Purpose Driven Livin'

04/16/2022

The most important purpose in your life. To know Him and to love Him.

04/12/2022

04/12/2022

7 Steps to Living Your Life With Purpose
How to follow your passion and live in flow.
July 18, 2019

This article is written by Katrina Ruth, founder and CEO of “The Katrina Ruth Show,” a multimillion-dollar online coaching business for entrepreneurs, and an Advisor in the The Oracles.

Are you struggling to create your dream life or business? If so, you are probably distracted by the “how.” What you should be focused on instead is identifying your calling.

I know firsthand that nothing else matters if you aren’t following your soul’s purpose. Once you’ve found it, you can align all areas of your life to point in that direction. It is possible to do what you love and live in flow — you just need the right motivation and mindset, and to take the right action.

1. Understand what life should feel like.
“Living on purpose” means doing what truly matters to you in alignment with your values and beliefs. I can’t tell you what that means for you, but you know it when you feel it — and when you don’t.
When you aren’t being you, everything is foggy and colorless. You’re bored and busy at the same time, always tired. Even small things feel like work. You take tests to understand why you feel down and pills to fix it. The list can go on. If you continuously ignore your higher self, it will send you nudges — even a slap in the face — to get your attention.
When you’re in alignment, life is right. Things are easy, and everything just works. You feel alive, passionate, and lit up from within. You aren’t concerned with how to get where you’re going; you’re sure of yourself, even if you’re scared at the same time.

2. Tap into your calling within.
Stop searching outside yourself for answers. There’s only one: be who you were born to be. You can find plenty of exercises online to identify your calling, but you don’t need them. Deep within, you already know what makes you feel alive. You just have to pay attention.
Not sure what your mission is? You’ll be able to put it into words when you stop worrying whether you’re saying it right or others will “get it.” However, sometimes access to your soul is blocked by confusion, especially if you’ve ignored it for a long time. In that case, practice connecting with yourself and tuning in to what’s buried there by asking, “What do I need to know or listen to here?” Then trust the answer. I find journaling to be the most powerful way to do this, but you can also do this as part of a meditation or while walking or driving.

3. Trust yourself and forget what others think.
We’re naturally intuitive before we learn “the rules.” But there’s no right or wrong way to live. If you aren’t following your intuition, you’re operating on others’ terms — and no one can tell you how to be you.
There’s always another approach to everything. I hated building marketing funnels until I started doing them my way. Visionary leaders do things differently; that’s why they stand out. They question the norm to find what’s right for them.
Imagine that you’re successful. No one would question you because you’re on top of the world. Who would you be? How would you act? Confidence and self-belief are key. Consciously decide that you know what’s best for you. Put your hand on your heart and tell yourself, “I trust my ability to make the best decisions for me.” Do this for every area of life that’s important to you.

4. Feel the fear and take the first step anyway.
If you don’t wake up excited to start your day, rip off the bandaid. Make a change or start taking action. While maintaining alignment will take practice, you don’t have to work forever to get there.
The unknown is scary. We feel safe and comfortable with how things have always been. Fear is part of us and will always be there, but it can’t rule you unless you let it; so take action toward your goals anyway. You don’t have to know how or feel ready or worthy.
When I finally realized I wasn’t doing my soul work after struggling for years, I moved across the world to start over with my family. With almost no money, I gave myself no choice but to succeed by following my passion for helping others. It paid off, and I never looked back. While your path might not be as extreme, you do have to take the first step.
5. Rethink your to-do list.

Time is precious and you should value how you spend it. If you don’t decide what matters in advance, you’ll spend it all doing things that aren’t moving you forward. I constantly outline my goals and dreams in a document called “Creating the life I want.” I make sure I set those goals for myself (not others), identify the actions that will get me there, and schedule them each week.
Fast forward to a year from now when you’re living on purpose. Does the stuff on your to-do list today matter? Is that how you got there? Review the items on your list and either delete them, do them, or delegate them. Sometimes it’s worth paying someone else to do things so that you can focus on what really matters: the tasks that will get you where you want to go if you do them every day.
If you don’t care enough about a goal to take regular action toward it, it might not matter as much as you think it does. But if you want it badly enough, you’ll suck it up and do the work.

6. Check in with yourself daily.
Before you get out of bed in the morning, ask yourself what is important today. What would make you sleep well tonight? Most of the things we do all day disconnect us from ourselves, so practice tuning in. Just sit or journal whatever needs to come out for 15 minutes. Let go and ignore the outside world — even if you have to start by just noticing the world you created for yourself.
Before you make decisions or take action, ask yourself: Do I want to do this? Does this feel right? Am I excited about this? Make this a daily practice by setting reminders to check in; otherwise you’ll slip into old patterns.

7. Recognize that you have everything you need.
This may be uncomfortable at first, and it will still feel like work sometimes. But when you’re working toward the right thing, it’s worth it. You can either choose to deny yourself or say yes to your heart and soul, but you choose what you get in life. Do the work today to create the tomorrow of your dreams.
If you trust that it will work out, it will. Don’t worry if you don’t get the outcome you want today. Success takes time, which is why most people give up. You’ll never look back and think “I spent too much time being me”; so keep going. It’s impossible to fail at being you.

You have everything you need. You will become who you are meant to be when you realize who you already are.

04/12/2022

Does Having a Sense of Purpose Improve Your Health?
By Gina Shaw
Medically Reviewed by Hansa D. Bhargava, MD on March 31, 2020

A new study from researchers at the University of California, San Diego, suggests that if you feel you have a purpose in life, you’re more likely to feel both physically and mentally well on a daily basis.
The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 adults ranging in age from 21 to older than 100 using questionnaires designed to assess their physical and mental well-being. Researchers also used other questionnaires aimed at identifying the degree to which the adults found or sought meaning in their lives. They found that people who felt that they had meaning in their lives were more likely to feel physically and mentally healthy, while those who were “searching” for meaning were less likely to feel that way. These associations were particularly strong among older people in the study.
“The basic finding that having a sense of meaning in life is important to health, and that it becomes even more important as we get older, makes a lot of sense,” says psychologist Simon Goldberg, PhD, assistant professor in the department of Counseling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Healthy Minds, which conducts research into improving mental well-being for people around the globe. “We do have to search for it sometimes, but it is comforting when we can find purpose in our lives, and that may even affect our physical health.”
But if you’re thinking, “Wait a minute! So now I have to worry that if I don’t have some lofty sense of purpose, it’s going to make me sick?” hold on. Don’t stress about that on top of everything else, Goldberg urges. First, it’s hard to tell cause and effect from the study. Are people who are struggling to find meaning in their lives less healthy as a result -- or is it harder for people to identify meaning or purpose in life when they’re having major health challenges? “Very likely, it goes both ways,” Goldberg says.
And maybe it’s easier to find meaning in life than we think. (No meditating at a monastery required.) “What this study does suggest is that we should emphasize activities and pursuits that we love, that are meaningful to us, and see those not as ‘something extra’ that we only pursue when we have spare time, but as essential sources of health and well-being.”
What’s more, “Well-being is a skill, and it’s one we can practice,” he adds. “The scale the researchers use in the study for finding meaning includes statements like ‘My life has a clear sense of purpose.’ It doesn’t say what that purpose has to be.”
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Purpose Check
Three ways you can find meaning in your life, according to Goldberg:
Relationships With Family and Friends
“Our social relationships are an incredible source of meaning for human beings,” Goldberg says. “It’s worth it to invest time in them.” That lunch with your best friend you’ve been putting off because you’re just too overscheduled? Consider it just as important as your next doctor’s appointment.
Hobbies or Activities That Bring You Joy
Make yourself a “prescription” for chess at the community center, an hour in the garden, an afternoon teaching your child to cook.
Focus on Others
“At [my] center, we emphasize the power of kindness to improve our own mental wellness,” Goldberg says. “It doesn’t have to be something huge like donating a kidney, but rather daily habits like opening a door, making breakfast for a child, or giving a compliment. Make kindness a regular, conscious practice.”