Skip to main content
Blog

THE EXQUISITENESS OF FINDING PURPOSE

So often, in speaking with people, whether that be in guiding a retreat, giving a workshop or just listening to them in 1on1 conversations, the conversation always seems to move to PURPOSE.
It may surface from a feeling of exhaustion as a result of being burnt out, or from the disappointment that comes from working hard but never quite achieving what you want; or it may come from the uncertainty of transition; or it may arise from a mid-life crisis that brings with it a change in lifestyle. Whatever the reason, inevitably when I ask them: Do you believe what you’re doing is what you came here to do? Their response is . . . “I don’t know.”
When I ask, “If you could do anything in the world, what would you do?”
Again, the response I get all too often is, “I don’t know.”
In The Mosaic, I tell the story of Mo, a boy who loses his parents 2 years apart on the same day. The story is a charming story that will touch you heart and soothe your soul, AND what I realised in writing The Mosaic is that I found my purpose in the space between the words of the story.
What does “the space between the words” mean?  To find out, let’s shift back now to our conversation around purpose.
So many of us get up every day to go to a job that no longer inspires us, to return home too tired to give our spouse and our kids the energy they need and deserve. We worry about whether we will have the money to pay our bills, take that vacation we dream of having, and now we even wonder if our kids will come home safe from school. The stress of life takes from us the energy we need to make these changes.
But we have to find the energy.  We have to find the courage to pause to ask ourselves, Why do we continue  to do things that we hate doing so that we can continue to do things we hate doing?
Do you ever ask yourself, “Why am I here?  What is it I am intended to do here?”  Perhaps if we were to pause, we might find the answers to these questions in the space between the things we currently do. What would that space say to you?

Here is a simple exercise you can do to not only find your purpose, but also to start to monetise it as well.  To do this exercise, make a short list of the following things:

  1. Things you love to do
  2. Things you are good at
  3. Things you can get paid for
  4. Things the world needs

Now arrange your answers to the categories above in such a way that it allows you to see where your answers fall in the categories below. Find the overlaps?

PASSION is created when you do the things you love and the things you are good at.

PROFESSION is when what we are good at meets things we can get paid to do.

VOCATION is when what we are paid to do is what the world needs.

MISSION is found when the things we love are the things the world needs.

TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE find the place where all four of these pieces come together. I call this The Mosaic way of Purpose. The 3rd practice of The Mosaic is to DO WHAT YOU CAME TO DO.

Imagine for a moment living from that space. Doing what you are great at doing and loving what do. Finding a gap that needs to be filled and getting paid to do what you love doing. This is the bliss of knowing your purpose.  This world awaits you.  I invite you to experience it by leaving your comfort zone and entering the world between the spaces of the world you live in now, This is The Mosaic.

Leave a Reply