I often hear people say that they want to find their purpose. Their job doesn’t fulfill them anymore, if it ever did. They are at a turning point, adrift in a world filled with a dizzying array of choices. There is something their heart longs for, or wants more of. Their key is to discover that finding purpose is about more than just your work.
They start to see their job as an albatross around their neck. The pull of financial needs makes them think that they are trapped, as if they’re in a boat with an oar stuck in the mud, held back from the richness of life’s experiences and their own potential.
On a human level, this is a painful place to be. We all want to make the most of our lives, find happiness and give our dreams a chance, if we know what they are. It’s tempting to interpret the gap between where we are and where we want to be as a yawning pit of failure and bemoan how hard life can be.
Finding purpose is about more than just your work. Once you get the influence your thoughts have on your reality, you discover a purpose that becomes your key to the life you want.
What if all the emphasis society puts on career and financial success is not the only measuring stick for finding purpose and fulfillment? Or even if achieving a pinnacle of success with a unique, creative or mission-driven project isn’t the only kind of purpose that has relevance?
It is wonderful to feel a deep sense of fulfillment following your calling, or doing a career that is satisfying, whether it pays well or not. Seeing as we spend such an inordinate amount of time at work, we might as well enjoy it. If we are passionate about our work, so much the better.
A dull or toxic job is a drain and a nudge to look further. Thinking that it would be hard to find something better is a sign that you are being run by limited beliefs about life and who you really are.
Time to open up to purpose in a way that you may not of thought of before. As Einstein supposedly said, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Once you get that everything you want in life is available to you once you become aligned with it, you embark on a path of purpose and meaning. You become your own passion project.
Each day, you get to witness your thoughts, the ones that put you in a bad mood, the negative spin and stories you tell yourself.
You also get to experience how positive thoughts of appreciation and gratitude, of self compassion and kindness, and glimpses of possibility affect your mood and lift your spirits. Sometimes, your sense of feeling good can peak so high that you forget all your “problems” and feel a glorious sense of possibility, the pure thrill of being alive.
You realize that you have a choice. When you catch the negative thoughts and gently and persistently turn them around like tilling the soil, you create the space for your wisdom to pop through with new blooms sprouting into your day. It’s amazing how responsive life is to taking care of our mind and how we show up.
I find that my continued practice of catching and transforming any negativity I feel has reaped clear rewards. I act promptly on an intuitive nudge to take a few minutes to uncover the thoughts that are not serving me because they make me feel negative about myself, my life, another person or the world.
Just seeing myself in the mirror, is proof. My mouth is tight, down at the corners, my shoulders feel heavy, just like my heart — another sign to stop and transform my energy.
It’s a much better use of time than going through my emails, surfing online or any of the twenty other things I’ve told myself are important.
The silver lining to taking time out to reexamine your thoughts and find wisdom beneath the muck and mire, is that once you have all your energy back you know instantly what your priorities are and get them done in a jiffy. I mean it. I can write the first draft of an article 30-45 minutes. Or, I can take two hours to produce a pitifully unusable first draft, and heap on top of that a cruel assessment of my talents.
Life is about choices. When you feel stuck, it’s simply a sign that you can look at your situation through a different lens.
That’s when life becomes thrilling. You can feel filled with a passionate sense of purpose as you play with reality on a higher and deeper level. You can actually feel yourself growing, evolving, shedding old skins and shining more light. Your dreams feel closer to coming true than ever before. This kind of awareness leads you to finding a purpose that is about more than just your work. Eventually, the commitment you put into taking care of your mindset can lead you to success with more fulfilling, purposeful work too.
Nicola Walker is an Anything is Possible mindset coach, with over 25 years of combined life coaching and hypnotherapy experience. She guides people at a turning point in life, to navigate and fulfill their dreams and deepest desires.
Nicola is the author of the forthcoming book, Joy in the Middle of the Mess: An Evolutionary Adventure on the Quest for Success. One of her greatest joys is to walk and hike in the hills and along the beautiful California beaches, near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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