How to find your purpose
How to find your purpose
Part 2 of 2 on Purpose
Hello Hedge Schoolers,
This week's newsletter comes to you from one of my favourite places on earth, Ocean Grove. I'm currently on a ten-day break down the coast invigorated by the ocean breeze and the rush of the waves under my board. This magical place has held me many times when the mist of confusion hung low so it is poignant that I am talking about finding purpose this week.
On a sidenote, I will also be splitting the newsletter into a bi-weekly format to allow the information to land first and the transformative component, the Quest Mixtape to come later in the week.
Last week we quested on the question, "What is your purpose?" and landed with the simple Primary purpose in life. A purpose we all share, to awaken. I'll circle back on this in later episodes as my reality tunnel is expanded. Most of us are unaware that awakening is our primary purpose in life. The “purpose conversation” is always targeted towards what we do. For most, this is our vocation. The 'doing' of our lives. Humans doing. Our external purpose. Our interaction with the world.
But we are human beings.
Truly 'being' in our 'doing' is where the magic is.
It is time for a 'being' revolution. Being present. Being deeply connected to space. Being open-minded. Being in deep reverence with the life that you have been gifted is living awakened. Being is living the technicolour life. Vibrant in colour and experience. Containing the only thing you can ever have...the current moment.
It is in the current moment that we 'be' and 'do'. This week, we take a run at the 'doing' component. Finding our outer purpose.
Outer Purpose
The Outer Purpose is what we do with our lives. What we do with what Mary Oliver calls our "one wild and precious life" once we are awake in it. Our Outer Purpose is a moving target. Transient in nature, we may have many in our lifetimes. Emily Esfahani Smith lists two dimensions of purpose which I've paraphrased below:
1. A moonshot goal.
2. Contribution to the world (or what I call your North Star)
Human beings are goal-oriented. We love to pick destinations to arrive at and work towards them. The challenge is when we use goals as trinkets to collect to fill a void we are avoiding.
A moonshot goal is deliberately audacious. Just the thought of it should take your breath away. It is designed that way to capture a life's work. Educating the world or curing Cancer are goals that we hope we can achieve in a lifetime but are happy to put a dent in. Most often, our moonshot goals are not about ourselves.
Human civilisation is where it is at because we figured out that working in packs increased our chances of survival. This evolutionary trait to be of service is hardwired into our DNA. We are built to help each other out. It gives us meaning. Purpose. And life is better when we help each other out. Helpers high is legitimate. The same neurochemicals that are released during deep flow states show up in our bodies and hang around longer when we are of service to others. The gift we give to others gives back to us and then some. But we can only be of service if we put our own oxygen mask on first.
The gold in the ditches
Suffering and struggle are essential to human growth. Attachment to suffering and struggle through narrative is where we steer things into the ditch. We tell ourselves the story and we find the story in our environment. We find the information to feed our narrative and keep that story entrenched as our destiny. We then spend our time trying to escape destiny through addiction. Addiction to drugs. To alcohol. To sugar. To sex. To working. To television. To social media. To shopping. To bad habits.
Addiction is an escape.
A quick fix to the pain of human existence. But the Addiction murkies the water. Masks the pain temporarily. Prolongs the inevitable yearning to know your calling. In Turning Pro, author Steven Pressfield calls addiction "a surrogate for our calling." Following the call requires dedication and hard work. Requires more pain. And for most people, diving into the unknown is the ultimate pain. To Pressfield however, the addictions are codes waiting to be solved, which when unlocked can provide us with a view of our best selves and higher aspirations. When we reach for the addiction, ask ourselves this question:
What is my unconscious trying to tell me?
Personally, scrolling through social media is an escape from sitting in the chair and writing. It is faux work where I try to convince myself that I am building a network when for the most part I am just lost in the algorithm. What is my unconscious trying to tell me? Scrolling is easy. Reading. Elaborating on ideas. Expressing ideas in a coherent fashion. These are energy hogs. And hard work. Social media is how I keep my signal noisy. How I muddy the waters of clarity in my own mind. I am escaping the fear that the words I write, my expressions from the heart, will not land for people. And facing that fear is scary.
It is also a strength. And a gift I am embracing. The ability to write from the heart and gift that prose to the world.
Transient Prototyping
Life is transient. Always on the move. Our Purpose is the same thing. What was once our Purpose when we were a teenager is now completely different. It has to be. Growth demands it. This, however, can cause a little bit of stress and anxiety. Not knowing, feeling confused, can all lead to over connection with inner narratives. This is Resistance at work. We try to force the situation by constantly striving and pushing. But this only leads to more confusion and anxiety. This is us working against the grain of the wood. Resistance can be a powerful ally. Noticing where you are resisting is awareness. Awareness that you are fighting against nature. Pausing when you feel resistance and surrendering (letting go) leads to non-resistance and moving with the grain.
Viewing life as a prototype, like Bill Murray in Groundhog day, allows us to roll with life. Living into each day knowing that it is transient and that you are a living experiment creates a detachment to the results and an embrace of the process. Embracing the steps are key to enjoying the journey. Key to surrendering to the flow of life. View your life like an adventure where each day is a prototype you get to live in. Notice the feedback that life provides and enjoy the ride.
Signature Sound
Dharma, Daemon, Genius, Calling. There are so many words from so many cultures that capture what I call your Signature Sound. This is the sound you are meant to contribute to the world's symphony. Your reason for being on the earth.
Alignment with your inner and outer purpose leads to what Eckhart Tolle calls ‘Awakened Doing.’ The giving of the gift you were meant to give to the world. The focus is not on the gift but how you give it to the world. According to Tolle, there are three modalities of Awakened Doing
1. Acceptance - accept the present as it is
2. Enjoyment - making the present moment everything manifests joy
3. Enthusiasm - "Enthusiasm means there is deep enjoyment in what you do plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward” - Eckhart Tolle
There are clues to your Signature Sound everywhere. Those moments where you lose yourself to the activity, interaction, environment are clues to your Signature Sound. Take stock of those magical moments. There is wisdom waiting to be heard in them.
Look out in a few days for the active component of this week’s quest. A series of quests for you to follow to discover your Signature Sound. Thank you to everyone who reads, likes and comments. I am forever grateful. It would be tremendous if you could pass this on to anyone who you think it would land for. I would be eternally grateful. Click the Share button below to pass it on.
I’ll leave you with beautiful words from Sri Chinmoy.
Poetic Gift
Life is given to each human being
For a very special purpose.
This secret each human being
Must discover for himself.
Sri Chinmoy
Regards,
Steve
Brilliant steve👍