Has the pandemic dimmed your motivation? Is your sense of purpose lacking juice?
You’re not alone. Not only has our health crisis created a tsunami of grief from lost lives, livelihood, and human touch, but also the social, ecological, and ideological crises we face today can feel overwhelming – casting doubt on whether one person’s purpose really matters.
What modern science and wisdom traditions reveal is that our longing, aspirations, and visions don’t just ignite from our individual minds – they actually spring from our “larger mind” – that includes our bodies as well as the relational field that we share with the more-than-human world. Our own being – with its unique abilities, coding, and desires – captures information from that relational field, converts, magnifies, and expresses it as our own creation.
In essence, your purpose is the dream of the world seeking manifestation through and as you! So, being in relationship with the living world is the rich juicy soil from which your sense of purpose and passion can fully blossom.
How do you bring about your purpose in full bloom?
1. Slow down and connect
The answers to our deepest questions can only flourish with spaciousness, embodiment, and connection: taking your shoes off and walking on grass, soil, or sand; squeezing a sage branch to inhale its fragrance; adopting a mindfulness practice to lift you from your confining daily culture and reconnect you with life’s larger picture.
2. Lick your wounds
When you slow down, any unresolved business of the heart will surface. Welcome it with kindness. Nature gave us emotions to get our attention, open our hearts, and feel empathy. Starting with yourself restores you and makes you more apt to help heal the world’s wounds.
3. Seek the wild
It is said that “the human spirit needs places that have not been rearranged by human hands.” Arriving in nature with vulnerability and a lightly held intention can open you up to receiving the mystery’s symbols, mirrors, and insights that will shed light on your path.
4. Invite love
When I teach Vipassana meditation, I often invite students to bring a half smile to their faces – not as a way to mask authenticity, but as an invitation to bathe one’s spirit with kindness, love, and gratitude. Because neurons that fire together wire together, the result of such a practice is that one becomes more inclined to open their hearts for themselves, others, and the world around them. And an open heart attracts connections, partnerships, and possibilities.
If you include slowing down, licking your wounds, seeking the wild and inviting love in your daily or weekly practice, you would be visiting this relational field of full potentiality that can reveal the wisdom you need to express your gifts, talents, and passion – which the more-than-human world so desperately needs from you today!
May your purpose joyfully spring to life.
Related Resources
- Living a Committed Life, book by Lynne Twist (Pachamama Alliance)
- The Work that Reconnects, with Joanna Macy
