Seeking A More Meaningful and Purposeful Life

Leading a life filled with meaning and purpose can greatly con­tribute to your level of happiness. Meaning and purpose in life are foundational to our existence. Like the other existential concerns about death, responsibility, and isolation, they can have far ranging implications for how we conduct our lives.

Every life has at its core a dream that quietly and unobtrusively asks to be fulfilled. Each of us dreams such a dream. It is an important part of the original blessing of being in this world. Purpose is another word for this dream.

The consciousness we develop in ourselves in each lifetime extends beyond the physical body. It exists prior to being born and after we die. Therefore, our obligation is to live the truth encoded in us to the best of our ability, and our contribution is to evolve our individual consciousness in a way that uplifts humanity’s collective consciousness.

The quiet isolation of growing up in an alcoholic home accustomed me to silence, sent me into nature for my solace and companionship. I do not believe we grow only through difficulties, but the soul uses the means necessary to move us out of stasis. As I have grown in my ability to hear the soul...

Often the spirits only whisper and we confuse their voices with the wind, but if we do not pay attention, they may well unleash a hurricane in our lives. They certainly did with me and with many of my students because we were slow responding – but we lived to tell the tale and it was a tale of rebirth and miracles.

When many people think about making a social impact, they do not think that this change can extend to themselves and their life’s work. On the one hand, it feels exciting and worthwhile to take on a worthy cause, and on the other, it can feel too time consuming and overwhelming.

We each enter life with desires, goals, and challenges to overcome, and we choose birth conditions that will best help us meet these objectives. Arriving with dreams from the past that are seeking fulfillment, we find meaning as we are able to satisfy these karmic imperatives from the past, through relationship, work, artistic endeavor, etc.

Living our beliefs and working whole will reveal who we truly are to the world. It will naturally attract the people that should be in our community. Yet, one of the hardest parts of building community is finding the space to let new people into our lives and letting others leave or play a diminished role.

What happens when you bring a group of older residents to mix with young children in childcare?

We keep compulsively trying to control everything all around us to protect our fragile biological bodies…too often without the slightest sense of awareness that there exists within us a vast, subjective realm of eternal wisdom, filled with boundless creative capacity, that longs to...

There is no one meaning of life but rather a multitude of subjective life meanings, and there is no one purpose to life but rather a multitude of subjective life purposes. Each person must sort out her life purposes and life meanings, and proceed to make value-based meaning...

The Life Path is a kind of connecting thread that each human being follows during the course of his or her life. We can compare it to the script for a film or the “route map” for present-day rally enthusiasts. We move forward on this path by making use of the vehicle that is our physical body.

It seems to me that our ongoing quest to secure material wealth—often to the point of excess, and with little regard for the harm we may do while in blind pursuit of money—reflects the fact that, as a species, we’ve never really come to grips with what we’re living for.

Human laws form a basis of social agreement and social order, but human laws are only pale reflections of a higher order of laws sewn into the fabric of existence. These laws govern the movement of the Earth, the cycle of seasons, the forces of nature, and the structure of the atom itself. The great laws existed before humanity, before nature.

How much is a kind word worth? How deeply can a touch heal? How important are your little interactions with your family, friends, and clients? Never underestimate the power of a kind word or thought. It may affect one or many, many people without you even knowing it. Even a gentle touch can make a huge difference.

Each soul incarnated into a specific form on earth for a unique purpose. Your journey is now and exists at this moment, whether you realize it or not. It will be more enjoyable if you consciously pursue your spiritual purpose to bring the world to Love. Consciously following your spiritual purpose brings you ultimate...

The heart is a key concept in shamanism, a specialized term that refers to one’s deep source of aliveness, spiritual center, soul, or core. The word core itself comes from the French word coeur, meaning “heart.” It is understood to mean our individual, localized expression of the Great Spirit, God, or Universal Consciousness. It is our individual wave moving upon the greater sea of spirit.

With each breath in I affirm I have a life purpose. With each breath out I send my purpose out to the world, where it may manifest in my life. This continues automatically as I breathe in and out.

As the age turns, millions of people are pioneering a transition from the old world to the new. It is a journey fraught with peril and hardship and breathtaking discovery, a journey irreducibly unique for each of us. Because we are stepping out into the new, it is also profoundly uncertain and at times lonely.

Your life story is the accumulation of experi­ences you have had in the physical realm, but it is not who you are in your essence. Who you are is far greater than you can ever imagine. Who you are is...

Things do not make us happy — and even if they could, living for happiness is not our objective. Living with purpose makes a person happier than trying to be happy!

This is a time of big questions: What changes will living my soul’s purpose make in my life? Do I know all my gifts? How will expressing my gifts help me live a life I love? Who will help me do all this?

Choosing a dream is not enough. In the universe of light and darkness, of yin and yang, you will be asked to choose again, and again, and again. The truth is that you choose in every waking moment, and strangely enough, even when...

Do you ever wonder why challenges come into your life? Do you ever wish that your life could be smooth and simple? Do you ever want your relationship to just be easy? These are things that probably every person...

In order to align ourselves with “God’s mission” for us, it’s helpful to know what these two questions are. The first question people report being asked when having an NDE is, “What did you learn about being able to love?”  It’s probably...

In the past twenty years, I’ve come to appreciate that my personal awakening motivates me, defines me, and guides me to lead a life of meaning and impact. Rather than expe­riencing life in a casual way, I’m driven to maximize every moment.

Many people today are frustrated and disheartened by the divide that seems to have arisen in this country and across the globe. This discord affects everything from family relationships to the workplace, leaving people frustrated and fearful that it’s going to get worse and there’s nothing they can do about it.

Pretend today that you are the captain of your ship, and that for today you will guide this ship the way you want to. You will take the time you need, be with the people you want to be with, say “no” when you...

Our dreams need to reflect who we truly are, and not stem from past conditioning and what our parents wanted for us, or what our teachers or peers influenced us to pursue. We may also find that if our dreams and ambitions mean that we sacrifice some part of ourselves in the achieving, then we end up frustrated.

I certainly can’t imagine that we are on this planet simply to eat, work, and sleep. And we aren’t here just to procreate and keep humanity going, because if we were, all of us would have children. Why, then, are we here? I believe it’s for a much larger reason.

Everybody has a life theme, a significant psychological issue which they are working out in this life. Your life theme is created when a powerful emotional chord is struck in your childhood, and it is reinforced when similar events reoccur throughout your life...

I want to love, serve and remember until the very day that I die. I want to be able to look back at my life and feel that I tried in my mission. I will never be perfect in this, but I can strive to be the best I can be. In this way I will live with purpose and joy.

Perhaps you have never considered that you have unrealized potential. After all, many of us have arrived at the final quarter of our lives. Aren’t we done yet? Haven’t we spent ourselves? The fortunate answer is no.

The pure pleasure of being you marks the first step on the path to finding your life purpose and transforming your life. Then, as you share the truth of who you are with others, you find you have a larger life purpose that ultimately plays a part in...

Soul tension is basically telling us that there is a disconnection from self — we no longer know ourselves and, instead, cling to masks, labels, and roles. Soul tension is a symptom of resisting the soul, which asks nothing less of us than we dive into the journey where we will discover our as yet unknown inner potential and light.

In my book “Are You Happy Now? 10 Ways to Live a Happy Life” I describe the 10 ways I discovered one day when I was lying on my sofa thinking about my long, dramatic life and I asked myself what I needed to remember to live the rest of my life a little bit more happily.

Soul nourishment brings true value of life. You can wander from your soul’s path, but you cannot lose it. Even the apparent detours are a part of the journey to your true destination. What seems to be an oversleeping that misses one appointment is really an awakening to keep your true appointment.

If there is one secret truly worth discovering, it is not the secret of the law of attraction. It is the secret of Spirit. True, the law of attraction can bring you whatever you want in life, but it won't necessarily bring you what is good for you. Only Spirit understands what you really need and why you are here.

The Universe is merely an echo of our desires, regardless of whether they are constructive or destructive ones. Some people sometimes want things that in the end won’t truly help them. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Sometimes we may feel as if we haven't discovered our purpose. However, each moment brings with it a new purpose, right now in the moment. Zen sword master Taisen Deshimaru reminded his students, “Be happy here and now or you never will be.” And writer Margaret Bonanno points out, “It’s only possible to live happily ever after on a..."

As a retiree or person nearing retire­ment, you now have the opportunity to go where your heart leads you. You can also get lost or run in circles. To know where you’re going and how to get there, you need a map. Even if you look forward to retire­ment, you’re giving up an identity and need to create a new one.

The heart seems to be one of the most vulnerable in the system because it is the one that has held the most fear, the most old pain, perhaps, and repressed energy. It is the one that is most afraid to open to pure unconditional love, which is indeed where your power lies...

The parable teaches that talents are valuable only if you use them. If you “hide your light under a basket,” if you ignore or deny your talents, the world misses the blessing you were born to bring to it, and you miss the spiritual and material reward you deserve...

Those of you reading this are part of a great spiritual movement, sometimes known as the "Great Shift." While your personal mission is to know yourself, your global mission is to help birth a New World here on this planet. You are doing that in your own unique way...

Some people have a Life Purpose that just affects a few, while others are spiritually contracted to help thousands of people. Just like in an orchestra, every player is equally important. The piccolo player and the first violinist are both crucial to the music's orchestration.

You have no idea how radiant and powerful you really are. The world you live in has buried you and your light in an ornate and viscous web of thoughts, traditions, conditioning and ideologies. It covers the earth like a great blanket of intricate and resolute knots.

Among traditional peoples, when a woman expecting a child enters the last trimester of her pregnancy, the shamans of her community place her in a deep state of trance. The shamans then connect with the spirit of the child coming into life, and they speak to it: 'Who are you? Why are you coming into our village? What is your life purpose?'