By Blake D. Bauer

The questions ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘What is my life purpose?’ are at the heart of every human life. If we truly want to be happy, well and at peace, we’re called to remember, with crystal clarity, why we were born. Understanding that your life has a purpose and that all suffering is purposeful can help you find the strength to persist on your healing and spiritual journey when you’re struggling. As with the destiny of every human being, your destiny entails learning how to love, value and be true to yourself completely, which then unlocks the love within you and allows you simply to enjoy being alive.

Trusting In and Being True to Ourselves

It’s helpful to know that our choices, spoken words and actions in each moment are either leading us closer to fulfilling our life’s purpose or creating more pain, misery and sickness. Every experience that we’ve had since our birth right up until this very moment has been teaching us to accept, forgive, honor, value, respect, express, trust in and be true to ourselves so that we can know the clarity and bliss that are inherent to our true nature, and then bring loving-kindness into the world. Although it may seem impractical or even blasphemous to assert, I’ve found that a very large part of our purpose in life also involves remembering that what we tend to call our ‘self’, our ‘soul’ or our ‘spirit’ is actually God manifesting in a unique form through what we perceive as our physical and non-physical being.

From this perspective, each of us is a unique expression of atomic energy and universal intelligence in human form. You and I, as well as every other person alive – regardless of skin color, religious belief, economic status and cultural background – are destined to live a fully awakened life where we understand the miracle of our existence as well as our unity with nature, other human beings and the larger universe. Whether or not we choose to align with this aspect of our purpose is entirely up to us as individuals, but the fact remains that we’re here to break through every self-imposed limitation, false belief and form of suffering, so that we can be ourselves and enjoy our life.

No external person, situation or relationship can give us the answers we’re looking for

Even though all of us begin our quest for true happiness, purpose and love by looking outside of ourselves, eventually we realize that no external person, situation or relationship can truly give us the answers we’re looking for. There will always come a time where we’re forced to accept that it’s only through looking within ourselves, through following the subtle whispers of our own heart and soul, and through trusting our own innate intelligence, that we can find the clarity and sense of knowing we’re seeking. The universal intelligence that expresses in, as, and through each of us is always guiding us forward towards our most fulfilling life. So once we’re wholeheartedly committed to being true to ourselves daily, we can surrender into the natural force and flow of life itself, which then leads us directly, and as effortlessly as possible, towards everything that we truly want and need.

Eventually we come to understand that we’re all pioneers in our own lives, because no one has ever, can ever or will ever walk in our shoes. Our unique path through life is uncharted territory, which means our personal destiny and awakening are unfolding in a way that is particular to our own karma, purpose and inner learning. In each moment and with each breath we’re all actually charting our own distinct course towards bringing the love that we are fully into this world. As we go through the inner healing and strengthening necessary to value ourselves in every moment and relationship, the unique gifts and talents that we were born to share organically surface, essentially so that we can create our lives based upon these deep inner truths.

On a very personal level, beyond knowing the importance of creating a healthy relationship with yourself that is based on unconditional love, kindness, respect and compassion, no one can tell you exactly how to go about fulfilling your life’s purpose. We all have to listen to the subtle inner voice of our heart and soul and learn to follow this guidance into and through our deepest fears, doubts and insecurities.

Over time, our choices and actions become driven less by external motivations or conditioning and more by the inner call of our soul, which is always guiding us towards more happiness, love and truth. By honoring what we feel, we naturally come to know, without doubt or confusion, who we are and why we came here. Eventually our heart opens enough to remember that only love matters, and this is when we start to release the aspects of our lives that are not grounded in deep self-worth and respect because we finally admit that these situations do not support our health, happiness or capacity to give back to life. In due time, it becomes clear that our life experiences are simply lessons supporting us to enjoy life as we learn to love ourselves, others and life wholeheartedly.

Simple, yet empowering, truths

After looking for my own purpose desperately, I found some very simple truths that have been both liberating and empowering to understand. Because I want you to find what you’re looking for as soon as possible, it is helpful to know that your purpose entails:

1. Enjoying each day as much as possible in healthy ways, rather than self-destructive ones.
2. Learning to love yourself unconditionally in every moment and relationship, which primarily means speaking and acting based on what you truly feel in every situation, with kindness, mindfulness and mutual respect.
3. You also have to purge or heal all the emotions stored in your body from the past; like guilt, insecurity, fear, shame, anger, hurt and sadness.
4. To love others, to give love and to enjoy love, through relationship, being alone with nature, with animals, and through whatever work you’re engaged in.
5. To create whatever you feel like from the love, truth and inspiration you feel, whether this is art, a home, a business, a family, cooking or events. Here there is no right or wrong. No good or bad. No better than or less than. It’s simply what you want and makes you come alive.
6. When it comes to merging the above purpose(s) with work and making a living, if you honor the above points, and simply do what feels the best, the most authentic, and the most full of life each day, then you will only say yes to jobs/a career/work that are aligned with who you really are and how you truly feel.

We try to plan everything from the mind, which gets us in trouble. We try to choose a vocation from the level of thought and map our entire life, which only leads to unhappiness and boredom. Not following our heart is how we try to maintain the illusion of control, which is really how we protect ourselves from the pain we associate with rejection, failure, judgement or losing pride. If we want to be happy and feel as though our work and life have both purpose and meaning, then we have to follow our heart each day. Through doing so, we can make this practical enough to support our material, physical or financial needs, and we can also harness the energy of our passion to become completely financially free.

We all look for our purpose ‘out there’ in the world, because we never learned that we ourselves are our purpose. Valuing the miracle of our life, freeing ourselves from suffering, and connecting with the people we love, is very much why we were born. Enjoying what makes us happy or feel well, while both respecting and caring for our body and our heart, is how we feel we matter and see the purpose of being alive. Having love for ourselves, love for the work we do, and love in the relationships we engage in each day, is what makes life truly worth living.

We live during a time where many people value money, university degrees, material possessions, social acceptance, the illusion of social status, and media attention over and above love, truth, kindness, meaning, peace and authentic connection. So it’s easy to lose yourself in the unhealthy beliefs and drives of society, the media, your parents or your peers. If you don’t let fear guide your decisions or stop you from being true to your heart, and you take good care of your health, then you will always have what you need to survive, and you will also find everything you need to thrive.

Excerpt from the international bestseller, You Were Not Born To Suffer

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