My Journey to Find Purpose Started with the Body

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put into every heart.”

Rumi

When you ask yourself “what is my purpose in life” what comes to mind?

Ask yourself that question, pause, and just NOTICE what happens in your body.

• Do you feel discomfort? Does your body want to move and run away?
• Do you feel longing? Can you feel something tugging at your gut?
• Do you feel stuck like you’re drawing a blank? Does your body feel like it can’t move or doesn’t know what to do?

When we think about our purpose, our bodies hold a lot of wisdom. For my journey in search of purpose, my body was the main source of chatter. I remember moments in my life, peak experiences – transcendent moments of pure joy and elation. One of the first moments was when I was 20 years old in college, and I was volunteering at public high schools in working-class communities of color. I would have one-on-one mentoring sessions with young people of color who looked like and grew up like me to support their journey to college. And I would have this immense feeling of joy like I was in the right place at the right time. It felt like a spiritual experience.

However, that feeling scared me. It felt too much for my body to handle. It was so foreign to me.

Reflecting on it now I know it’s tied to my identity as a Filipino woman, who carries the weight of supporting her family. I grew up just thinking about how I was going to provide for the ones that I love and that failure wasn’t an option. I know this internalized mindset comes from capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, and heteropatriarchy. All those systems have only told me, that so many of us play small and just grind to survive.

But my body was having none of that. I remember feeling all those things: discomfort, longing and stuck all at once at my last job. Now that I think about it was my body telling me we’re not where we need to be.

What flipped the switch was coaching. Because every time I did coaching, I felt it—the immense feeling of joy like I was in the right place at the right time. So instead of ignoring it, I started to follow it. And that is what I continue to do.

If any of this resonates, my invitation is to lean into the feeling. Whatever it is.

This is a 2-part series on Finding Purpose. Check out what else I learned on my journey in “Accepting Fear Leads to Purpose”.

If you want to start on your journey to search for your purpose read Tim Kelley’s True Purpose: 12 Strategies For Discovering The Difference You Are Meant To Make.

— Geordee