Here’s a bit of the email I received from a visitor to www.trans4mind.com requesting coaching.  He writes:

“I do not understand why did I come on Earth? Everything that has happened in my life for the past 24 years there are hardly anything that I planned and did…for some strange reason I feel that whatever I plan….just the opposite happens. I am unable to decide what course of action should I take next? I have completed my post graduation — an MBA in marketing but I left the job that I got from placements because I do not like selling things, I am not meant to be a sales guy…i know that.

“But I do not know what can I do because I get bored with everything within a week. I am not understanding what is the purpose of my life and what is it that can be called an ideal life? Please help me find the reason for my instability and purpose of life?”

Below is what I wrote back. You’ll also find the information in the Clarity of Purpose Video Series helpful. Sign up to start your travels along the Purposeful Path.

I’m going to give you my perspective which is a spiritual one that I offer for you to try on. Now, don’t be put off by that word, spiritual. What I mean by spiritual is that you’re willing to consider that there’s a greater purpose beyond one’s own self-interest. That there may, in fact, be a Grand Purpose or Design to the Universe and that we all play a role in fulfilling that Grand Purpose.

What if you came here of your own free will to this life on Earth to ‘figure out’ what your personal life purpose is?

Okay, I know at this point you may be puzzled about how to determine what that purpose is, so here’s where I’m going to invite you to redirect your focus.  Your life purpose isn’t about what you were sent here to ‘do’– at least not exactly.

You’re here on planet Earth at a time when we’re evolving to a new perspective about life purpose. The old, cultural paradigm has said that a life purpose is what one is here to do. And living from this perspective has resulted in a lot of people filling their life with a lot of activity but not necessarily with a lot of joy or satisfaction.

The new paradigm/perspective that I refer to as the Life On Purpose Perspective says your life purpose is more about who you are as a spiritual being and what you came here to this life to BE & to EXPERIENCE.

Your life purpose is more about being than doing.  And here’s the relationship to these two: [bctt tweet=”Becoming clear who you came here to BE informs what to DO as an expression of your life purpose.”]

Try that on for a few minutes and see how it feels.  Does it resonate with some aspect of yourself?

Looking for Love (and Purpose) In All the Wrong Places

You see, you and much of the rest of the world have been looking for your life purpose in the wrong part of life — the doing part rather than the being part.

It’s like the old joke (at least old here in the USA) about Joe who was found by his friends one night on his hands and knees under the street lamp. When asked what he was doing, he looked up, pointed down the street and said, “I lost my car keys down in that dark alley, and I’m trying to find them.”

Of course, his friends looked puzzled for a moment before one replied, “Well, if you lost the keys down there, why are you up here?”

“The lighting is better,” Joe replied.

Just like Joe, you can spend a lot of time looking for your life purpose in the domain of doing without ever finding it.

Boredom is Simply a Sign You’re Not in Touch with Your Purpose

Regarding: “I get bored with everything within a week.”  Really? Everything?

When I hear someone has a high level of boredom in their life, I strongly suspect they’re not in touch with their Divinely Inspired Life Purpose because when you are, boredom becomes a non-issue.

So, to start getting in touch with your true purpose, remember times when you’ve not been bored.  Think of times when you’ve been most alive, turned on, excited and inspired.  Start by looking at what you were doing during those times.  Make a list of them.  Don’t be concerned if they were income producing or not.  They could be times when you enjoyed traveling, or spending time in nature, or reading, or rafting down a river, or…whatever.

You can add to that list things you haven’t done yet but know you would love doing.  Talk to people who know you well and ask them when they’ve seen you most turned on by life.  If what they say isn’t on your list and it rings true for you, add them.  If they don’t ring true, ignore them.

Then, once you have a good list — the more the merrier — look ‘behind’ the doing to see what about each of them were you experiencing and who you were being in those moments.

For example — let’s say these were a few things on your list and what you remember experiencing or imagine you were:

• Walking in nature              and you felt contentment and feeling connected
• Traveling to new places        and you felt a sense of adventure and excitement at  learning / being curious
• Volunteering to help animals    You felt making a difference and feeling connected to life / being loving to the animals.
• Scuba diving                       You felt a sense of adventure and appreciation of beauty

OK, got that?  Now, after you’ve done this part, put on your detective cap and find the clues. In this case, the clues are the common threads or themes that repeat themselves or seem related.

Those common threads are pieces of the purpose puzzle. When you put them all together they become the whole of your life purpose statement.

For a more in-depth exploration of the Life On Purpose Perspective, be sure to check out the free online video series: Clarity of Purpose: Don’t Live Life without It.