Discover Your Soul’s Life Purpose
Being on a transformational path is empowering. Whether you meditate, study with a teacher, or are involved in a personal growth process, you transcend old patterns and get to know yourself as more than who you thought you were. But that path doesn’t always translate to getting the more practical things you want in life — a fulfilling career, a loving relationship, health and well-being.
Consider there is a missing piece you haven’t yet discovered that would make the difference. That missing piece is what everyone is looking for, the holy grail of a happy and successful life. I call it your Big Why, your soul’s purpose in life — the mission you came to planet Earth to fulfill — and the direction for living it every day.
For most people, finding their Big Why is a hit-or-miss affair, a lifetime of trial and error that is frustrating and exhausting. You long for your purpose, but more likely you give up before you even get there, settling instead for a career or life partner dictated by family or society. The cost of living as someone you are not is huge, manifesting as anxiety or depression, chronic health problems, and a lack of success in all that you do. You’ve lost touch with your Big Why.
The truth is you were born with your Big Why — it’s in your spiritual DNA and has always been with you, waiting for you to re-discover it. Your soul already knows your purpose and how you can live it, putting an end to the sheer exhaustion of getting by day after day to simply survive.
So how do you reconnect with your Big Why? The key to discovering your soul’s purpose is in feeling what your purpose is, not in doing it. Trying on different careers or pursuits endlessly, hoping one of them will be “it,” is the old way. But when you learn to feel your unique calling that has never left you, you can harness that power and bridge the gap between what you feel is your truth and what you actually do in life to express that truth.
Great revolutionary thinkers such as Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen have taught us that feeling and energy are physically embodied at the deepest level of our being. From there, we can see how a person’s appearance can be read energetically to reveal their deeper essence. To facilitate this, consider that there are five universal human traits — visible as distinct body types — that link to a person’s unique soul qualities.
The 5 Soul Purposes
The five universal human traits make up five tribes of people who are born to live a life purpose of creating, feeling, caretaking, achieving, or leading. All of these are equally essential in the world, and when you discover which one you are, you can make sense of your life and know your destiny. How you choose to express the qualities unique to your type is yours to discover.
Creators tend to be intellectual and artistic, a creative force that constantly brings newness to the world. You are fun, playful and sometimes irreverent. Your soul is connected to a source of wisdom beyond what most people are aware of.
Feelers are incredibly sensitive and psychically attuned to the feelings of self and others. You are the lovers, constantly nurturing the world and those in it through unconditional love and understanding.
Caretakers are open-hearted, loyal, affectionate, happy, connected people, steadfast and committed, very hard to fluster. You are the Rock of Gibraltar, always reliable in your support — powerful, strong, in service to others.
Achievers have at their core the essence of genius and mastery, open to truth at every level and letting themselves be guided by their inner light, not by logic. You excel in sports or intellectual pursuits, always performing at the top of your game. You are sharp, organized, and can grasp complex ideas and plans easily, always keeping the bigger picture in mind.
Leaders are powerful warriors, protectors, and actors born into a world that supports and serves them in their mission. You are not afraid to stand up for who you are and what you stand for, and never play down or pretend to be smaller than you are. You inspire others to do the same.
Which trait do you resonate with? You will resonate most deeply with the creator, the feeler, the caretaker, the achiever, or the leader because you were born to live and feel your best in the energetic field that is characteristic of one of those states. You may find you resonate with a secondary state as well as the primary one, resulting in a combination that gives you your unique dynamic quality. Reconnecting with these qualities, your soul’s purpose is naturally expressed, first in yourself and then in the world.
How To Feel Your Purpose
Try this simple meditation to feel which of the five traits you most closely align with.
Get comfortable and close your eyes. Roll back in time to your early childhood. Think of a place where you loved to go to play, dream or hide, a place you felt was yours alone and where you loved to spend your time. Even if you brought a friend with you, how much you loved this place was still your secret. It may be in your house or attic, or outside your house, at the beach, or possibly in the company of a loving grandparent. Go there and feel what it is like to be in that secret place. Really feel it in every cell of your being.
Then take a deep breath and come back. Ask yourself: Where was I? What was I doing, thinking, and feeling there? And, How often do I feel that way in my current life?
Whatever it was you were doing and feeling in your secret place during the meditation is a clue to your soul’s purpose. That feeling state is the direct gateway to knowing and aligning with who you are and why you are here. You cannot know your purpose through the way you think — only by how you feel.
Now check how your experience in this meditation aligns you with your soul’s purpose in life:
Creators often choose a secret place high up in the top of a tree or hill and are almost always alone. Your mind and fantasies are expansive, and there is always a sense of fun and adventure and playfulness.
Feelers find themselves in their room surrounded by stuffed animals or out in nature with a pet or flowers or the woods —a anywhere that is beautiful and allows you to feel a soft and deep connection to your environment.
Caretakers most often have people with them in their secret place. You may bring friends to a fort, tree house, or park and feel happy when spending time with them. Your secret place could be in the kitchen with your grandmother, fishing with your dad, or snuggling with family on the couch watching TV. You feel the connection with others.
Achievers’ secret place might be in a playhouse, a fort, or office where they can organize people and solve problems. You imagine yourself directing plays or dances, playing house, running a lemonade stand, winning an Olympic gold medal, or learning from books how the world works. You feel focused and able to create anything.
Leaders usually have amazing and fantastical experiences in their secret place, visualizing themselves as super heroes, warriors, actors/actresses, or royalty. You like to be up high, seeing the world below you, enjoying a sense of power, passion, and enthusiasm. You feel expanded, energized, and one with the universe.
Your experiences may be variations on these five life purposes, but be careful not to focus on what you were doing; instead focus on how your were feeling when doing it. Similarly in life, you don’t need to know exactly what to do when you are living your life purpose, only how it will feel. Only then can know your life purpose with certainty, feeling it as a huge Yes! in everything you do.
To discover your soul’s purpose and live it fully is to set out on the journey of a lifetime. Along the way, you will find your unique place in the universe as a whole person, the person you were born to be. Once you’ve found your Big Why, nothing will ever stop you from living that life you’ve always dreamed about, the life that has it all — fulfilling career, loving relationships, abundant health — as a true expression of your soul’s purpose.
Rhys Thomas is a visionary author, speaker and trainer in the energy medicine field. He is the creator of the Rhys Method® Transformational System. His most recent book, Discover Your Purpose: How to Use the 5 Life Purpose Profiles to Unlock Your Hidden Potential and Live the Life you Were Meant to Live, is available through Amazon and also at www.rhysmethod.com.
See also:
The Resiliency Quotient
The 9 Personalities Which Are Changing The World
