I want you to find your pulse.
You can find it on your wrist.
On your neck.
Or with your hand over your heart.
I’m going to tell you something your heart’s been telling you from day one. Since you were a baby. Before you could talk, before you could walk, before you could make a mistake.
Thump thump. Thump thump.
That is your purpose.
You have purpose in this world.
So when you’re out there in the world, remember that you’re here for a reason.
//
I saw this on an episode of Girls Incarcerated (stay classy). The resident counselor was leaving to get her masters and this was her final talk with the girls.
And I just loved it. I cried.
I cry during episodes of Girls Incarcerated.//
Purpose has come up in a few conversations of mine lately. What we’re meant to do with our time on earth and what it means to have purpose.
I had this idea a few years back that I had to completely reinvent my life to be a “good person”.
How could I be an agent of (positive) change working in corporate marketing?
On the surface it felt like I’d sold out. Deeper down, I knew I wanted to do something meaningful with my life, but I didn’t know how.
I spent years feeling guilty about a job I had enjoyed otherwise because I wasn’t making an obvious and concrete impact on the world.
Then I did a yoga teacher training. This was the first time I’d learned the word “dharma” – which is the principle of cosmic order in Hinduism*. But more practically – it’s purpose.
*there’s a few ways to define dharma but go with me on this.
I’d learned through teachers and books that purpose doesn’t look the same for everyone.
For some, this means being a marketer. For others, it means being a lawyer. Or a parent. Or a caregiver. Or a farmer. Or a musician.
It actually doesn’t even matter what that dharma is, we aren’t all destined to be Mother Theresa.
And it definitely doesn’t have to be our “jobs”.
It’s about how we live our dharma rather than what it is.
With fortitude.
With excitement.
With integrity.
With sincerity.
With honesty.
We can drop the judgement.
Because as long as we are fulfilling our own purpose – which is subject to change and evolve –we are doing what we are put on this earth to do.
We are living our dharma.
This idea brought so much comfort to me at a time when I thought I wasn’t living up to that “good person” status. It still does today as I try to figure out what my dharma looks likenow.
We are all put on this earth to do our thing and it is our moral obligation to do this thing and share it with others.
I wanna know what your dharma (purpose) is. Sometimes saying it out loud or writing it down helps us shed some light for ourselves.
