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Why We Need Purpose
If you’re searching for your life purpose, it’s likely because you feel stuck, you’re not sure what you should be doing, you’re in a state of unexplained suffering or external success does not satisfy you. You might have even tried some of those quick activities to find your life purpose, and they still don’t feel right. That’s because there’s much more to purpose than one exercise.
Purpose is the reason for which something is done, created or exists.
Meaning is the thing or idea that something refers to or represents. It is the purpose, intention or significance of something.
- If we have no internal purpose or meaning, we will look towards the external to give us meaning.
You’ll hear me say over and over that we are all energetic beings in a physical body. It is the nature of our human mind to constantly search for meaning as a way to understand the world. It is our ego that searches for meaning and purpose in our life.
Trying to find your purpose can create a lot of anxiety. Without purpose, we don’t know where we’re going. We have no clear direction, and we start to look externally for things to give us meaning.
Being “Off” Purpose
When we are off-purpose and have no reason for certain things in our life, we experience one or more of four symptoms:
- Chase meaningless token – We chase some meaning in professional success and gaining status or prestige. We take actions to gain external approval, recognition and self-worth from others rather than from ourselves.
- Rudderless – We lack clear direction, purpose, vision or planning. We are fearful and reluctant to make life decisions. We are apathetic and full of excuses, and life is happening to you.
- Stuck – We know our life or an aspect of four life is not working but cannot find a way forward. We become stuck in our bodies, old emotions, head, and routines. We feel limited by obligations and things that we “should” be doing and become angry and resentful of doing things that don’t matter.
- Suffering – We endure something unpleasant and feel pain, distress or dis-ease. We have struggles in the physical world, such as our job, money or relationships etc. We may be affected by stigmatisation, marginalisation, objectification and dehumanisation. We go through life with the fear of the past and the future, and mental and emotional responses to life experiences.
Being “On” Purpose
- Internal meaning – We find meaning from within. We can see some reason for everything we do and experience.
- Direction – We have a clear path and focus for the present and are open to the idea that our direction may change over our life.
- Flow – We move into a space of flow where we are intuitively drawn to what we need to do next. We can make decisions with confidence and certainty, knowing that whatever the outcome, it serves us somehow.
- Pleasure and Ease – We move out of suffering into a space of ease and pleasure. We no longer struggle with challenges that arise but see them as a temporary part of our journey.
Four Levels of Purpose
When searching for purpose, our ego is searching externally for meaning, the reason for our life, why we are here and what we are supposed to be doing. It’s looking in the physical, three-dimensional realm.
This is only a part of our purpose. Because we are both physical and energetic, there is a reason for our physical and energetic aspects.
Many processes designed to help us find purpose focus on what we do to help other people, which is a focus on how we express ourselves in the external world.
There are more layers to purpose; to find them all and understand how they connect, we need to re-engage with our energetic selves. Then, we can start to see what we have to offer and what the world needs.
To do that, we need to re-engagement with our soul, our higher self and Source or spirit to find purpose.
As a way of finding purpose, we can go to the bigger picture and work down through multiple layers or levels of purpose.
01 | Source Purpose
Source is the point of origin from which something comes into being or is derived or obtained.
Consciousness is awareness of or perception of something.
Source Consciousness is the point of origin of awareness and consciousness. It is the infinite field of energy that contains everything that ever has and ever will exists.
Source purpose is the meaning and reason that Source Consciousness exists. It is why life exists generally and why we are here.
To understand Source Purpose we can ask the question:
- Why are we here? What is the purpose and meaning of life generally?
You will not get a perfect answer to these questions immediately. Really uncovering and understanding purpose at a deep level is a personal process and a way for you to make meaning. So, for now, just starting to bring this question into your awareness will begin to reveal pieces of the answer.
I have applied my meaning and understanding to Source and life from my own experience, observation and much thinking, journaling and reflection. For me, Source Consciousness and everything within it exists to aid expansion and know itself from every infinite perspective. But this could change as I gather more information, and I am open to letting it change.
02 | Higher Purpose
The next level down from Source is our Higher Self.
The higher self or higher consciousness is your highest, most ethereal aspect that can be held in or connected to the human body. It is the aspect or part of Source Consciousness that imagined or thought of you and decided to create you in your physical form.
When your higher self thought of you, it did so with a particular purpose. It is still connected to you, constantly guides you, and sends signs to keep you on track when you move off purpose.
Higher purpose is the meaning and reason for your current life on Earth.
It is what you are here to learn specifically through lessons, challenges and your vibrational or energetic imprint. Questions we can ask to reveal our higher purpose for this lifetime include:
- What am I here to learn specifically? Why did I come here?
- What are my lessons and challenges?
- What have I overcome? (consider recurring or repeating themes in all areas of life – health, mental, emotional, relational, spiritual, financial, productivity, quality of life etc.)
03 | Soul Purpose
The third level of purpose is your soul purpose.
The soul is the spiritual or energetic expression of your worldly self. It is the part of your higher self that detached and came down to Earth to give life to your physical form. It is the part of Source Consciousness and your higher self experiencing life through your physical form.
While your higher self is observing and guiding the soul through life, the soul is what drives the human body and expresses itself in the physical world through actions and behaviours.
Soul purpose is how you help others. It is how you impart the wisdom of your higher purpose and apply your lessons to support humanity and Earth at a collective level.
- How do I help others?
- What value do I put into the world?
04 Self Expression
The final level of purpose is self-expression.
As our ego tries to find meaning and make sense of the world, we start to find purpose and a reason for Source, our higher self and our soul.
However, our soul exists in the three-dimensional physical world within our body. The purpose of our body is to provide a vehicle for our soul, using mind, body and heart or emotions.
What we project into the world through our physical body is ourselves. It is a physical representation of our soul and everything inside our bodies.
The self is a particular nature, personality, and tangible or intangible qualities that make one unique.
Your self-expression is how you show up in the physical world.
It is a tangible reflection of the extent to which you are aligned with these three levels of purpose and what you are here to do and be.
Self-expression is reflected through your relationships, the body, mind and heart. The questions we can ask are:
- Am I living on or off-purpose? (Refer back to the list of symptoms at the start)
- How do I best express myself in the (physical) world?
- What makes me feel fulfilled? What gives me meaning? What makes me happy?
Finding Purpose
Most “purpose exercises” focus on this level of purpose. They jump straight to the physical realm of self-expression and serving others. Looking at purpose from this perspective can create a lot of anxiety for people because it’s missing some significant layers of meaning and reason.
When we look at purpose just from this perspective, we become off-purpose. Hopefully, this understanding will help alleviate some of the pressure.
So, how do you find purpose?
Firstly, bringing it into your awareness and asking to see your purpose at these different levels will begin the journey. This will open up many more opportunities to see your purpose – because you are now way more aware and consciously asking it to come to you.
You can start journaling on the questions I’ve presented here today. There’s a link to a downloadable journal prompt in the description.
The next step is key.
Stop searching for your purpose – which is ultimately your self-expression.
Stop trying to figure out how you will save the world.
Instead, start focussing on yourself. You cannot save the world until you are okay. Start looking for the things that bring you into a space of ease, and flow and give you some meaning in the present and where ever you are in your life now.
If this means getting a job you don’t love to create a sense of safety and financial security, then find the meaning and purpose in that for now and appreciate the inner peace and relief that gives you. If this means focusing on the things that are keeping you stuck and suffering, then do it. Figure out what they are, what you want instead, and how to make those changes. Through that process, you will start to see what gives you purpose, ease and joy.
Let Go Of Purpose
Uncovering my purpose has been a process for over a decade, and it is still likely to evolve even more over time. I spent many years chasing purpose and trying to intellectualise it through those exercises of how I will help others and save the world. By doing this, I stayed stuck for a long time.
It was not until I began to connect to Source Consciousness and something more significant and started to understand my place in the world, and the layers of purpose, that I could let go of trying to save humanity. I focussed on my health and healing and the things that gave me joy. That process helped me let go of that egoic need for meaning and connect to myself and learn some of the lessons I was here to learn.
I let go of stuff that did not make me happy and slowly replaced it with what did.
Only recently have I moved to a space where I now see the purpose and meaning in my own experiences and how I can use these to help humanity.
Knowing what I know now, the best advice I would give to myself would be to let go of purpose, go inside and find what brings me joy first. I would say to focus on myself and don’t worry about other people until I have that sorted.
The choice is yours…
…Liz Watt
