Seeking Purpose

Are you seeking your purpose? I often reexamine my path and find myself seeking and questioning my purpose. Remember this rhyme from your childhood for counting and choosing things, “Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief?” (Is that even politically correct?) Sometimes I wonder if between lives, our soul is messing with us in the same way and our choice of “what to be” is determined by a seemingly random children’s counting rhyme? But then I have a dream and I remember who I am.

You’re not alone!

Who am I? Several times a year, it seems, I question my purpose. (Don’t judge me!) Not quite interrogation, I can nevertheless be hard on myself as I wonder what my purpose is. And if we have a purpose or a soul plan for our lives, how is it to be expressed? I have concluded, without a doubt- I’m always doubting, so this is big- that archetypally, I am a teacher. I may teach in the form of a mentor or guide, and my subjects are dreams and spirit, not history or math, but teach is what I do.

What’s your sacred contract?

I studied Caroline Myss’ Sacred Contracts with my students many years ago. Being impatient, I cast the wheel of my archetypes when I first read her now classic work, and then cast it again as I refined it with my students and the help of Martie Hughes from Lilydale. At first, the Teacher was in my 6th house of work and health, but in the second approximation it came to rest in my 3rd house of communication. Rather than continue to beat myself up for doing it twice, I now understand that differently. What, in my younger years, started out to be just a job came to rest now in the area that speaks to who I AM and is just as fundamental. I am a communication-loving Gemini after all!

It makes sense to me that teaching is as fundamental to my existence as communication and that it infuses every aspect of who I am and my daily life. (As an aside, that may be interesting to no one but myself, that in high school I joined the Future Teachers of America because my mother was a teacher and I thought that’s what women did. Later my mother and her cousin both ganged up on me and talked me out of getting my teaching credential. I know it was the violent 70’s and you were just worried about me, but I ended up teaching anyway, Mom!)

New beginnings

Five years ago, my husband reinvented himself, and I found that my own sense of direction floundered. I have always thought of him as my rock, I just never imagined that my own direction would wobble because of his own career changes. That’s so 1950′s! On further refection, I know that that view is a simplistic one but after all the Sturm und Drang (storm and stress), guess what? I’m still a teacher. I don’t like having to market myself and beat the bushes for students, so that makes me an underpaid teacher, but I’m changing all that! I’ve been waiting for a dream to confirm my direction, but since I clearly know what it is, my dreams have been telling me other things.

The windmills of my mind

If all of this meandering through the windmills of my mind resonates with your own path, then let my own struggles with my purpose and direction serve to comfort and support you. I struggle just like you do and if I can figure it out, so can you! Here’s what’s key to this exploration:

  1. Truth- Be honest and let the truth of who you are come through…Even if you don’t like the answers, ask for the truth always.
  2. Patience- The answers don’t always come when we want them so much as when we are ready to hear them. Ego time and Soul time (or Chronos and Kairos) aren’t usually on the same schedule, though they can occasionally meet up.
  3. Trust- Trust that you will be directed and find ourselves exactly where you are meant to be and in spite of what appears to be the situation, you will get where you are meant to go. (See “Mom” above)
  4. Self-love- Even if you struggle with developing healthy self-esteem, if you don’t love yourself even a little, then it’s hard to honour the answers you get from your Higher Self. If you’re not really to look in the mirror and declare your undying love for yourself just yet, then look at yourself and say “I’m willing to consider the possibility of loving myself!”
  5. Dreams- Both inner GPS and early warning system, your dreams will help you see the truth of any situation in your life. Trust them, but get support in understanding them if they are unclear or scary.

Actually, now that I think of it, these qualities are essential to any journey, not only the journey to discover your purpose. Send me your reports from the road and I’ll do the same. If you think you know what your soul wants for you, then when each opportunity comes along, ask yourself, “Is this in alignment with my soul’s purpose?” If it’s a good match then go for it. You will feel the truth of your choice in your heart and your body!