Our sense of purpose is not a fixed point, it is dynamic. In fact, looking at what is most alive for you right now helps you define your purpose.
While it’s helpful to have a well-defined sense of purpose, I also see purpose as something really dynamic.
I invite you to think about what is most alive for you in your life right now.
Let me explain a little: To further support our journey to living with meaning, purpose and sustainabilityit is useful for us to formulate the vision of our life in a statement.
Over the past few decades, I have found a very helpful saying that I can actually use as my North Star.
These statements change over time. In fact, they can change often, so it’s important to tune in to what is most alive for you, and then, based on what is most dynamic, derive that guiding statement, that sense of clarity for yourself. This statement can be used to help us define our purpose.
I lead an institute which focuses on bringing secular and science-based tools of mindfulness and emotional intelligence to communities and organizations around the world. Mindfulness has been a part of my life for at least the last 30 years. It started as a personal practice and then became more and more a part of my work.
So when I think about what is alive for me, it is mindfulness. It’s a daily practice and something I appreciate and really enjoy. It also brings many benefits to my life.
My North Star is the full integration of mindfulness into all areas of my life. That’s why I try to be an attentive father, an attentive husband, an attentive colleague, an attentive friend. I say to strive because I’m human, like all of us, and there are times when I’m certainly not careful, and that’s okay. I still have that drive. I have a goal that is really defined, and I really want to focus on the fact that that goal also stems from my intention.
From purpose to intention
What values do you value? What is the ideal or expected life you want to live? All of this becomes apparent when I think about my purpose, because purpose does not exist alone, independent of intention and meaning.
Meaning – your values, what is important to you, what you strive for – all of these define your purpose. I’d like to challenge you to think about how your values, what’s important to you, and what you hope for in your best life might fit together in terms of your purpose.
Practice: What is alive for you now?
- So if you want to join me and if it’s convenient for you, close your eyes or simply direct your gaze downward and soften the field of vision so that we can gather our attention.
- Become aware of your bodywhere you sit, lie or stand. Become aware of this tangible experience of your own body and the very quality of your awareness. How can you cultivate the quality of alertness, brightness and at the same time lightness? It’s about being alert and relaxed at the same time. Allow your awareness to come into contact with the sensation of your own body, your posture, the places where your body contacts the surface of your chair, the floor.
- Then begin to gently but firmly direct your attention to the breath: inhale, exhale, a complete cycle of inhalation of air moving in and out of your body.
- I invite you now to think about what is most alive for you at this moment. Where is your attention? What did you notice most prominently? What do you feel? Take note of everything that comes up. Name it. Is this a familiar feeling that is most alive for you now? And what was alive for you during this time? What caught your attention? What questions did you ask? What were you thinking about? What often came back? What is alive now? These can be things that are both very positive and encouraging. They can also be very complex things. Without judgment, just notice what is alive. What was alive for you in your experience?
- Consider one more very important thing: Everything that arose in your life at this moment did not happen in isolation. There are reasons, conditions, and people that have contributed to this thing that is very much alive to you. So I invite you to think about what kind of support you need to develop or work with what lives for you. What support do you need to work with this? We are not alone. We are never alone in the sense that a whole set of causes and conditions enable us to live each moment of each day. So in that sense, what reasons and conditions or people do you need in terms of support to work with what is living for you?
- When you relate to what is most alive for you and when we conclude this meditationlet’s take a few last deep breaths. And if you want, you can write down everything that comes to your mind about the living. What questions do you have? What kind of support do you need?
Write down a word or phrase that represents what is most alive for you at this time in your life, and think about how this dynamic energy informs and fuels your sense of purpose.
