I used to consider the word “awakening” as one of those new age terminologies that would never make its way to my vocabulary. Yet somehow I have since not only come to understand what the term means, I have actually experienced it in myself. And because of the mentoring work that I do, I am also seeing it occurring in others. I sense there might even be a revolution brewing.
What I am referring to is a shift in what many of us are now willing to tolerate as our experience of life. I’m seeing this in myself as well as my sisters and brothers of the Baby Boomer generation. As a whole, we’re well-educated and have spent our adult lives building successful careers. We’re an affluent and accomplished generation. Yet as we lose our parents from this earth and let go of our children’s hands as they walk along their own independent paths, we realize that in the very end all we really have to hold onto is ourselves and our connection to the universe. A generation that crashed through the elusive corporate glass ceiling, we now want more. We’re no longer satisfied showing up at the office like a machine collecting a paycheck. We want to feel passionate about our work. We want to fulfill our purpose.
For many getting in touch with their purpose seems like the most daunting of tasks. Yet it is daunting only when we remain in the machine mode we’ve become accustomed to; when we experience life only on the surface. It’s when we awaken to remember that we have heart and a soul that we can begin to crack the mystery of our purpose. For purpose is an expression of our heart. That’s where we need to look for our clues. When we begin to have a relationship with our heart—to pay attention to what makes it skip a beat or feel totally full of joy—we can start to recognize the passions that are unique in us. And it’s our uniqueness that enables us to serve the world in our most authentic way. That’s what purpose is.
If you are one who is seeking to step into your purpose yet feel stuck in knowing how to go about it, stay tuned here. I will be talking more about this in future posts. As a start, though, I would encourage you to step outside of yourself from time to time and take a look at the package of who you are from a sense of purpose. Take an inventory of the following and ask yourself why you might have inherited these particular gifts:
What are your creative or professional skills?
Recreational interests?
Physical attributes and body type?
What adjectives are often used to describe how you show up in the world?
What simple things give you joy?
Do you have you a long-held dream that just doesn’t go away?
Awakening is about getting in touch with your soul and giving it a chance to come alive. The way to do that is to pay attention to who you are and how you respond to the events that unfold in your days. There are many clues to be found, yet in order to see them you must be paying attention. It’s not hard. It simply requires focus. Yet that focus makes life far more interesting than being asleep at the wheel in machine mode.
Digging for Meaning 