Living a life “on purpose”

WHAT IS IT TO LIVE WITH PURPOSE?

What exactly does it mean to live with purpose? Purpose can be defined as “anything that connects you to something beyond yourself” This can be anything - it could be your job, a community group you are part of, a volunteer role you hold, a church group, a yoga studio, an online community. This will totally vary from person to person.

WHY DO IT?

And what’s the point? Well, when we connect to things outside of ourselves we shed some of our “ego” by focusing our energy and attention outside of our personal circumstances. We find joy and excitement in life and we lean in to the goodness of innate human functions such as connection, service, and love.

OK I GET IT, BUT HOW CAN I MAKE IT HAPPEN?

So we understand more about what it is to live on purpose and why it’s good for our wellbeing, but I know it can still be a little confusing to figure out whether or not you are living your life with purpose, and if you know in your heart that you aren’t, then it can be tricky to figure out where to start.

Below are a few tips and pointers to help you begin aligning your life with more purpose, taking small, achievable steps each day to help you live more in tune with who you are at your core and what you care most about.

1. JOURNAL

• Ask yourself what your top five priorities are in your life right now, e.g. family, your health, saving for a trip etc.

• Evaluate your weekly activities and ask yourself how many of your activities are supporting you in achieving your priorities in some way.

• If you realise that your daily activities/actions are not at all supporting your priorities, then take some time to figure out how you can course correct/realign to make sure more of them are

2. SLOW DOWN

Completing tasks with even 1/8 less of the speed that you usually do will help you to be more mindful and present with whatever it is you’re doing, and as a result more purposeful!

3. DETERMINE YOUR VALUES

When you are super clear on your values then you can really easily make decisions about what is/isn’t right for you based on whether or not it is in line with your values. Not sure on your values? Stay tuned for guidance and support in this coming soon!

4. MAKE IT SPECIAL

Light a candle, take a deep breath, meditate, say a short prayer, put on some music. Anything that helps you to tune in, get present, and feel more connected to “source” can be a neat way to ritualise your tasks and set them up to feel that little more special and on purpose. Read more on this in my previous blog post “make it sacred”.

HOW I LIVE “ON PURPOSE”

Before we wrap up, I thought I’d share with you some of the small ways I make sure I am living a life that feels meaningful and on purpose, in the hope that it may inspire you too.

I got real clear on my values a while back and I find that allowing many of my actions and decisions to be guided by these is a super easy way to feel like I’m being on purpose.

My values are: connection, flow, thoughtfulness, and integrity. Some of the ways these manifest as daily actions and priorities are:

Connection

• Meditation – connecting me to my inner wisdom and higher source

• Regular messaging/catching up with friends – maintaining human contact and sharing

• Being mindful to cuddle and use physical touch to connect with my husband and my babies

Flow

• Creating certain structures and organisation around my work and household jobs to enable me to release “to dos” and carve out space for rest and chill time

• Surrendering to change and unexpected events as best I can – motherhood is the best lesson in this!

Thoughtfulness

• I take the time to try to empathise and put myself in others shoes, asking what they may need and how I can help support them – even if it’s simply be offering a listening ear or providing a meal in times of stress

• I love to carve out time each week to plan my week, get clear on what I want to achieve and how I want to be in the world. Taking this small amount of time to be thoughtful about my week makes it (most of the time) so much more easeful and enjoyable

• When I remember, I like to take a small moment before I consume a hot drink or a meal to be thoughtful about the journey it has made to my cup/plate. This moment of mindfulness makes me feel so much presence and gratitude

Integrity

This is such a big one for me and is closely linked with authenticity which I also highly rate! For me, this is about acting in line with how and who I want to be, regardless of who is watching or what the outcome might be. It’s an awesome one to link up all my other values and supports me to translate them in to action. In a way it’s another way to describe purposeful living!

It looks like:

• Me upholding commitments wherever possible – doing what I said I would

• Making decisions that honour me and what I value

• Maintaining practices that I know support my health and wellbeing, even when I can’t really be biffed!

TO WRAP UP

Finally, a gentle reminder that life is ever changing, and so too is our values/priorities/what is important to us.

It’s super helpful to carve out time every so often to check in and make sure your actions and values and priorities are still matching up.

If not, cool – just take time to adjust your sails and course correct, maybe finding new ways to be “on purpose” in the process!

I hope this has encouraged you to reflect on your life and consider how you can make it a little more “on purpose”!

Until next time,

A xx