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4 Questions To Determine Your Soul Purpose

4 Questions To Determine Your Soul Purpose by Laurie Buchanan | #AspireMag

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” ~ Robert Byrne

For a moment, think of yourself as a business. In our personal lives, determining our purpose—our soul purpose—is the counterpart to formulating a business plan in the business arena. To accomplish this, we must know why we’re here.

Not here as in geographic location, but our purpose for being here. Knowing the answer to that provides us with the most concrete and basic thing we can know about ourselves—that there’s a particular reason for each of us being here.

Women, especially, have trouble knowing this. As mothers, workers, homemakers, artists, social networkers, lovers, chauffeurs, spiritual guides, etc., our purpose can get buried—lost—sometimes.

The bad news is, if you’re waiting to find your soul purpose, you can stop looking now because you’re never going to find it.

The good news is, you don’t find your soul purpose; you determine it. That’s right; it’s a choice; a conscious decision that you make. It’s a stake you put in the ground. Answer the following four questions:

What is my mission?
Your mission is the natural outcome of authentically living your soul purpose.

What is my path?
Your path is the means by which you accomplish your purpose.

What is my passion?
Your passion is the drive behind your purpose, the force, the enthusiasm. It’s the internal oomph you apply to a person, place, thing, or experience—a tremendous mental and emotional investment.

What is my philosophy?
Your philosophy is the precept by which you live.

If you’re struggling to answer the questions, perhaps reading my answers will provide seed-thoughts to help get you started. As you’ll see, the answers can be short and simple. Notice I don’t say, “I hope to,” “Maybe,” or “I wish.” Like Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the Starship USS Enterprise-D—“Make it so!”

Before you read my answers, let me share with you my soul purpose. You’ll then see how my answers helped me to arrive at this conclusion:

My Purpose—I am a mindful agent of positive heart-based change—body, mind, and spirit.

Notice that geographic location doesn’t bind my purpose, it’s portable and can be accomplished from any vicinity. Additionally, I can be a mindful agent of heart-based change in any occupation: hair stylist, landscaper, astronaut, accountant, dentist, mechanic, corporate executive, there are no limits.

Having determined my purpose is akin to having an internal compass that points me in the right direction; the one that helps me to accomplish my particular reason for being here. Here are my answers to the four questions:

My Mission—I affect heart-based change.
Remember, our mission is the natural outcome when we live our purpose authentically.

My Path—I practice excellence.
I choose to associate with people, places, things, events, and opportunities that are positive, uplifting, constructive, and healing.

My Passion—I am fueled by compassion.
It’s been said that “Love is an act of kindness and compassion is its companion.” If love is an act of kindness, then grace is divinity in action.

Beverly Engel L.M.F.T. author of the article, “What Is Compassion and How Can It Improve My Life?” in Psychology Today defines compassion as “The ability to understand the emotional state of another person or oneself. Often confused with empathy, compassion has the added element of having a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of another.”

The next time we see a person and think, “There but for the grace of God go I,” we have the opportunity to put our divinity into action and be the immediate presence of spirit for that individual; give them a smile, a word of encouragement, or lend them a helping hand.

My Philosophy—Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.
Are you weighed down by an overpacked schedule or a demanding job you don’t enjoy? Is carrying unhealthy pounds sapping your energy? Do you fail to keep your promises, do you bite your fingernails, do you tell falsehoods, are you still smoking?

In a conversation with my friend and senior leadership coach Audrey Denecke, she observed, “And even though some circumstances in our life seem unchangeable, what we can change is our attitude toward the situation, circumstance. Sometimes it is our attitude that brings the pain in.”
It’s my perspective that knowing one’s soul purpose—and living it—is vital to dynamic participation in the world and joy.

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About the author 

Laurie Buchanan

Board-Certified holistic health practitioner, life coach, and award-winning author, Laurie Buchanan, focuses on purposeful living. Her first book, Note to Self: A Seven-Step Path to Gratitude and Growth won six literary honors including the coveted Foreword INDIES Book of the Year. Her second book, The Business of Being: Soul Purpose in and Out of the Workplace, maps personal transformation at the intersection of business and spirituality and teaches how to enhance “profitability”—body, mind, and spirit—and how to be your best self and live your best life—always. Learn more at www.TuesdaysWithLaurie.com

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