By Caitriona Reed, Co-Founder, Five Changes
As I look through my emails it seems that there is a big buzz at the moment about finding your purpose, discovering your destiny, finding out what you’re NOT doing, which, were you to do, your life would be perfectly on track! There seem to be more teleseminars and workshops on finding your true mission in life than ever. I wonder how much of a distraction this is. After all, what sort of life-purpose is it that requires you to find it? And what sort of life is it that has only one singular purpose?
As a woman, and as a speaker, having a clear intention for what you do will always serve you well. When it comes to your business, your artistry, your work in the world, your ability to describe what you’re up to is essential. But when it comes to a human life, to the rich tapestry of all you are, of all you know, all you are capable of, looking for a singular ‘life purpose’ may just be a big distraction. It is a profound discredit to your intuitive capacity and to the mystery of your life, and to the circumstances of your magnificent and unique manifestation as they unfold around you.
My own experience is that my purpose, or the many purposes of my life, has often found me!
If asked to describe it, it would be different at different times in my life. It’s not that I have been drifting; though, like most of us, I have done that. Being a woman is not all that I am. Being a speaker, or a coach, or a teacher does not begin to describe all that I am.
Whenever I have felt myself truly living on purpose it was usually because I uncovered something authentic inside myself. Maybe I had hit a wall, or discovered a new passion, or been given an unexpected opportunity. In each case my ‘purpose’ emerged from my being open, authentic, and intuitive; moving from the inside out, rather than from some external hypothetical ‘purpose.’
Perhaps a key here is congruence. Be in agreement with yourself. Be in accord with your own values. Live from that place. Your audience will benefit from your presence, as will everyone else in your life; and you won’t have to go looking for your destiny like it was a set of lost keys.
Caitríona Reed is a facilitator of Personal and Organizational and facilitates workshops, retreats, and trainings internationally. She integrates her lifelong experience as a Zen Teacher and as a Master Trainer of NLP and Hypnosis, with her background in Deep Ecology, Group Process Work, and Leadership Training. She is co-founder of Five Changes and Manzanita Village where she conducts trainings with her partner, Michele Benzamin-Miki. She is author of The Thirty Pressing Questions, a year-long training curriculum integrating perspectives for personal change, and working on her forthcoming book “Now Live on Purpose!”