by Dr Rachel Hall, Holistic Dentist, Kenmore, Australia
I’ve been working on being more gentle and nurturing towards myself, taking life slower and being kinder with my self talk and actions for some years now.
When I first began to be more in tune with me and my body I recognised that I had a continuous underlying nervous tension and anxiety running like an undercurrent in my body. When I contemplated and felt into this anxiety I realised I had spent most of my life from being a teenager (and possibly even younger) in a state of angst, wondering what on earth I was here for, what was the purpose to life and more deeply and importantly, what was MY purpose.
By the age of 34 the need to find MY purpose became all consuming. I found myself almost constantly questioning – “what’s my purpose, what is it that I am here to do, what’s my calling?” “Is this all there is – eat, sleep, work and repeat ad infinitum?” Surely there had to be more.
As 35 approached my need to find my purpose, my calling, intensified; what was the part I was to play in the grand scheme of life? I searched in vain and almost quit my profession so I could try something new – healer, teacher, counsellor, coach?
But this is where the problem lies. When we consider our purpose to be something external, we may never find it. When we attach purpose to a goal, activity or a vocation, we are likely setting ourselves up for failure or disappointment.
And this is exactly what I believed until 9 years ago when I started to apply the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom (via Universal Medicine) to my life.
Purpose has nothing to do with what you do. Purpose is about discovering and nurturing who you truly are: to know and love yourself and to reflect that love to the World.
That’s IT!
Of course you can have passion for life and the things that you do. But they are just that, things you enjoy doing. They are essential to the quality of your life, but not to your inner quality.
Purpose does not hinge on your getting that job, a pay rise, meeting the right partner, having kids or not, being liked or having loads of friends on Facebook. Purpose is something else entirely….
What if your purpose is very different than what you’ve been taught to believe?
What if your purpose is to build an everlasting relationship with yourself, to fall deeply in love with the precious you?
What if your purpose is to deeply care for yourself and gently heal and by doing so, become a role model for others to do the same?
What if your purpose is to release all shame and feelings of unworthiness and find your vulnerability and fragility?
What if your purpose is to teach yourself that there is no such thing as perfection… and that your never ending pursuit of it is destroying your life and your relationships?
What if your purpose is to elevate your energy and that of the world around you?
What if your purpose is to develop an everlasting faith in yourself, to remember your Divinity and treat yourself accordingly?
What if your purpose is to take impeccable care of yourself so that you have the energy and joy to serve others?
Take a moment to consider the possibility that your purpose is about finding yourself.
Consider that your self-worth has nothing to do with your craft or calling and everything to do with how you treat yourself and your inner quality.
I’ve met brilliant and successful people whose lives appear incredible from the outside but who are a mess on the inside; full of bitterness, meanness, sadness or self-loathing etc.
Imagine what we could accomplish if we moved from loathing to love, if we knew that no matter how important our mission, our inner purpose matters even more.
People are like plants, we all lean towards the light.
You are the light. Your inner purpose is to connect with that light and become the love that you naturally are.
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Simply love this short and true statement, ‘People are like plants, we all lean towards the light.’
This is so gorgeous, and true, ‘Purpose has nothing to do with what you do. Purpose is about discovering and nurturing who you truly are: to know and love yourself and to reflect that love to the World.’
“You are the light. Your inner purpose is to connect with that light and become the love that you naturally are.” Beautiful to become aware that our purpose in life is to draw back the curtains and let the light shine out.
I absolutely love the idea of the start of discovering my purpose is to fall madly and deeply in love with myself. From there I can see we feel the magnificence of where we are from.
Even the most “successful” person is lost if they are disconnected from their innate loving essence.
So many people recognise the ill of the world and see a purpose in improving and bettering the world by bringing out products and services of some sorts, but the biggest and the best product that can truly change the world is us, and how we are and how we live in the world.
How we live in the world, how we are, our quality of energy, living who we truly are in full, all has an impact on the world.
Absolutely Rachel, purpose sets a new foundation for our lives. Before True purpose we find that we need Love as a foundation, and what a big step it is to move from loathing to Love, but it is possible if we take these steps in a way that allows us to discard our old patterns that have held us to a way of living that has never Truly served our bodies. So with dedication to heal, and listening to the feelings that our bodies are willing to share, so that what is required to eliminate ill-ways starts as we take small steps into our known self-loving ways that support our evolution.
Purpose is about re-connecting with our inner essence and sharing that with the world – I love the simplicity of this and how once we commit to exploring this, we start to build a solid foundation that we can then reflect to the world in whatever ways are true to us, with the certainty that if we are open, our path will become clear.
What are we going to reflect to the world, ‘What if your purpose is to deeply care for yourself and gently heal and by doing so, become a role model for others to do the same?’
I so relate Rachel, we have a way of living that brings us to a point in life where it becomes about living in a way that will deepen or develop our awareness of who we naturally are.
Wow Rachal, what an article. We are so convinced that purpose is to serve humanity on the stage, to do the big deeds and be seen by everyone. Have we considered that there is real purpose in the relationship we build with ourselves, that it’s impossible to hold steady in a world that is designed to constantly pull you out of line if we don’t have a strong relationship with ourselves first and foremost?
Absolutely Viktoria, we have to clean out our own nest first, and eliminate all the crap so we can get on with our True evolution.
“Purpose has nothing to do with what you do. Purpose is about discovering and nurturing who you truly are: to know and love yourself and to reflect that love to the World.” I love this Rachel. As you say “thats’ it!”
‘Purpose has nothing to do with what you do’ – this is the total opposite of everything that we’ve understood purpose to be about in life – i.e. find and know yourself through your chosen vocation. To turn this around, to understand purpose as being about knowing and loving yourself just for being you, not for anything that you do – this is a totally revelatory take on purpose that takes away all of the pressure and the demands that we place on the world and our jobs, wanting them to show us who we are, to give us something back, instead of making the space to remember that knowing of who we are, and expressing that through our work.
Yes what a turnaround, to know who we are and to take that to life.
Great realisations about purpose Rachael. I find purpose is always there when I really connect with people. This needs me to be connected and loving with myself first, which ripples out naturally into how I feel about people.
And adding to what you have shared Fiona, we then all get that divine reflection, so self-love first and others feel that level of love.
Imagine connecting to that space inside that does not understand what self-worth is because it simply is. It does not take a measure of who or what it is, or even how it is going from what goes on around it. It simply is. That space is within and waits patiently for us to re-connect.
Life can be a real struggle when we make it about drive or motivation, because we are already looking at the final outcome it comes with expectations, yet purpose has no expectation it is a movement that allows us to do whatever is needed to be done without needing know what that is.
So true – ‘purpose has no expectation…’ yet so many go through life wanting to find their ‘true purpose’, when it is all so simple!
What if our purpose is not about us at all, but about aligning to a greater purpose, a greater plan – knowing and understanding that we are a part of something so much greater than ourselves. In that greater purpose, we find that we are taken care of. It has nothing to do with the ‘what’ but everything to do with the quality that we’re in: so there could be just as much purpose in resting and taking care of ourselves, as there is to running a global project. It feels like the way we connect to true purpose – i.e. what’s truly needed – is through our bodies: feeling what to do, when and how to do it. True purpose then is like medicine for the body – it revitalises us and connects us to the world and to one another.
In re-connecting to ourselves and building a true foundation, we are then available for whatever is there to be done as part of the wider plan, getting self out of the way and appreciating what we bring strengthens our links with others and our sense of purpose.
Thank you Bryony, that was absolutely beautiful to read, and it smashes the pictures about what we think purpose is, so we can allow it to be a quality we align to and are obedient to, moment to moment. Nothing outside of us defines the purpose, only the energetic quality does.
Many people can find this challenging, I know I used to, ‘ there could be just as much purpose in resting and taking care of ourselves, as there is to running a global project.’
When we connect to purpose we become aware that every move we make has a greater purpose than just for ourselves which has a significant ripple effect on others.
Finding our purpose becomes an all-consuming obsession because the fear of not finding it can mean we search outside of ourselves with high anxiety. The feeling in our body when we realise that we don’t have to go anywhere but to build a relationship with ourselves, is something that brings a settlement to the body that once felt, cannot be forgotten.
Beautifully expressed Lucy and so true.
‘What if your purpose is to take impeccable care of yourself so that you have the energy and joy to serve others?’ I have experienced that working in health-care without loving care for myself, is a ticket for a burnt out. After many years I am back in health-care taking care for myself based on my self-worth, and there is so much joy to serve and to care for others, I could not have done this without bringing love and care to my precious body. And still I have a lot to learn about the relationship with my body, but there is a foundation which I have built in the last couple of years of understanding and appreciating who I am.
As we connect and learn more from our bodies, old patterns that no longer serve may reveal themselves, ‘I recognised that I had a continuous underlying nervous tension and anxiety running like an undercurrent in my body.’
Beautifully said ‘But this is where the problem lies. When we consider our purpose to be something external, we may never find it.’ I am becoming more and more aware that our purpose is not about doing but about being …. all that we are in every given moment ✨
First I love this sentence which will help a lot: “Purpose has nothing to do with what you do. Purpose is about discovering and nurturing who you truly are: to know and love yourself and to reflect that love to the World.” The next one I will take to heart is “What if your purpose is to elevate your energy and that of the world around you?” Reading this was what I needed right now, thanks Rachel.
I love this blog, so many gems are shared, ‘Consider that your self-worth has nothing to do with your craft or calling and everything to do with how you treat yourself and your inner quality.’
It is very true Rachel that it is commonly believed that ‘purpose’ means to do something, to achieve, to have a goal in life, yet as you have shared this level of purpose never satisfies or fulfills. If we look deeper within to who we are in essence will find that we are love, and as such our true purpose is to live love in every aspect of our lives. Therefore, our purpose would be to be who we are and stand for the love we are all here to live together.
One part of looking after ourselves is that we can become more effective even though we seemingly work more slowly and steadily, just without the tension and the drive.
I love coming back to this blog, its like sitting next to a cosy log fire that is radiating and filling the space around with so much warmth and love and there is nothing to do but soak it all in.
The question regarding purpose (what is my purpose) is one that is not always asked and much less answered properly. The usual question is more, what would I like to do for a living or what would I like to work on? Two very different questions regarding ourselves, our lives. The first question contains the potential of everything. The second one, directs us to a portion of the everything we choose.
‘What if your purpose is to build an everlasting relationship with yourself, to fall deeply in love with the precious you?’ This feels like true purpose to me as it ask you to go inwards and connect with all the wisdom, awareness and intelligence that we hold within that can guide us through life. Life was never meant to be a struggle.
And yet we find ourselves addicted to the struggle and considering that normal and the ease of connection abnormal…
I am also taking life a lot slower, and in doing so, doing things in a different quality, no more rushing around, and my self talk has also got a lot more loving, though still have to be observant, as frustration (with self) still likes to creep in when I am not looking! And that is not loving.
This is a brilliant blog! I was just pondering on what was my purpose, and how does one connect to purpose, knowing that it is not something outside of oneself. This blog was a timely read, and also a confirmation of how much I am living purpose, without perfection and always still learning.
This blog is a great read on purpose, ‘What if your purpose is to teach yourself that there is no such thing as perfection… and that your never ending pursuit of it is destroying your life and your relationships?’ So true.