creative energy, a deeper understanding of how our actions affect the things and beings around us, and the ability to transform from someone who acts in destructive or negative ways (whether they are aware of it or not) into someone who brings awareness, presence, and love wherever they go.
So instead of looking for a singular purpose as if you and your life are tools to be used in one way — like a hammer or a fork, both very purposeful and useful, but lacking any inherent meaning beyond what they do— let’s begin to expand the idea of ‘purpose,’ start living from our passions, and explore what that could mean or look like in your life.
Three Key Steps to Begin Living from Your Passion
Give Yourself Space:
Our Souls speak to us in whispers, and those whispers can be so hard to hear when our attention is constantly enraptured by external things.
It can become really hard to hear what it is your soul wants over the demands of a limited mind that still believes purpose equals what you do, when it is really something so much bigger.
Listening to all the different sources of information we have at our fingertips telling us all the different things that are important and should be at the forefront of our minds starts to distract us from the things that our soul truly does value.
Take time to declutter your mental space by unfollowing, muting, or turning off pages, people, shows, movies, or other sources that don’t add peace to your life or value to your mind.
Give yourself time and space away from others, social, and your phone and spend time in the present, in the NOW.
Soon, as your mind quiets and the clutter clears, you will be able to hear your soul’s whispers once again.
2. Practice self-love instead of self-criticism
We all have an inner voice that seems to judge and criticize us. Usually, this voice started some time in childhood and if you pay close enough attention (without believing what the voice is saying) you may recognize where it comes from. Is that your mother? Father? A bully in the second grade?
Our minds are magnificent at remembering things that caused us pain, like the words or actions of others, and reminding us of these past mistakes. While your mind thinks it is doing something helpful, when you let the past mistakes or fears dictate your present, you end up recreating the very cycles you are trying to break.
Shame, blame, guilt, and fear usually fuel these cycles of self-sabotage & criticism. So, in order to break those cycles, grounding yourself in a place of self-love is crucial as you learn to balance your nervous system and short circuit the negative self-talk.
Practice ‘watching’ or observing your thoughts for times when you self-criticize or thing you should have done something differently or better. Just take note of those moments, without getting caught in another cycle of shame, blame, or guilt for having these thoughts.
When you do notice these thoughts come up, practice pausing and replacing the self-critical thought with something more open, loving, and forgiving like “I am learning each and every day,” or “Every action gets a result, and some of those results are failure. No big deal.”
Many of the things that once brought us joy, sparked our curiosity, or really lit us up are things that we learned to give up or put away as we grew older and realized that not all of our dreams would be supported or cherished.
Many more of those things are things that we may not be good at, at first. And that can be hard for our small selves, our ego selves, to experience. Remember this as you begin to explore different areas of your life and your Self and notice where your inner critic/judge rears its ugly head.
3. Connect to Your Body
This one is so crucial and so easily overlooked as we begin to heal our hearts, minds, and energy!
Our body can store and remember trauma from generations that our mind has long since forgotten (or never known), so bringing our bodies along on our healing journey is critical.
That doesn’t mean you have to radically change what you do, eat, or use (unless you want to), but it does mean being more conscious of what you consume, intentionally moving and caring for your physical self, and taking the time to get to know what nourishes you and what drains you.
As you connect back into your feelings and the sensations of being alive—being you—you will begin to notice a clearer sense of what you do & do not want in your life, relationships, and business. You will have an easier time saying yes and no to things you actually want to.
Our bodies have so much wisdom to share with us that we have forsaken in favor of our minds. It is time we begin to listen to that wisdom, heal the wounds of our ancestors and celebrate their strengths, and live in right relationship with Self, Source, and each other.