Finding Your Life Purpose in 4 Easy Steps

Finding your life’s purpose is no easy task. Years ago, I came across a great tool on Steve Pavlina’s blog “How to Discover Your Life Purpose in About 20 Minutes.” It offers a simple four step process to answer that age old question “Why am I here, what’s my purpose?” It’s really more of a two step process if you don’t count step 1 getting out the paper and step 2 writing at the top “What is my true purpose in life.”☺

The reason I recommend doing this is because I’ve done the exercise three times and it worked every time. Why I’ve done it three times involves my lack of file management skills. I’ll write more about that another day. Let’s get back to you and finding YOUR purpose.

Steve says “If you want to discover your true purpose in life, you must first empty your mind of all the false purposes you’ve been taught (including the idea that you may have no purpose at all).”  (I’m adding WOW here!)

Basically, you brainstorm writing down every thought that comes into your mind when you ask yourself the question “What is my true purpose in life?”

Keep writing and listing everything that comes to you no matter how impractical or applicable it seems.  Steve contends that if you keep doing this you will eventually write something that brings you to tears.  THAT’S YOUR LIFE PURPOSE.  If it only gives you the sniffles he says to underline it and keep writing.  He wants actual tears/real crying. 

Okay, yes, when I did this I was very receptive and believed it would work and yes at times I can be a bit of a crier, but the truth is the truth and it comes out if you’ll let it.

Steve Pavlina’s  4 Step Process to find your life purpose

Steve writes: Here’s what to do:

1.      Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster)

2.      Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”

3.      Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.

4.      Repeat Step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. That is your purpose.

Here’s a link to the original blog post http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/01/how-to-discover-your-life-purpose-in-about-20-minutes/ .

Today when I did the exercise AGAIN, I started more than misting up when I wrote “Honestly represent who I am, not be afraid to tell my stories.” Then a funny thing happened. When I no longer needed it, I found the file containing my previous exercise. The result then was (cue creepy Twilight Zone music do do do do do do do do do do) “Tell the truth about who I am and what I see.”

Give it a try. See what happens. I’d love to hear your results.

Go for it! – LIVE YOUR DREAM

Certified Organic Dream Creatrix -  Caren Albers is a writer, blogger, writing coach, and personal growth enthusiast who still colors outside of the lines. While learning to live her own dream she learned ways to inspire others to live theirs. Her eCourses based on Radmacher Focus Phrase™ use guided writing to explore, discover, and LIVE YOUR DREAM. http://carenalbersinspirations.com

Game On

The only thing better than setting a deadline to give youself that much needed kick in the “ars” to get things done is to announce your intention to the world.

It got me back on my blog! I’ve been offline most of January working on myself, looking within, clarifying, and stepping up my game.

I studied marketing myself, living my vision, and radiating my passion. I used the power of daily daydreaming to see the limitless possibilities of my life. I’ve had lots of fun settling into retirement with my husband, but now I’m back and I’m “badder” than ever (the good bad).

I’m stepping into my own power. No more Caren-lite. No more hiding, full-throttle Caren dead ahead. It’s kind of scary for me as well as others. But rest-assured, I only use my power for GOOD.

I’m living authentically, expanding my horizons, and working on attracting my tribe, the people who get me, the people who I can share learning with and also learn from. That is an integral part of who I am. I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

I’ve updated my website and finally I’m able to communicate my passion for the process of FOCUS PHRASE™. I hope you’ll stop by and take a look http://carenalbersinspirations.com/. Your comments and feedback would be a great help to me.

Sometimes we know something so well that it is difficult to communicate it to others. This is not difficult to communicate, IT’S GREAT TO BE BACK!

♥Caren4u

Small Changes in Thinking CAN Make Big Changes in YOU

The Four Day Win (oops I added an “e”and typed wine the first time) is a behavior modification strategy shared with me by Martha Beck Master Life Coach Susan Hyatt shyatt.com.  It nurtures goal setting and I can sure use some help with that?

The process involves setting a four day goal and turning it into a success, a win. You start by choosing a small daily goal that you will commit to doing for four day.  A feasible goal makes a huge difference in succeeding.  So, make your goal, then cut it in half to make it ridiculously easy to achieve. I cut my original goal to write one hour every morning during my genius hours when I'm most creative, productive, and connected down to thirty minutes.

Step two involves giving yourself a small reward every day you achieve your goal.  I put together a basket of small gifts,  material rewards (pens, post-it, nail polish etc.), and post-it notes with nonmaterial rewards like reading for 1/2 hour from a yummy book or watching Oprah. I gotta say the reward part challenges me. But that’s the applause, the pat on the back, the “atta girl” we all crave.

On the fourth day of achieving your goal give yourself a BIGGER reward because you accomplished your Four Day Win. It doesn’t need to be expensive like an e-reader or an ipad (although I’m trying to manifest one) it can be a latte or trip to the park or something else that you like.

Three small rewards followed by a larger one allows you to experience life in small wins.  It breaks goals up into managable bites and creates a natural pause to relax in and enjoy your successes.  Then if you want, you can set another Four Day Win! 

It also provides a psychological boost.  Say I go to a yoga class one time, “I’m trying yoga.” But if I go to yoga four times “I DO Yoga.” See the shift, BE the shift!

LIVE YOUR DREAM

“A JOURNEY OF WORDS"- Discover the wisdom of your own words.

Are you ready to take the next BIG step toward living your dream?

Want to understand yourself better and find more meaning and direction in your life? We create our WORLD with our WORDS. Our thoughts become things. When we tell ourselves we can, we can and when we tell ourselves we can’t, well you know how that usually goes.

The words we use every day get strung together and become the fabric of the stories of our lives. Want your life’s journey to be a beautiful tapestry worthy of you? Join me, Caren4u in an online writing experience focusing on the wisdom of your own words.

Mary Anne Radmacher’s thought-provoking, inspiring words (Radmacher Focus Phrases™) begin a conversation that leads to exploration and discovery. Even if you don’t feel like an accomplished writer this class is for you. It's about so much more than writing. Write to inspire your inner strength. Write to develop a habit of using your own words to keep you focused and aimed in the direction of your dreams.

Focus Phrase writing is a small investment with huge returns. While it is about writing it is more about what you discover as you explore and write. The insight gained doesn’t end when the class ends, it lasts a lifetime.

This is a guided writing process conducted online. I offer feedback unique and specific to your writing and discovery. Encouragement and support, no extra charge, that’s just how I roll!

A JOURNEY OF WORDS begins on June 7th and concludes June 25th. $129 covers three consecutive weeks of writing Monday – Friday. Ready to enroll? Reply to caren4u@comcast.net and I will get you registered and paid.

Want a shorter class, I offer A JOG OF WORDS. $40 covers a one week preview that introduces you to the Focus Phrase writing process. At the end of the week, you can decide to continue on with me or enjoy having participated in the shorter class experience.

Here’s what some of my participants have to share about the process:

“This turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to prod my inner wisdom and to actually allow myself to creatively explore beyond the obvious. I found this to be freeing and exciting.” Anne M.

“I imagined this course would get me thinking about life choices big and small, and help me focus on my needs, but I didn't know that some choices would become very important and very clear. I've been able to set my priorities and complete some challenges that have enriched my life in marvelous and unexpected ways.” Michelle A.

Live Your Dream - http://carenalbersinspirations.com

Renaissance

I rarely see the first light of day. I’m not against it, but my natural circadian rhythm wakes me at seven thirty when the sun has made her debut and is already ascending in the morning sky. On those rare days when I do occasion a glimpse of her first rise, I know I have witnessed something truly spectacular, a birth, a new beginning.

I am seeing my own sunrise right now. On the horizon her beauty greets me more brightly each day. She emerges wondrous and whole, a perfect arc arching forward. Her appearance not coincidental, designed, desired, and now required by me. Her presence arrives as beautifully as a bird’s melodic call filling my ears with joyful songs.

It is my calling, my soul’s reach. A hand offered a hand taken, pulling me out of my past into the present where all power lives to create my future. I have answered the call and I smile now, not for the world to see, but for me.

The Hokey Pokey

I’m doing the hokey pokey. I stick my right foot in and take my right foot out, but I never get to the part where I put my whole self in.

“That’s sad” I say to myself. Then I add “MOST people don’t even put a foot in,” to which I counter “you are NOT most people.” Huh, this argument sounds familiar.

It’s in there, I know it is, I discovered it a while ago. What do I get from holding it back, security? What will I gain from being fearless and unleashing it? I will be ALL in…no more hokey pokey.

My New Year’s Resolution for 2009 is

To stop over-achieving. It’s showing up in everything I do from writing an email to making food for parties. For some crazy reason, I seem to always “go the extra mile” and then one more for good measure. At times this can be good, but as an overall strategy for living, bad.

Sometimes, it is “the thought that counts.” I don’t have to type perfect emails or say perfect things or make the most creative dishes for EVERY party. Parties are about people not about perfect dishes and life is about connecting not about perfect wishes.

So, in 2009, I will “stop and smell the roses,” remember to enjoy being a gracious guest, and let other people lead me sometimes. I will replace my need to get everything right with an acceptance that I am all right, just the way I am. Ahhhh, that sounds really good to me right now.

You could say posting this on my blog before noon on New Year’s Day sparks of over-achieving, and I might have to agree with you. But hey, it’s day one and I’m going to cut myself a little slack. See it’s working already!

A Recipe For Success

Focus on what you know not what you don’t know, what you have, not what you need, and what’s working in your life instead of what isn’t.

I’ve always had trouble giving myself credit for things. My family will laugh because I was the overly confident child with the dramatic showy exterior. I was the “look what I can do” kid, but inside I was a marshmallow. Okay, more like a stale marshmallow with many tough layers, but I had a soft, squishy center.

I work every day to be the best version of myself that I can be. I read, talk, think, challenge, live, explore. I know that I am strong, confident, content, and happy but sometimes still a little voice challenges my convictions whispering doubts in my ear.

But when I focus on all that I know, all that I have, and how wonderful my life is, the whispers exert no power over me and trail off in the wind as quickly as they come. With a deep breath, my center rises up to meet me, cocooning me, hugging and protecting my innermost squishy part, telling me all is well, and that YES I can depend on me.

Serendipitous Silence

I loved reading Worthwhile Magazine. It focused on discovering your purpose in life both personally and professionally. Worthwhile changed its name to Motto due to a legal battle over the name. I loved Motto, too. It shouted “what’s your motto?” What do you stand for?

Unfortunately, Motto wasn’t in business very long. When it folded Ode Magazine sent Motto subscribers a few issues of their magazine to check out. I wasn’t feeling a connection until the July/August issue arrived. It was completely dedicated to the subject of “silence.”

It had many insightful articles on “silence” including one on “One Square Inch of Silence,” in Washington State’s Olympic National Park, a subject of an earlier post of mine.

The Buddhist proverb seems to apply here “when the student is ready the teacher appears.” The "silence" issue spoke volumes to me. I thought about silence in new ways, like what it is like to hear dawn break, or how music is as much about the silences in between the notes as the notes, or how sometimes just being there matters more than anything that is said.

In silence, we ask for nothing and we need nothing, we are complete.

Finding Caren

I searched my entire life to discover “who I am.” Not the “who” everybody thinks I am, but the “who” that I know myself to be. Why is this question such a mystery to me? Do I really not know “who I am?”

I have chosen and played many roles in my life but the “real me” comes from a place deep inside myself where when I act from I feel perfectly aligned and my spirit soars.

I move effortlessly, joyfully not fighting my inner compass, letting its knowing wisdom guide my step. I relax and ride the gentle breezes that carry me in the direction of my heart. I celebrate myself by accepting and loving "who I am."

I found myself, see I'm right here.

My Inner Coach

In case you are wondering what I am up to, I spend time writing on my blog (thanks for reading), developing a website to sell personalized photo inspirations (half done), and reading three inspirational books (various stages of completion) all at the same time…..well not simultaneously. I switch back and forth between activities depending on my interest.

I’ll give you the short version of what I have learned so far….I have defined “My Life’s Purpose” (see below) into a single sentence that will become my living instructions (Coaching the Artist Within, Eric Maisel). The book is also teaching me to become my own coach, a really fun activity for goofy people like me who enjoy role playing. I’m finding practical application for this technique throughout my life…..more to come in a later post.

I have defined my dreams, then expanded them to something five times greater, and then recognized and credited myself for things that I have already accomplished on the path to them (The Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard, Jill Baldwin Badonsky, M.E.d.) Are you tired yet? I am a little.

"Bea Silly" is by far my favorite of The Nine Modern Day Muses, and the bodyguard, ARNOLD, is incredibly helpful. I can summon him whenever someone or something attempts to thwart my creativity. I have already called on him once, and he fixed it right up. Yes, he is named after the “Govenator” and yes “HE’LL BE BACK!”

Some call all this jumping around “ADD.” To me it feels more like an open mind inviting different kinds of stimulation at different times. I certainly need to be in my serious frame of mind to work on the website. I learn and then re-teach myself so many things, but I do like the way it’s turning out. So that makes it all worthwhile.

My inner coach might ask “What are you doing to make your dreams come true? And I would have to answer “a lot, but I have barely "scratched the surface" there is so much more to come.” And my coach would say “good on you, keep it coming!”