What Is Your Life’s Purpose or Dharma?

“You have made very deep promises between your Soul and your Self. Now is the time to carve your place into the memory of this planet earth and serve this promise. May your journey complete its way to your destiny. And may you understand the preciousness of your own life.” ~ Yogi Bhajan

Many programs claim to be able to reveal your life’s purpose. I find from my experience of working with people over the past 10 years, is you alone have to find your life’s purpose. There are, however, some really helpful tools to get you thinking in the right direction.

In yoga, we call life’s purpose “dharma.” Dharma is essentially a contract you have agreed to uphold when you incarnated. It’s specific to finding meaningful work in the service of others. During the Elemental Cleanse, you do explore your life’s purpose and begin the process of tapping in to the things you like, love, and do well. Honestly, just introducing the idea to your consciousness that you were born for a reason and have natural skills and talents to be used for the greater good is half the battle to finding meaningful work.

Let’s explore how to tap into your purpose. Get a pen and paper and sit down with this taking some time and focus. Answer the following:

• What do you believe your life’s purpose is and are you in it? (Most people answer “I don’t know” so don’t feel bad if you answer this way.)

• List all the things you wanted to be when you grew up.

• How did you end up being what you are now?

• What do you enjoy doing. You can use your current role as a benchmark. For example, you may enjoy speaking in front of people, organizing, managing, selling, talking on the phone, accounting, mediating, etc/

• What hobbies do you enjoy and why?

• What do you do that gives you a feeling of losing space and time? You literally get lost in it.

• What do you absolutely hate to do? What jobs have you had in the past that totally disagreed with you and why? (yes you can list laundry)

• What frustrates you?

• Not knowing what your best job is, can you identify 3 – 5 things from the “joyful” lists above you would want incorporated into any new or current job or responsibility?   Also list things you will not do.

• Let’s assume that all paths are correct. You are on the right path and always have been. Everything you have done to this moment has prepared you for the next moment including finding meaningful work. What has your journey down this path already prepared you to do?

• Can you explore meaningful coincidences and synchronicities in your life leading you to a destiny? An example might be educational experiences, new locations, meeting certain people, etc. Other experiences may include illness, injury, or loss.

• Do you have friends, family, or mentors who mention things you are good at? What do they say. Ask them. Be brave and ask them what you are not good at.

• What is the prominent dosha in your mind? Vata, Pitta, or Kapha? How does this dosha play into the role you wish to play. For example, Vata doesn’t lack routine, is creative, likes to start and hates to finish. Pitta likes to lead, enjoys routine, likes to oversee, but not get their hands in it. Kapha likes to manage, take care of others, and loves routine.

• Without being shy at all, list all the things you are good at and put an “x” next to those you shine at and feel you are better at than others.

• What legacy do you want to leave? Imagine your funeral and folks are talking about you. What are they saying? What did you do? How did you impact others?

• Find a quiet place and sit with your answers. Drop into your heart center by breathing into the heart and out of the heart. After about 5 minutes, your mind will quiet. Ask your heart, God, or self what your purpose is. Simply state, “how can I help and serve?”

• For 1 week, repeat this meditation and begin to look for clues and affirmations of your purpose. Come back to the above questions daily and expand your answers as you learn more about yourself through this exploration.

• When you feel ready, move on to visualizing what your ideal day looks like. Make a schedule that includes the time of getting up, going to bed, eating, exercise, cooking, self-care, hobbies, commuting, working, and managing family.   This is NOT what you are currently doing probably it’s what you want to do.   For example, maybe you hate commuting and want to work from home.

• Can you visualize your perfect job? Where are you? What is the environment like? What are the people you work with like? Who are your clients or what is your product? Do you have a title? Can you create a job description?

• Write a 1 – 3 sentence statement about what you feel you have been born to do.

I hope this is helpful.  OM,