The Four Pathways to Purpose

Purpose is such an allusive word. 

For many, it's defined solely by vocation. While your job might be one part of it, your purpose encompasses so much more. 

Your purpose is your mission statement for life. It’s literally the reason for…WHY YOU ARE HERE!

Every person on this planet is like a piece of a divine puzzle – all born with unique gifts & talents. Some people have a knack for arts & crafts or analyzing data, while others love sports, teaching a new skill, or singing on stage!

You were divinely designed to share what brings you the most fulfillment and joy in life – the things that you’re intuitively drawn to and naturally embody.

But, you’ve likely been conditioned to think otherwise.

You’ve been taught to listen to society, religion, your parents or other outside forces, instead of trusting the voice inside (your intuition & soul!)

“Play it safe! Don’t follow your passions. How will you make money? That’s just selfish!”

I get it. I did this too!

I got my degree, a steady job, married my husband, started a family and created the quintessential white-picket home together.

Then, in 2019 my husband died (along with our dreams, our future, and my formula for happiness in life).

It was then that I discovered my true calling.

Why?

Because the obstacles and challenges that you’re faced with in life are there to help you discover and live out your dharma — your soul’s purpose.

While you can absolutely discover your dharma through joy (in fact following your excitement is one pathway to purpose), hardship expedite the process.

In fact, the four most common pathways to purpose (according to best selling Author, Artist and Visionary Sahara Rose) are these:

1. You have a natural born gift — you’re naturally amazing at doing something and NOT sharing that gift with the world would be a crime. Think of top athletes, actors and authors here! Unfortunately, what happens more commonly than not is that you might have natural born gifts, but you AREN’T SHARING them! Fear or limiting beliefs are preventing you from living your purpose. Whether being used or not, everyone has a unique gift and as you develop it and use it to impact others, the more you come into alignment with your dharma.
2. Your Breakdown becomes a Breakthrough — you go through a life-altering tragedy and come out stronger (and better) for it. This was me and apparently it’s the path for many! You can discover your purpose by going through a difficult time in your life. Your life-altering tragedy guides you to your truth.
3. You Overcome a Personal Obstacle — maybe it’s a curing personal health crisis, breaking generational trauma or healing money wounds — these are all personal obstacles that you’ve overcome. Because you’ve solve it for yourself, you’re passionate about it and invested; so you now have the expertise and experience to help others!
4. You Help Someone Else Overcome Theirs — this path opens when someone else you care about or humanity at large is struggling and you lend a hand. It could look like inventing a gift registry for grievers to connect them to the support they need, caring for a loved one with a terminal illness, or cleaning up hiking trails so that humanity can better enjoy the thrill of the outdoors. You helped someone else overcome a struggle, and now you want to scale this impact at large.

Often these four pathways overlap, so if you feel like you’re a combination of all of them, that’s normal.

For me, my breakdown (my husband’s death) forced me to overcome obstacles (learning how to cope with grief, figuring out how to take on new roles and accessing resilience). Then, I used my natural gifts (writing, creating content and working out) to create my company moveTHRU to share these lessons, tools and insights with others.

The crazy thing is that …

I might not have shared these natural gifts or stepped into my dharma as an inspiration to others navigating darkness, had I not gone through the tragic experience of loss. My tragedy brought me closer to living out my truth!

And guess what? I’m still in the process. Because this work doesn’t stop!

Every experience that you live out here in this lifetime is guiding you closer to your truth! It’s a never-ending spiral of self-discovery, peeling back layers of conditioning, and healing old wounds that are preventing you from shining your unique light.

Your purpose is to be more of YOU!

To remember the truth of who you are

And then to share that with the world!

Everything that you need to live a life of purpose, fulfillment and joy is within you…it might just be asleep, surpassed or untapped.

Your life experiences are what bring you closer to your truth! So as much as you are fighting your recent layoff, reeling in pain from your breakup, or questioning how to even breathe in the face of crippling grief, pay attention to the lessons and redirects.

They are guiding you home. 

If this content lands, I invite you to join me for my free 90-min Master Class Portal to Purpose where we will uncover how you can allow your tragedy to guide you to your truth. We will specifically be diving deep into the breakdown to breakthrough path to purpose, and share six key shifts to turn your pain into purpose!