Living & Working On Purpose

Did You Know?

Did You Know?

More Importantly, 'What do you think it all mean for living on purpose?'

Coaching from Life On Purpose: Stuck in a Job Too Small for Her Spirit

Here's the latest request for coaching from Trans4Mind.com:

 

My education and work backgrounds are social work and education, and am currently working as an administrator. My job has gone from people-oriented to paperwork-oriented, which is far from my natural skills, abilities and interests. I am losing hope of finding my life purpose as I face each day of mundane, brain-numbing activities. I want to know what career path to pursue, that fits my purpose.  
 
My talents are with people, and I can see things other people don't-each person's unique skills and talents. An example is of someone i worked with, a kid who others were fed up with. I found his strength and put it to use. He appreciated me for it. My gift is inspiring, motivating, empowering people to believe in themselves. 
 
I am passionate about freedom and equality and fight against racism, sexism, and other isms.
 
I am charismatic, and people fascinate me. I am an extrovert- honest, yet diplomatic, firm yet compassionate. I am asked to mediate tough conversations because I can communicate based on each person's needs. I care about people's feelings. 
 
I am a risk-taker, adventurous, and constantly have good ideas, but have problems following through. I'm good at creating new ways of doing things, have great ideas, and always focus on the possibilities, but dislike strict rules, boredom, bureacracy and details. People are naturally drawn to me, and I am able to relate to any person in any situation. I see what connects us. 
 
I believe everything happens for a reason. My career no longer gives my life meaning and purpose, and I have no passion for what I do. I am a passionate person who needs to do what I love, to use my greatest skills, talents, and creativity to contribute to the world. In  my experience, our greatest skills and strengths bring us the most joy and fulfillment, and I hope to use my gifts to help others. Time is passing so fast, and part of me is thankful to have a job right now, but I have to ask if there is more to life than this!

Hi,

I can see a theme emerging in this first week of these coaching requests, which I guess isn't too surprising given the topic is clarifying one's purpose. <G>

The theme I'm speaking about is the recommendation of shifting one's perspective regarding how we typically view the idea of a life purpose from the common / cultural theme that says our life purpose is what we DO (which often leads one to think of their job or career as their life purpose or some significant role like being a parent, or provider, or good member of a family) and shifting instead to viewing a life purpose as who one is as a spiritual being and what we came to this life to be and experience.

So regarding: "I want to know what career path to pursue, that fits my purpose," I recommend you start by discerning what your life purpose is first, then allow it to shape how you choose to express that purpose.

For example, my life purpose is to live a purposeful, passionate and playful life of service, a life of mindful abundance balanced with simplicity and a life of spiritual serenity.  And knowing this I choose to express these qualities of being in my work as a coach, writer, speaker, but also it's what shapes my role as a parent, and even as a volleyball player at the local YMCA.

The good news is that you've done some great 'inner work' to discern many of the qualities you process.  I'll list the ones that stood out in your message:

inspiring, motivating, empowering (simply change to inspiration, motivation, empowerment)
freedom and equality
charismatic,  honest, diplomatic, compassionate
adventurous, and constantly have good ideas (equates to me as creative)

There are no doubt more but that's a good start.  These could be the essence of a life purpose statement that you could live from and into. 

You might want to experiment with these a bit and plug them into a simple format of --  A life on purpose is a _____ life of ______, _______, and ______.  And each blank can have more than one word as long as the words are either nouns or adjectives and not verbs (to avoid having your life purpose statement contain more doing than being, which would turn it into a mission statement instead of a life purpose statement.)

Now, here's the last and perhaps toughest part.  Once you have a working life purpose statement that inspires you and calls you to be in the world, see if you can start 'pouring' your current position into that context and use your current position to practice living true to your life purpose.

You don't have to stay in the position forever but the more you can see that you COULD stay there and still live true to your life purpose, the more freedom you will have to move on to something else.

You see this is the erroneous thinking so many people fall into:

"My career no longer gives my life meaning and purpose." 

You're right it doesn't, and really never did.  We bring meaning and purpose to our work, not the other way around.  Does that mean your current work is right 'in the center of the beam' of your life purpose?  No, probably not. But as you get clearer what your purpose is and begin to 'test drive' living true to it, your current position will be a good place to practice living and expressing your purpose.

You may also find these resources about the Life On Purpose Perspective of interest and value to you.

And also this video at related to this.

Hang in there. You're asking the right questions, which is half the battle. As a recent article I read said, " Asking the right questions determines our quality of life."  Check it out.

The Mother of All Minds - An Interview with Dudley Lynch

One of Living & Working On Purpose radio show's new themes for this year is  Purposeful and Powerful Thinking – offered up by one of my co-hosts, Ricardo Flores.  He also offered the tag line of  “Training our brains and honing our spirits to experience purposefulness, fulfillment and total abundance in our lives!”

I’ve often shared that our minds are like a powerful instrument... Like a scaple for example.  In my former life as a sm. Animal vet I often used a scaple to help with the healing process and saved many lives with it.  But in another person’s hand it can be a deadly weapon.

So too can our minds.  So, today we’re going to explore the Mother of All Minds, which just so happens to be the title of a book written by today’s guest.

Dudley Lynch is president and founder of Brain Technologies Corporation
of Gainesville, Florda. Dudley's books, "thinkology" models and personal assessment profiles have been changing people and organizations for the better since 1979.

His powerful insights and hit-the-ground techniques have been recognized around the world through books like Strategy of the Dolphin: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World and The Mother of All Minds: Leaping Free of an Outdated Human Nature, which is the book discussed during the show.

His works have been translated into eight languages and are considered classics in the field of personal change and organizational development. He observes, "When changes are coming at us as fast and furious as they are today, there simply is no substitute for tuning up our personal evolutionary thinking processes, even when it requires a 180-degree turn for us, as the big changes nearly always do." You can learn more about Dudley and his "personal change that works" tools on his Web site at www.braintechnologies.com.

You may also find the following diagram of value as you listen:

Download Graves levels

Used by permission of Brain Technologies Corporation, Gainesville, Florida. Reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Listen in on Wednesday, April 29 at 5 pm eastern.
 

Coaching On: When Fear Shapes Our Lives

Here's a request for coaching that recently came in from Trans4Mind.com :

I don't think for me it's a matter of finding out what my life purpose is because I know that I have been gifted with talent and a passion for music. Ever since I was a little girl, I could remember standing in front of the mirror pretending to be a rockstar, singing in my hair brush. 
 
My dream is to sing and through music make an impact in teh world but my question is more in regards to my creative block and some sort of mental/emotional resistence I seem to have in pursuing my life pursue to become a performer/singer.
 
You would think that some who really had the passion and determination to materilze their dream would be taking action but I feel stuck and i tend to procratsinate and avoid every opportunity I have to live out my life purpose. It's just total insanity. Is it fear, is it just pure laziness? What is stopping me from taking action, from dedicating more time and energy into the one thing I love so much?
 
Can you help?

And here was my response back:

Thank you for your question - Is it fear, is it just pure laziness? What is  stopping me from taking action, from dedicating more time and energy into the one thing I love so much?

I can really feel your frustration and angst in your message. So, let's see what I can provide to start to 'unstick' you and provide you access to a greater degree of freedom to pursue your passion.

To begin, real briefly, let me make a distinction regarding life purpose.  While most of our culture views a life purpose as what we're here to 'DO' (sing, dance, coach, doctoring, healing, etc.)  the Life On Purpose Perspective offers a different view -- your life purpose is who you are as a spiritual being and what you came here to be and to experience.  Your life purpose is the context of BEING that you pour your life of DOING into, so who you are begins to shape what you do, and what you do becomes ways in which you express your life purpose.  (more info on this in links below)

With that in mind, please consider this second distinction.  We all have not one but two life purposes. In other words, we have two primary life shaping forces in our lives and each of them is distinct to ourselves.  We have our true, or as I like to refer to it, our Divinely Inspired Life Purpose, and we have our Inherited Purpose. Both can be powerful shaping forces in our life, and when our lives are being shaped by the Inherited Purpose, it prevents us from either knowing our true purpose or it acts as a master saboteur undermining our life purpose.

And you're right on when you suspect that FEAR may be playing a big part in your dilemma.  You see, our Divinely Inspired Life Purpose arises from and has as its foundation Universal Love (which often equates for people as their relationship to God, or a Higher Power, or their spiritual nature).  But the Inherited Purpose is based in fear, a sense of lack and a need to struggle to survive.

Here's the catchy part. Your Inherited Purpose operates most effectively be remaining in the background of your awareness.  Since it's formed in our early formative years, it's pretty easy for it to stay in the background, kinda like the air conditioning unit you don't even year in a room until it shuts off and suddenly you realize there was a soft humming in the background.

So, my coaching to you -- uncover your Inherited Purpose so you can begin to own it and eventually make friends with it so one day it can become your ally in living true to your Divinely Inspired Purpose.

By the way, this is a critically important step along the Purposeful Path that is fully outlined in Passage 3 of the 6 Passages of the Life On Purpose Process. 

For more on the Life On Purpose Perspective, check out this blog posting from my next book on the subject:

(There's also a video related to this)

You may also want to take the Life On Purpose Self Test to get a clearler picture of your starting point, as well as pointing you towards your new life.

And thanks for giving me this opportunity to express my own life purpose in this way, and for being willing for to share it publicly so that others may be served.

Simply and purposefully,
BRAD

Living Simply in a Complex World

NOTE: This is the Yoga Journal cover story that launched Life On Purpose Institute in August of 1996.  While the article was written over a decade ago, it's as pertinent today as it was back then, maybe more so.

 In Lewis Carroll's childhood classic, Through the Looking-Glass, one of Alice's misadventures in Wonderland is with the Red Queen who takes her on a wild run through the countryside. But no matter how fast Alice runs she can't seem to get anywhere. Finally, breathless from her efforts, the Queen allows her to rest long enough for Alice to comment that "Everything is just as it was!" to which the Queen replies, "...Here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Several years ago, I remembered Alice's predicament, as I stood on the deck outside my home, gazing into a meandering stream threading its way through my back yard. I thought Alice must have felt similar to how I was feeling about my life. I was physically exhausted and emotionally out of breathe, running as fast as I could to keep up with an out-of-control lifestyle of my own making. As I gazed across the wooded lot and listened to the bubbling of the water across the rocks, I realized the scene before me had been much of the reason I had purchased the home about a year before. At the time I had imagined spending countless hours out on the deck, basking in the sun, watching the seasons roll by, but the seasons had rolled by without me. I'd not so much as stepped foot on the deck in all that time. I'd been too busy working 50-60 hours a week at my veterinary practice so I could pay the mortgage on the house, not to mention keeping two car payments up, and the three credit cards paid down. Like Alice, I realized something was wrong with this picture. I was running as fast as I could just to keep up.

I'd like to say that out of that realization I put the house on the market, traded the cars in for older models without payments, cut up my credit cards, and started living a simpler life. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. I hadn't suffered enough yet. It wasn't until my second marriage ended in divorce and I came close to burn out in my profession before the lesson finally hit home. However, the seed of an idea was planted that day, many years ago, and though it took a while, the harvest of a simple life my new wife and I have designed is sweet and well worth the wait.

THE COMPLEXITIES OF SIMPLE LIVING

My personal journey to a simpler life was motivated by two factors fatigue and frustration. I'd been on the fast track ever since taking my first part-time job at the age of 15 working at the library downtown. I held my nose to the proverbial grind stone through junior and senior high school, being sure to make the types of grades that would prove to the world that I was worthy of attending veterinary college. I even managed to rush through undergraduate school, completing a four year pre-vet program in less than three. By the time the mid-eighties rolled around, I'd been hoofing it hot and heavy for over twenty years, and by American standards, I was a success. Yet despite all the success trappings, I kept thinking, "Is this all there is?"

My frustration grew out of a lack of finding meaningful ways to express my natural creative interests. Although my art teachers in high school had urged me to continue studying art in college, I would hear none of it. I knew artists starved and veterinarians didn't. Yet, by the time I found myself standing on my deck contemplating the similarities between Alice's predicament and my own, I was starved creatively and spiritually.

Selling my veterinary practice in 1989 to become a freelance writer seemed like an excellent way to take a long break from running as fast as I could just to stay in the same place. I envisioned sitting on my deck tapping away on the keyboard for a couple hours each day, but when I realized how much money the deck was costing me, I decided if the little nest egg from the sale of my practice was going to last more than six months, I'd better find a less expensive deck to sit upon.

Although at the time I hadn't even heard the term "voluntary simplicity," these moves to simplify my life just "felt right," even though some of my friends and family thought I must have brain damage from breathing too much anesthetic while performing surgery. About this time Ann and I met and fell in love. Ann not only supported the career change but had a small townhouse complete with deck. I rented out my home in order to reduce expenses and paid Ann rent on her spare bedroom. Could life be this easy, I thought? On this occasion the answer was no. I discovered over the next year that making a living as a freelance writer wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. After a year of rejection letters and watching my savings rapidly dwindle, I jumped at the chance when a good friend of mine offered me the opportunity to come to work as a business consultant. The regular salary allowed us to move back to the larger home and lease the smaller one. Two years and one marriage later, I realized I had come full circle, once again working a 50 to 60 hour job that paid well but didn't give me the time for my creative outlet.

A pivotal time came with the arrival of my daughter, Amber. While she was still an infant, I slowed down long enough to notice the families around me. With most of our friends, both the husband and wife worked, and the kids were farmed out to overflowing day care centers. Neither Ann nor I wanted that for Amber. It had taken me over forty years to get around to having a child and I wasn't interested in being an absentee father.

Still, it took me several weeks before I built up enough nerve to discuss my thoughts with Ann. After all, I had a secure job complete with an excellent salary and long term benefits. So what if I wasn't happy? I was a good provider. Finally, one afternoon while driving home from visiting friends, I poured my feelings out, ending with, "I think I should quit my job and go back to writing. What do you think?" To my astonishment, Ann replied, "I agree." Instantly, a great burden lifted from my shoulders and we started making plans for "right-sizing" our life to fit our new direction.

After struggling to keep two different houses for over two years, we sold the larger house within a few short months, in the process consolidating two houses of furniture into one. The more we sold and gave away, the more freedom we experienced.

Looking back, I realize now that there was a certain "chicken or the egg" phenomenon to simplifying my life. There was an inner as well as outer process that seemed to work simultaneously or were so interwoven that it's difficult to tell which came first.

Richard Gregg, who coined the term "voluntary simplicity" back in 1936 points to this outward slowing down process that frees up ones time to pursue the inner work that continues the cycle. One of the first things our decision to slow down gave us was time time to take long walks with Amber in the stroller; time to get to know each other better and to explore our values. Fortunately, we discovered we shared many of the same values. With each discovery our relationship grew stronger. Gregg, himself an interesting mixture of Eastern and Western cultures, having lived in India as a student of Gandhi as well as attending Harvard, describes this inner and outer work in this way:

"Voluntary simplicity involves both inner and outer condition. It means singleness of purpose, sincerity and honesty within, as well as avoidance of exterior clutter, of many possessions irrelevant to the chief purpose of life. It means an ordering and guiding of our energy and our desires, a partial restraint in some directions in order to secure greater abundance of life in other directions. It involves a deliberate organization of life for a purpose."

While I wasn't sure what my life purpose was yet, the urge to write was too strong to ignore, and it became increasingly clear that we were willing to reduce our material wants so I could focus more on my writing and so we would have time together as a family. Ann learned from reading The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn that we could save significantly by buying our food in bulk and storing it under our bed. We cut back on eating out as well as our movie going. Instead we waited a few months for the movies we wanted to see to come out on video. Then we discovered if we waited a few more months, we could find the same videos for rent at a local discount store for one-third the price. Each discovery was a small victory for our new lifestyle.

Although these steps might sound like a move to deprivation and austerity, we didn't find it to be so. "That is the greatest misconception about what simple living is about," says Bo Lozoff, cofounder with his wife, Sita, of the Human Kindness Foundation. The Lozoff's have practiced voluntary simplicity for close to thirty years, after living on a boat while in their twenties and realizing the joys of such simple living. "If someone approaches it in that way, they will feel poor," says Bo. "The whole point of giving things up is that you feel the richness that results, a psychic release of just not having a bunch of stuff, and not having to be on this constant treadmill to keep the stuff. Simplicity is a great joy, not a punishment or stern discipline."

Meanwhile we continued making inner discoveries as well, including that we shared an intense interest in further developing our spirituality. A whole new dimension of simple living began to unfold. Having turned my back on my southern Baptist background around the fourth grade, I had missed Jesus' message to "not store up treasures on earth," but to share our wealth and ourselves with others.

I've since learned that Jesus wasn't the only spiritual leader who advocated the virtues of simple living. Buddha also urged a balanced path between indulgence and deprivation, and Confucius, Lao-tzu, Mohammed, and many others also taught the value of simplicity as well as finding a balance between the inner and outer aspects of our lives.

The idea of simple living isn't new in our American culture, dating back at least to the days of Thoreau's two-plus years at Walden Pond, as well as to the frugal, self-reliant lifestyles of the Puritans. The idea has, at times, struggled with its own identity crisis, being called many different names including, "the frugality phenomenon," "creative simplicity," and more recently "down-sizing," "right-sizing" and "downshifting."

Although we weren't sure what to call what we were doing either, we did notice that the more steps we took to simplify, including purging the clutter around us through yards sales and through donating boxes upon boxes of clothes, knickknacks, and household items to the Salvation Army, the more time we had to explore what truly satisfied us.

We began volunteering some of our newly found time to organizations and causes we believed in. Again, many of our friends didn't understood what we were doing. "You spend that much time working without pay?" they'd ask incredulously. We tried to explain that, although our pay could not be socked away in the bank, we were being more than adequately compensated by being able to contribute to others. Some understood, others walked away shaking their heads. In this way we slowly found ourselves encircled with people who understood and supported our efforts, and we started to notice there were more people interested in living a simple life than we'd first imagined.

Then one day, while reading a book review in the newspaper, I found out what we had become DOMOs. According to the book, Trash Cash, Fizzbos, and Flatliners: A Dictionary of Today's Words, DOMOs are "downwardly mobile professionals, typically under 40, who abandon a successful or promising career to concentrate on more meaningful or spiritual activities." It was a relief to realize that there were enough other people out there doing what we were doing to finally be named. Down with Yuppies, up with DOMOs.

Despite having trouble coming up with a term that satisfies everyone, we may look back at the nineties as the decade when simple living finally caught on as an "idea whose time has come." According to a recent study, Yearning for Balance, prepared for the Merck Family Fund by The Harwood Group, the road to DOMOdom is filled with former Yuppie baby-boomers with 72% of people aged 40-49 agreeing with the survey statement, "I would like to simplify my life." Of course, that doesn't mean everyone who would like to simplify has taken the necessary steps, but many of them appear to be moving in that direction. Twenty-eight percent of all the respondents said that "in the last five years, they had voluntarily made changes in their life which resulted in making less money not including those who had taken a regularly scheduled retirement."

THE OUTER ROADS OF SIMPLICITY

"It's not a cookie cutter lifestyle," says Vicki Robin of the New Road Map Foundation and co-author of the book, Your Money or Your Life, referring to the varied approaches people have taken to simplifying their lives. Vicki and her partner, Joe Dominguez, have lived for over twenty years on about $6,000 of annual investment income each, even though their book has been a top seller since being published in 1992. The proceeds of the book go to organizations that promote a sustainable future for our country and the world, such as the Northwest Earth Institute which offers classes on voluntary simplicity. Along with Joe and Vicki many other DOMOs are simplifying their life by becoming debt-free. According to John Cummuta, president and founder of Financial Independence Network Limited, Inc. (F.I.N.L.), the Yuppie model of the eighties has turned up empty for many people living it, and the next generation that would be expected to step into that lifestyle is rejecting it, saying, "No, these people aren't happy."

Up until a few years ago, Cummuta led such a lifestyle, working in a top paying position for a company that was doing very well. "I thought, 'this is it, we've achieved the American Dream.'" At the time Cummuta drove a leased Corvette, his wife a leased Oldsmobile Regency Brougham, and they were making payments on an airplane they kept at the airport not far from their large home. "We did it all on credit," admits Cummuta, "but we could make all the payments. We were not being irresponsible in terms of our culture's norms."

Then the company Cummuta worked for suddenly went out of business, and he found himself without any income. "It was the worst two years of my life, and also the best two years of my life because it burned into me an understanding that I was not a success. I didn't own anything. I was renting a lifestyle and when I could no longer afford the rent payment, I was evicted from the lifestyle." Out of that experience, Cummuta developed a system that allows people to get completely out of debt, including their mortgage, in about five to seven years and F.I.N.L. was born. Even though Cummuta's company has experienced rapid growth and was listed as one of INC. Magazine's 500 hundred fastest-growing companies in 1994, he continues to run the company with no debt.

Cummuta's approach to debt elimination is simple. Start by cutting up your credit cards. When I heard this, it made sense. If you have a patient who is bleeding to death, first stop the bleeding. But I found doing it not so easy. "What if an emergency arises? I'll need that credit," was just one of several excuses. When I listened to myself justify keeping my cards intact, I realized how hooked I was on them. Instead of going "cold turkey," I weaned myself off of them, keeping one card safely tucked away in a safe deposit box to avoid impulse spending.

Once you've stopped the bleeding, Cummuta's Financial Freedom Strategy has three major stages: Pay off ALL debt first, operate strictly on a cash basis, and then focus all available cash on wealth-building. A fourth stage that Cummuta claims more and more Americans are choosing is to move to a cheaper, safer, and more enjoyable location.

This was the case for Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanska, who acknowledge they were 'fast trackers' living in Los Angeles. Frank was a successful, though harried, screenwriter and freelance journalist, and Wanda a newspaper reporter for the Examiner. But after seven years of LA living, they realized they were miserable. "It reached a point that the marriage wasn't going to make it without more time for each other and other pursuits," says Levering.

When Frank's father, who owned an orchard in Virginia, suffered a serious heart attack and none of the other six kids expressed an interest in taking over the orchard, Frank and Wanda decided to move back east. While they were fortunate to have such a place to move to, the orchard also came with a debt of over a $100,OOO and was going down hill. "Those two factors forced us to simplify," admits Levering, and with such a large debt, all their spare cash went to paying it off. "We were looking for ways to cut costs and save money. In a number of areas we started cutting costs and found out that we liked it."

After moving into an old farmhouse, they decided, rather then go deeper in debt to furnish it, to live with what they had and economize wherever they could. "We discovered that we liked the whole process and we were feeling better about ourselves, despite the hard work," in part because they often worked together which gave them back time for their relationship which had been missing in L. A. Since they were both writers, they eventually decided to write about their experiences, and co-authored Simple Living: One Couple's Search for a Better Life.

URBAN SIMPLICITY

Although many people have found moving to the country approach works well for them, it's not a necessity. Jeff Beal, his wife and child, live in the Los Angeles area because that is what works for their careers. As a song writer and singer, respectively, the Beals prefer the city setting, although they do feel that moving to a more country setting may be in their future. "Because I'm an artist, some of the things that mean the most to me as a composer don't generate the most amount of money. I'm concerned with having a lifestyle that isn't so extravagant that I have to sale my artistic soul to support my lifestyle." The Beals have managed to live simply despite their urban setting by becoming more conscious of what they spend their money on. Rather than trading in their cars every couple of years for new models, they've chosen to keep their older ones. Around the house, they're much more likely to try to fix a broken appliance than rushing out and buying a new one, as well as making their own home repairs rather than hiring someone. Eating out is another place where they've been able to save substantially. "People in L. A. tend to eat out a lot," observes Beal. "We've found that when we do it less, it's more enjoyable when we do go out."

Penny Yunuba is another example of someone living the simple life in the city. She quit her job in 1988 to live her life the way she wanted. She rented one of her bedrooms to someone and sold her car because public transportation and friends made it possible to live without one. She volunteers her time to an organization that in turn pays her health insurance. In this way she has designed a life far different from the get-ahead treadmill of her previous career in microcomputer sales. Yunuba says one of the side benefits of living a simple lifestyle is the depth and closeness of her friendships. Although it was not something she expected, it is one of the greatest joys in her life. Simple living "gives people a fresh set of eyes to look at old habitual patterns to discover for themselves empowered new ways of doing things," observes Vicki Robin. "It's the joy that comes from that awakening that leads to tremendous savings and feelings of freedom and control."

One of Vicki's favorite stories comes from a family who followed the steps outlined in their book to simplify their lives. After following the program for awhile, they suddenly noticed they were not using their dining room, preferring to eat their meals in the family room. So, they sold the dining room furniture. They, then, converted the room into a spare bedroom and had a couple move in trading room and board for yard work, house work, and child care. The room became known as their "$6,000 room" because they calculated they had been spending that much for those services. Such creative ideas become the norm when people begin to take back their lives and have time for what's truly important to them.

THE INNER ROADS TO SIMPLICITY

As Mark Burch points out in his book, Simplicity: Notes, Stories and Exercises for Developing Unimaginable Wealth, simplicity starts with a fundamental shift in consciousness, otherwise you will continue to be uptight, worried and stressed, whether you have a lot of possessions or you have none at all. For Burch, simple living "does not begin with discarding personal possessions and then searching for alternative, simpler ways of meeting the same needs. Rather, the technology begins with the cultivation of mindfulness. As we grow in our capacity for and enjoyment of mindfulness, then the outer aspects of our lives eventually and progressively come into alignment with this changed consciousness."

As Ann and I continued along our path of simple living, we found this process occurring naturally and with little effort. Even though we enjoyed living in Greensboro NC, a midsize city in the central part of the state, we found we shared a hidden fantasy of one day living in the mountains, so we began taking weekend trips exploring likely locations. In the process, we found the mountains soothing to our inner nature. It gave us both a feeling like we had come home, even though neither of us had ever lived in the mountains. One area in particular beckoned to us, but we heard from everyone we talked to that it was a resort and retirement community and far too expensive an area to settle in. Still, we couldn't get it out of our minds. We each sat with it, meditating and praying. A few months later, upon returning from a spiritual retreat in Alabama, I swung out of my way to drive through the area once more. Within less then 30-minutes of returning to our "favorite spot" I discovered the perfect house for sale. On further investigation we found that since the home had a lower level apartment which could be rented at seasonal rates, we could live exactly where we wanted to in a larger home for significantly less money. It even had not one but two decks. Such synchronicity seems to run hand-in-hand with the mindfulness that Burch speaks about. The inner knowing becomes clearer as one becomes more focused in life.

Another aspect of the inner journey of simplicity is the willingness to simplify mentally, emotionally and spiritually -- to let go of old ways of thinking that no longer serve you, old emotional wounds of regret, jealousy, and resentments. As Birch points out it also means for many of us, letting go of what we think we know about God. "I had to let go of huge hunks of stuff that I was taught in the name of religion," says Birch who was raised as a Roman Catholic.

Over the years I have come to realize as I simplify my outer world, that my inner world deserves equal time. A simpler life provides this time to focus, to stop, breath, and reflect on what needs to be released as well as examine what is really important. Whether this is done in a quiet mountain setting, at the local coffee house, or privately in one's home, the opportunity to reflect upon one's life is an important one. When one takes the time to do this, one of the things they realize is that there is a close relationship between simplicity and spiritual growth. Often, it is also a part that terrifies many people. "What happens if I turn off the TV and there's silence, then what?" asks Burch. "That idea is so anxiety provoking that usually we keep the TV on, or go to the beach, or get a new car, or stay busy and in motion? But if I turn off the TV and it's quiet then what do I do? Where will I point my mind and what will I do with my will? The spiritual writers tell us that if you will stay with that, stay in that quiet, in fact, enter it more deeply, and you move beyond the feeling anxious and be in the silence and emptiness of that moment, then grace and God be willing, you will know God a little more."

Ernest Callenbach, author of Living Cheaply with Style and the classic, Ecotopia, says it more bluntly. "I don't think it's possible to live a rich spiritual life if you are very concerned with buying and selling as the main thing about your life. Leading a reflective life requires you to detach from a lot of petty, passing human concerns, and consumerism is about the most petty and passing human concern that we're exposed to.

"To my knowledge, all known religions, including Christianity, recommends, not austerity, but simplicity as a spiritual discipline," continues Callenbach. As it says in the Bible, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

"I think we can translate that pretty directly into modern terms. If you are caught up in the consumer economy to the extent that it impoverishes the rest of your spiritual being, you certainly aren't going to obtain any kind of enlightenment."

If however one uses the practice of simplicity to free up some time, then uses that time to deepen spiritually and emotionally, it tends to motivate the person to simplify further which leads to more free time. For some, this newly found "free time" may lead to a renewed level of creativity; for others the time may be spent more introspectively in meditation or other spiritual practices; still others may find their time spent in service of their fellow human beings. "You'll find what your time is for once you start to have it," observes Vicki Robins.

SIMPLE LIVING AND GAIA

Many of the people who choose to live a simpler lifestyle, do so, at least in part, because it allows them to walk gentler upon the face of Mother Earth. According to the Yearning for Balance study, environmental sustainability is an important question for many Americans, with 86% of the survey respondents saying they are concerned with the quality of the environment, and 93% of them admitting that an underlying cause of environmental problems is that "the way we live produces too much waste."

"The level of consumption that we identify with success is utterly unsustainable," says John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and the forthcoming Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing (H.J. Kramer). "We're gobbling up the world." Many Americans are still coming to grip with the fact that the world's resource base is limited. More and more, living simply is not only a good idea, it is becoming paramount to our survival. "Prosperity based on pollution is not prosperity," continues Robbins. "It's short term profit, long term disaster." Robbins, the heir-apparent to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream fortune until he walked away from it at the age of twenty-one, has an interesting prospective on the affluent lifestyle so long held as the American Dream. "I had the privilege of growing up in a very wealthy family. Among my parents' friends were some of the wealthiest people in the world, and, I must tell you in all honesty, they were also some of the most neurotic people in the world. So I've had the opportunity to learn first hand that acquiring things can be a total distraction. What we've done in our society is to make greed into a lifestyle; we've almost made it into a religion."

In his book, Living Cheaply with Style, Callenbach points out that, as with other aspects of simple living, leading an ecologically responsible life doesn't mean self-sacrifice or austerity. It does, in fact, result in a richer, fuller, longer and healthier life. One way to understand this is to consider what Callenbach calls the Green Triangle. The three points of the triangle are environment, health and saving money, with the basic connecting principle being, "Anytime you do something beneficial for one of them, you will almost inevitably also do something beneficial for the other two whether you're aiming to or not."

Callenbach claims this principle holds true 96-98 percent of the time. He cites as an example, people's diet. The American culture is obsessed right now with eating less fat in their diet. Interestingly enough, "eating a lower fat diet also saves you, sometimes astonishing amounts of money," says Callenbach, "and of course, it's also good for the Earth since raising cattle is ecologically destructive."

Dick and Jeanne Roy are two people who have not only promised to tread lightly on the earth but are also teaching thousands of others how to do the same through their nonprofit organization, the Northwest Earth Institute (NWEI) in Portland Oregon. For over 20 years, the Roys have held true to their promise, despite their six-figure income from Dick's job as managing partner of one the largest law firms in the Northwest, a position he retired from in 1993 to work full time as a volunteer at the Institute.

NWEI offers three discussion courses in workplaces, churches and schools; Deep Ecology and Related Topics, Voluntary Simplicity, and The Bioregional Perspective - Discovering Your Natural Community. Says Roy about the Voluntary Simplicity course, "Once you've gone through the course, it's hard to live in denial. Fundamentally, people find that simplicity is taking control and through simplicity you enrich your life. It's hard not to come to that conclusion." Unfortunately, according to the Yearning for Balance study, although Americans realize something must be done, many are "waiting for somebody else to act first: their neighbors, big corporations, or the government." Others feel that technology will be our environmental savior. As one participant of the study said, "technology will make your life easier and cheaper and environmentally as it develops. I don't think simplifying your life is going to do one bit."

If such thinking persists in our culture, we may be in for a rude awakening within the not-too-distant future. "Probably in the 2020's we, as a planet, are going to hit an ecological wall," predicts Duane Elgin, author of The Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness, and his 1983 book, Voluntary Simplicity, which is considered a classic by many people pursuing a simpler life. Elgin has chosen to take an "earn as you go" approach to simple living, rather than build up a nest egg and living off the interest. "I don't think there is going to be some magical transformation within the year 2000. There might be a TV special, but that's about it. If we have not prepared for this, in terms of evolving our culture and consciousness, and in terms of creating tools of mass communication so we can talk our way through it, we're going to descend into resource wars, massive civil unrest, and a huge die-off of people on the planet. The combination of the ecological adversity and the psychological and political problems could send us into an evolutionary detour."

THE NEXT MILLENNIUM: GLOBAL COMMUNITY OR THE NEXT DARK AGE?

In November 1992, the Union of Concerned Scientists met in Washington DC where 1600 of the senior scientists, including a majority of the living Nobel Laureates endorsed a statement entitled, "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity." It stated: "A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated."

These are decisive, pivotal times for the evolution of humankind, points out Elgin who, after twenty-five years of studying the situation, says, "I'm not all that heartened by the swift mobilization of the body-politic to respond to all this. I thinking we're sitting on our hands, for the most part."

But humanity's future has not yet been engraved in stone. We still have time to make the difficult decisions that lay before us. Necessity is, after all the, mother of invention. Although our future is uncertain, we need not be paralyzed by despair. Interestingly enough, arising with the challenges we face are the solutions, both in technology and in consciousness.

Building a sustainable future is well within our grasps if we are willing to take the steps necessary. In The Awakening Earth, Elgin says two of our priorities which will need to be addressed are: breaking the cultural hypnosis of consumerism and developing and maintaining ecological ways of living. But perhaps our most important priority is the creation of "compelling visions of a sustainable future. We cannot consciously build a future that we have not imagined," writes Elgin. "Many people can visualize a future of worsening crisis ecological destruction, famines, civil unrest, and material limitations but few have a positive vision of the future. Without a hopeful future to work toward, people will tend to withdraw into a protected world for themselves and focus on the short run."

Our destiny has never been more in our hands. If we live in a complex world, it is one of our own design. Perhaps it is time to create a new vision of a sustainable, simpler, more spiritually directed world one based on our mutually shared intrinsic values rather than one based on the value of a dollar. I believe the Universe is on our side, deeply committed to our success while at the same time completely unattached to the outcome. We each have the opportunity to choose, moment by moment, what kind of world we bring forth. Perhaps we will find after so many years of running so hard just to stay in the same place, that there really isn't anywhere to get to. It could be that in slowing down we'll find that we've been living in the land of plenty all along. Now, it's time to start taking care of it.

SIMPLICITY RESOURCES (I kept these resources as part of the article even though I don't know if all of them are still pertinent or in existence.  One of them I know is -- the one that was launched by this article - Life On Purpose.

BOOKS

Simplicity: Notes, Stories and Exercises for Developing Unimaginable Wealth by Mark A. Burch, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC and Philadelphia, PA

Living Cheaply with Style by Ernest Callenbach, Ronin Publishing, Inc. Berkeley, CA 94701

Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness by Duane Elgin, William Morrow and Company, Inc. New York NY

Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin, Quill William Morrow and Company, Inc. New York NY

Simple Living: One's Couple's Search for a Better Life by Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanska, Viking New York NY

Your Money or Your Life by Joe Domingues and Vicki Robin Viking, New York, NY

ORGANIZATIONS

New Road Map Foundation is an all volunteer, nonprofit organization that promotes a humane, sustainable future for our world. P.O. Box 15981, Dept. BK, Seattle, WA 98115, 206-527-5114.

Northwest Earth Institute, offers programs on the environment as well as voluntary simplicity. 921 SW Morrison, Ste. 532 Portland, OR, 97205, 503-227-2807. E-mail: nwei@teleport.com

Financial Independence Network Limited, Inc. is a publishing company that markets and distributes personal finance and small business publications and programs including the Debt Free and Prosperous Living program. For more information, call 1-800-321-3465 and mention 0BTW for bonuses.

Life on Purpose provides educational material and programs on living lives of service, simple living and spiritual exploration. 1160 W. Blue Ridge Road, PO Box 834 Flat Rock, NC 28731, (828) 697-9239.

NEWSLETTERS

The Simple Living Journal, a quarterly newsletter that includes practical tips and the philosophy of slowing down. Editor Janet Luhrs, 2319 N 45 Street, Box 149, Seattle, WA 98103. For information call (206) 464-4800

Simple Living News, ten issues a year about "making sane choices in an insane world." Editor Edith Flowers Kilgo, P. O. Box 1884, Jonesboro, GA 30237-1884.

INTERNET

The Simple Living Network, makes finding Healthy, Natural products easy on the Internet. Their site offers low priced, helpful items including books, natural foods, vitamins and supplements, and natural pet products. E-mail: slnet@slnet.com WWW: http://slnet.com/ or call (509)-395-2529

Are You Giving Away Too Much?

If you're in a helping profession like I am as a Life On Purpose Coach from time to time you may wonder if you're giving too much away and devaluing yourself and your services.

My coach, Mark Silver, recently address this in his article, When Is It Okay to Not Get Paid?

Since I figured there might be several other people who find themselves asking these types of questions, I wanted to point to Mark's article and also share my 'off the cuff' response which is below.

Hi Mark,
Great article and follow up discussion. Two points here:

1- I've moved from 'complimentary coaching sessions' to a 'coaching consultation,' and it's more than the phraseology for me.  the former is more of giving away my services to see if they like what I'm offering.  Free samples can be great but after awhile it begins to feel like everyone is sampling rather than sitting down for the full meal.

The latter is a time to determine if there's a good fit between the client and coach.  For me, that means we need 3 yes's.

1- The first yes is does the client feel that Life On Purpose Coaching is a fit for what they're looking for? How will they know.  I give them a sample of it. (This may be less than in my older days of comp sessions). I think it's because I've gotten better at digging in more deeply sooner.

2- Second yes, does my way and style of coaching a fit. I.E. would I be the best Life On Purpose Coach for them?  Again, they get a sense of that from the above sample.

3- Third, are they a fit for me? Are they the type of client I feel I can really serve and add value to their life.

If all three parts are yes, we almost invariably find a way to work together. If not, we don't and I often can refer them to someone that might be a better fit.

Point #2:  Ann and I have entered into a collaboration with www.trans4mind.com to offer free coaching through their web site. It's a fun experiment so far and I'm thoroughly enjoying it, plus I'm posting some of these on my blog which I feel is offering some value to the general blogosphere.  It feels right to do so at this point, and thanks to your article, I'll keep 'checking in' with my guidance so I'll know if there's a time to make a change with it.

Struggling with past religious beliefs

We've recently have received a flurry of questions from people interested  in bringing a deeper sense of purpose and meaning to their lives, in part by  our expanding our 'collaborative adventure' with Trans4mind.com, and part through our own network.

So, feeling that these questions and answers may be of service to more than just the one person who asked the question, we've started a new area of this blog -- "Ask Brad & Ann."  And we'd like to invite your questions as well, and  request your permission to share them anonymously.  You can send them to us via email at admin@lifeonpurpose.com or post them here as a comment. We'll respond to the ones that we feel we can offer some insight.

Now, here's our first one.

Hello,
 I have been very encouraged by your site. I have to say that I have
 been searching most of my life, now 49, for my "purpose" and it was
 always connected to a career. I'm not sure I totally get what you are
 saying yet but.........it is getting clearer. The struggle i have is
 with being "born again" christian and what I have been taught my "life
 purpose" is. Also, the there are people who would say your teaching is
 against God. These are some powerful struggles I have had for a few
 yrs. now. I'm just not sure what I believe about God and if the bible
 is true or not. Anyway, my life is so much better when I am helping or
 encouraging others. I need a deep sense of purpose and I'm  trying to
 find it.  Thank you for the site and the information you share here.

Ann's response back:

Thank you for writing your heart felt message to us. I completely understand
your struggle about being a "born again" Christian and what you have been
taught versus what we are saying about a life purpose. First of all, we are
not suggesting you do anything against your beliefs. We do however encourage
people to explore and ask questions about their beliefs.

Many of us have been taught things as young children or adults that just
don't make sense anymore. For example, when I was a child in Sunday school
they used to show us pictures of a white bearded man in the clouds of the
sky and refer to him as God. As an adult that just doesn't work for me any
more. As I have studied science and seen space pictures and start to
understand the universe more, it does not make sense that a God is floating
around in the clouds somewhere. Yet, I still believe in God but He is much
bigger and more powerful for me now.

From our perspective at Life on Purpose, a life purpose should include all
of who we are not just our jobs or role that we perform in life. A life
purpose includes all of life, all aspects including our faith and spiritual
life. Exploring what you believe about God and the Bible are healthy for you
because you can come to a place where you can have a more personal
relationship with God not just the one people have told you to have. 

Being of service is an important aspect for any of us who really want our
lives to make a difference. Encouraging and helping others sounds like a
rewarding part of life for you. Keep up the work of clarifying your life
purpose. You will be rewarded with a happy and satisfying life when you get
clear about your purpose. Please feel free to explore all of our website,
download the free items like the book excerpt and subscribe to our free
Ezine, Purposeful Pondering.

Have a wonderful day and week and God bless you.

Clarity of Purpose: Don’t Live Life without It

While it’s possible to start on the Spiral of Fulfillment at any point – the purposeful service point, the simplicity point, or the spiritual serenity point – we need to pick one point to start this book, so I’m choosing the purposeful, passionate and playful service point, and here’s why:

"Seven in ten individuals without a clearly defined purpose felt unsettled about their lives, while almost seven in ten with a purpose felt satisfied."

This was the finding as reported in the book, I Just Want My Kids to Be Happy, by Dr. Aaron Cooper and Eric Keitel, M.Ed. That's a pretty dramatic difference, wouldn't you say?

This section isn’t intended to give you the ‘how to’ of clarifying your life purpose.  For that I recommend you read my other book, Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life, that outlines in details a proven, systematic, spiritually-based process that has over the years assisted thousands of people to clarify their life purpose and then design their life to be an authentic reflection of that purpose. (See the appendix in the back of this book for more purposeful resources.)

No, this chapter is to address the ‘why to’ do the work to bring ‘clarity of purpose’ to your life.  So, let’s start by further distinguishing what I mean by the term, clarity of purpose.  There are 3 different components:

1.    Knowing your true, Divinely Inspired Life Purpose with crystal clarity. In other words, knowing your life purpose so well that if someone woke you at 3 o’clock in the morning and asked you what your life purpose is, you’d be able to tell them clearly and succinctly.

2.    Also knowing with equal clarity the other life shaping force that so often keeps people from either knowing their life purpose or from living true to it. In the Life On Purpose Process I refer to this as the Inherited Purpose.  It’s important to know this because one of the primary things that gives the Inherited Purpose so much of it’s ‘life shaping’ power is that it operates most effectively in the background of our awareness.  So, bringing it to the light of day is a key step in being able to choose whether to allow the fear and lack-based nature of the Inherited Purpose to shape your life or not.

3.    Having the tools and the commitment to use these tools to design a life that is a true and authentic reflection of your life purpose.  Said another way, if the people who know you were to hear you share your life purpose with that person who intruded in on your sleep, they’d say, “Yes, that’s his/her life purpose. I know because their life is a reflection of that purpose.”

Let’s look at the #1 in more depth.  To know your true life purpose starts with a shift in perspective in how we view what a life purpose is.

The Evolution of Life Purpose

While the question of what is one’s life purpose is an age-old inquiry, I believe we’re now at a point where our perspective of life purpose is evolving.  This is a time of transition from the old, cultural perspective to a new perspective – the Life On Purpose perspective.

The old cultural perspective says your life purpose is what you’re supposed to do with your life. When you operate from this perspective and go to answer the question, “What then is my own personal life purpose?” many people identify their work as their life purpose.  Others may identify some primary role in life as their life purpose.  For women, this is often to be a good mother or a loyal spouse.  For men, it may be to be a good provider or a good dad.

But let’s consider this term, life purpose, for a moment.  Doesn’t it make sense that your life purpose should be able to encompass all of your life, not just certain segments of it?

Another common outcome of operating from this cultural perspective is that we end up with a life filled to overflowing with doing, doing, doing, and for many people they may find themselves ‘doing more and more while enjoying it less and less.’

So, let’s consider another perspective – the Life On Purpose Perspective that goes like this:

Your life purpose is the context vessel or container into which your pour your life.

Said another way, consider that your life purpose is more about who you are as a spiritual being and what you came here to this life to be and to experience.

Since this is a new perspective for many people let’s explore it in more depth by going through the following exercise together.

I have found that labeling the various circles of the diagram above helps to integrate this perspective into your thinking so please play along with me.

Circle 1 represents the doing or action part of life, so write in these words:
•    Do
•    Doing
•    Action

And there’s a relationship between that circle and circle 2 which represents the having aspect of life, so write in circle 2 these words:
•    Have
•    Having
•    Results

We often do things so that we can have things.  For example, I went to seven years of college to earn a degree in veterinary medicine.  This relationship is represented by the top semi-circle arrow.  Of course, as I’ve already alluded to, if we’re not mindful we can easily slip into a vicious circle of doing…having…doing…having, etc.  This can lead to a sense of doing more and more while enjoying life less and less.

This vicious circle is often the product of the cultural perspective regarding your life purpose, and it’s really easy to get trapped in the vicious circle, in part because it’s so much a part of our culture – the way we do things especially in our Western society.  Also, these two aspects of life occur in the physical part of our world and it’s pretty easy for us to stay aware of the physical aspect of life with our five senses.

However, there’s simply a lot more to life than this, so let’s see how we can access a deeper sense of purpose and meaning in our lives.

Circle 3 represents the being aspect of life, so let’s start by labeling it with these words:
•    Be
•    Being
•    Experience
•    Meaning

Now, here’s a important point to consider:

Who we are, or more accurately, who we consider ourselves to be has a
direct influence on what we see possible to do.

This relationship of being and doing is represented by the other semi-circle arrow.  To illustrate this important point, let’s look at a simple example.

Let’s say you’re in the midst of starting a new job, but you’re really only taking the job because you have bills to pay and a family to feed.  You’re not sure it the job for you. In fact, you’re pretty sure it isn’t.  You don’t like the person you’re going to be working for, the work environment seems rigid and depressing, and the work seems to be tedious and unrewarding.  But you’re afraid if you don’t take the job you’ll get even further into financial difficulties.

Can you see that ‘who you’re being’, i.e. your attitude, beliefs, thoughts and feelings about the job will influence your action and performance on the job which will then affect the results as well.  It’s a cascading effect.

Now, let’s say there’s another person who’s about to start the same kind of job.  But who this person is being regarding the job is excited about the work.  She’s looking forward to getting to know her co-workers, and while she realizes her boss might be a bit of a challenge, she’s looking forward to finding ways to work with him and to be of service.  Sure the work may be a little tedious at first, but she’s confident that the better she does at the job the sooner she’ll be able to move up to more satisfying duties.  So, she comes to work excited and with the intention to do her best in service to others.

Can you see that the actions she sees to take will be different as will be her performance and not surprising so will her results.

Wow, who we are has a lot to do with the quality of our life, doesn’t it?

And what does this all have to do with life purpose, you may be asking.  Well, let’s go back to our diagram once more, and ask this question:

What informs us as to who we are or who we consider ourselves to be?  Said another way, if this realm of being is so important how can we access it in a way that will serve us to living a more purposeful and meaningful life?

Remember, I indicated that the aspects of doing and having occur in the physical part of our world, but as you can see from the diagram the being aspect occurs in the non-physical part of the cosmos.  So hang in with me for a little longer and I think this will all make sense.  It may even result in a large ‘ahha’ moment.

What is the simplest component of the physical part of the cosmos – the basic building block that we learned about in 9th grade science class?

It’s atoms, right?  And atoms come together to form molecules of matter, so fill in those blanks on the diagram.

Now, let’s look at the nonphysical side.  On this side there are not one but two components that come together to form a different kind of “molecule.”  So, what gives us our sense of ourselves, of who we are?

What are those two basic building blocks of our being?  Try this on:

•    Our thoughts, and
•    Our feelings or emotions

These two come together to forms molecules of meaning.  Consider this perspective for just a moment.  When you do you may notice that, just like in our example above with the two people starting work, there are thoughts and feelings that empower us and enhance our lives and those that can disempower us and detract from life.

And that leads us back to life purpose and a major point of this exercise.  I’d like you to consider that we have not one but two purposes, in that we have two powerful life shaping forces in our life, as represented in our diagram by the two smaller circles.

Circle 4 represents your true life purpose. What I often refer to as your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose because it helps remind me that the very foundation from which our true purpose arises is the attractive force of Universal Love, which can also equate to one’s relationship to God or a Higher Power or one’s spiritual nature or spirituality.

So, in Circle 4 write in:
•    Love
•    D. I. L. P.

And this is who we truly are.  We are “Divinely Inspired” spiritual beings brought to earth to have a physical experience.

But we’re not quite done yet?  What about Circle 5?  Well, as we all know we often have thoughts and feelings that aren’t based in Universal Love, that don’t give us a sense of abundance, and that don’t give us the freedom to flow with life.

And that’s our second purpose. What I refer to as the Inherited Purpose. This second powerful life shaping force isn’t based in Universal Love, but is instead based in fear, a sense of lack and a need to struggle to survive. 

And here’s the last main point for now:

The Inherited Purpose is the lie you’ve been telling yourself about yourself and
about life for so long that you’ve come to believe it to be true…and it’s not.  It’s a LIE.

The reason we call it the ‘Inherited Purpose’ is because it’s formed so early in our life, during our formative years as a child that it often feels like something we were born into, or inherited. 

And it’s also formed from “molecules of meaning,” but these molecules are of a different nature from those of our true purpose.  These molecules are based in fear, and a sense of lack, and they often lead to us struggling to make it in life.  You see, for all of us as we go through these early formative years, stuff happens and people say things that have us feel threatened or insecure.  These can be major traumatic happenings like the loss of a parent, or a divorce, or a series of smaller incidences.

When they happen we feel threatened, unsafe or insecure, and since we’re naturally meaning-making beings, we make up some meaning…oh, not on a conscious level but quietly in the background of our awareness. Before we know it we’ve fabricated a story that explains or justifies all those things that have happened, not even realizing that the story is based in fear and lack.  We also think that the story is true, but it’s not. It’s a lie – it’s a fantasy.

But just like our true life purpose can shape our actions and results, our Inherited Purpose can shape what actions we see to take, and those actions will be consistent and in a dance with the lie, and will result in results that are consistent with the story, which of course, only goes on to fortify and make the story that much more real.

Now for some good news.  Uncovering the Inherited Purpose and bringing it from the background of our consciousness to the foreground is one of the most important steps in clarifying your true purpose and then living true to it because when you’ve distinguished your Inherited Purpose you can then begin to have an Inherited Purpose rather than being had by it.

But there’s one last piece of the ‘clarity of purpose’ puzzle – being able to live true to your purpose.

Living Your Purpose – Where the Rubber Meets the Road

When you’ve done the inner work to uncover your Inherited Purpose so you can begin to be responsible for it, and you’ve clarified your true, Divinely Inspired Life Purpose, you’ve set the stage for a profound and lasting transformation in your life.

However, the work isn’t done yet. In fact, the last piece can be the most challenging and ultimately most transformational of all – it’s living true to your purpose.

There’s an old coaching formula I learned from my first coach, Judy, over 20 years ago.  It goes like this:

I + A = G & D

I = Insights
G & D = Growth and Development

Of course, you may have already guessed that the “A” stands for Action.  You see, uncovering your Inherited Purpose and clarifying your Divinely Inspired Life Purpose are major insights – mega-insights in that they have the potential to transform your entire life.

But they are still just insights.  And like Judy once told me, “Insights are like a pinch in the buttocks; momentarily interesting but hardly life transforming.”  But combine these insights with action and you have true growth and development in your life.

Living a life on purpose is a process, a journey.  Getting to the place where the people who know would say, “Yes, your life is a reflection of your true purpose,” doesn’t happen over night, but it can happen, and it doesn’t need to take decades to be, be known and to start expressing your life purpose.  It does take being in action and not getting distracted or derailed by your Inherited Purpose.

So, as we close out this chapter, take a moment to write down the insights you’ve gleaned.  Then, pick at least one of those insights and write out an action or two that you WILL take to begin to integrate the insight into your life.

NOTE:  One bold, audacious action you may be ready to take is to clarify your life purpose using the Life On Purpose Process as your road map. There are several ways to experience the power of the Life On Purpose Process.  For more information go to Life On Purpose Institute.

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Thoughts about the Prosperity work I have been doing

Hi,

Couldn't sleep early this morning. This happens sometimes around 3 or 4 am. So I thought I would write down  some of my thoughts about the daily spiritual work I have been doing based on The Abundance Book by John Randolph Price. From the very beginning I have had some difficulty with the plan because I find the way Mr. Price writes and languages his material to be so different from the way I say or write things. I have been asking myself the question "If you don't like the way John Randolph Price words things and you find it so hard to do the Daily Prosperity Practice, then why are you still doing it?" This is an excellent question because the plan calls for doing it for 40 days without interruption. If you do miss a day then you are to start over from the beginning. Once I finished 40 days I could claim I did it and be done. So, when I first pondered the above question I couldn't quite understand why I would keep going with this program yet I found I was unwilling to stop. Why?

 

Here is what came to me about this.

1. I have a sense, a curiosity about this process. Maybe I don't fully know what is possible with The Prosperity Plan . This feels absolutely true for me so I keep on going. (Today was day 94 for me.) Intuitively I have a sense that there is something really big about doing this process that is worth my time and effort to take this on and it is important for me to have the faith that this is true and to trust my intuitive nature.

2. Learning to do a daily spiritual practice is a really valuable lesson for me. In fact, I have learned that if I can do a daily practice for 94 days then there are other things I can take on and succeed at as well. Things I have given up on. This applies to exercise. Most of the time I say "I am just too busy with too many other things to exercise." Yet? Now that I have been doing a spiritual practice for over 90 days could it be possible for me to take on exercising too. The answer is yes. So this week I have taken on exercising too. I am walking 2 to 3 times a day. Starting small and working my way up to more rigorous exercise. This is no small feat.

3. I am stretching and growing in ways I would not have thought of at all had I not taken this practice on. Specifically, I am growing in my connection with God and the angels. I am loving this aspect of my life.

4. I have become part of an angel study group. I became interested in this when we interviewed Karen Forrest for our Exceptional Wisdom Radio Show. (You can listen to all of our shows on Living and Working on Purpose Radio show.) and my spiritual life and faith have grown by leaps and bounds. Didn't see that one coming when I started and at least not in the ways that I have actually grown.

5. Looking only at the physical world to find results is not where many of the results are showing up in my life. Sometimes words don't adequately explain or describe what I am getting. Thus the problem of talking about what I am getting out of the Prosperity Plan.

6. My (our) actions have been consistent with a loving and faithful path. We own two rental houses where the tenants are going through a very hard time with their jobs. This started last fall. At first, the idea was to have them evicted and find new tenants. This just did not feel right. Brad and I discussed this at length. We talked with other people who said things like "Get them out of there and get new tenants." Again, this just did not feel right. We had been doing the Prosperity Plan for about a month, I think, when Brad and I talked about working with the tenants rather than being adversaries with them. Work with them rather than against them. Both families are good people. Both families are dealing with circumstances beyond their control. So we have been working with these families to help them stay in our homes and to get caught up on their rent. While this has been a financial strain and difficult for Brad and I it has also been rewarding because we feel it is the right action to take. We are now in conversation with both families about having them purchase the homes. This would be consistent with my goal around my investing in houses. The tag line for my business is "Turning houses into homes." I didn't want to be come a landlord as much as I wanted to contribute to families who needed some help getting into their own home.

7. Faith. My faith is growing in ways I would not have thought about at all. In fact, I didn't think about my faith much. I have recognized that I didn't have a lot of faith. I am smart, I can figure things out so there wasn't much room for faith. I seen for myself that being smart can get in the way of faith because I think I can rely on myself more than I relying on my relationship with God.

For those you have thanks for reading this and paying attention to someone who expresses what is has been like to be a part of the Abundance book's Prosperity Plan.

Hugs,

Ann

Studying Angels

I am happy to let you know that I have found a group of people in my community where we are studying angels. Since the interview with Karen Forrest, I had been looking for more information about Angels and how to connect with them. I am so happy to have found this group and to be spending time learning more and finding out more about angels. Our last meeting I presented some information on Archangel Jeremiel. Below you will find the information I presented. You can find out more about angels on our group's website. Please feel free to go to the website and take a look. Our facilitator, Steve Forbes, has done an impressive job with his first website. I hope you find this information fun and informative.

Archangel Jeremiel -- His name means “Mercy of God.”
Archangel Jeremiel is the archangel who heals our mind of toxins such as anger, judgment, or unforgiveness. In ancient Judaic texts, Jeremiel is listed as one of the seven core archangels.  In addition to being an of prophetic visions, Jeremiel helps newly crossed-over souls review their lives. This is a service he helps the still-living with too. If you’d like to take an inventory of your life up to now so that you can make positive adjustments, call upon Jeremiel. He will help you fearlessly assess your history and learn from prior experiences so that you’re even stronger and more centered in love in the future.  Helps with: Clairvoyance and prophetic visions, Life reviews and making life changes, Psychic dreams, including interpretations. Source

Any time you see sparkles of dark purple light, know that Archangel Jeremiel is with you. His crystal is, of course, amethyst. One of Jeremiel’s purposes is to work with crossed over souls in reviewing their lives on Earth. He can also help those living make life reviews. Jeremiel will deliver mercy when asked for, and he helps you act in loving ways towards others. Jeremiel supports people in treating themselves and others with respect and tender loving care. Source

  He helps those still living to take an inventory of their life, to be able to make positive changes.  The Angel of Emotional Healing. Source: Angels by Sharae

Archangel Jeremiel is the angel of vision. Archangel Jeremiel assist us in accessing visions from our past lives and present dreams such that we can bring this information into the now for our Soul's growth.

Archangel Jeremiel facilitates the awakening of memories into our present day consciousness as well as assisting with the interpretation of the images.

Archangel Jeremiel assists us in accessing the Akashic Records (lightbraries of information containing all knowledge of the past, present & potential future). With this key to cosmic wisdom, we are free to develop our gifts and bring our dreams & visions into reality to fulfill our higher purpose. Jeremiel assists also with dream recall & interpretation. Source: Universal Life tools

Archangel Jeremiel guides us to have a merciful outlook. Helps us treat others and ourselves with respect and TLC (tender loving care). Source: Angelic whispers 4u

Jeremiel is the angel who looks after souls waiting to reincarnate, dealing with ‘past life reviews’ in particular.  Whilst souls are in their earthly bodies, he helps with psychic dreams and clairvoyance.

In Judaic text he is named as one of the seven archangels.  His energy is said to be kind, loving, protection and compassionate.  He is called to help with life changes. Source 

Jeremiel can help you to “get unstuck” spiritually, to get back on your path and involved with your Divine Mission.  He inspires us to spiritual acts of service. Source

I reconnected with Jayne Chilkes. She took the Life on Purpose Coach Training years ago. She also does the following work with angels to heal and help. She does DNA activation and Akashic Record Clearing. Books