How to Cultivate Happiness Through Purpose in Your Everyday Life [Episode #772]

This week’s topic is: How to Cultivate Happiness Through Purpose in Your Everyday Life

Purpose is a really important part of happiness and health. And the reason is, when we have a clear sense of purpose we have that anchor that keeps us going. It keeps us resilient through the challenging ups and downs that we all experience in life. When we have purpose, we somehow muster more energy for whatever project or whatever is in front of us. We stay cheerful and inspired, and life really is joyful.

However, if we just sort of feel like we’re a leaf blowing around in the wind, we don’t really have a clear direction, we’re just sort of taking up space and spending time that doesn’t really cultivate joy. Today, we’re going to get into two core characteristics of being able to identify your personal purpose and start living a life of happiness.

Have you been wondering about this very topic? If you want to know the answer to this question sent in by a Beauty just like you, listen now to find out!

Remember you can submit your questions at https://mysolluna.com/askkimberly/

[Question Answered]

Zoe – Australia

Kimberly, love the podcast. I have raised my children and love them very much, But they are all off living their own lives and I am struggling with what to do with my life and being happy.

Inspirational Thought of the Week

“God sent you here for a purpose….Realize how tremendously important that is! Do not allow the narrow ego to obstruct your attainment of an infinite goal.”
– Paramahansa Yogananda

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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

00:01 Namaste loves and welcome back to our Thursday q and a show where our topic today is How to Cultivate Happiness Through Purpose in Your Everyday Life. So purpose is a really important part of happiness and health. And the reason is when we have a clear sense of purpose, we have that anchor that keeps us going. It keeps us resilient through the challenging ups and downs that we all experience in life. In fact, Dan Butner, my friend and Geogra, national Geographic fellow who discovered the Blue Zones, which is the areas in the world where people are the healthiest, the highest rate of centenarians, the lowest rate of degenerative diseases. He identified the Power nine, which are characteristics that are the through line in these five communities that are all around the world. One of them is eating a 90% or higher plant-based diet. And another characteristic is having a clear sense of purpose.

01:08 So think about it. When we have purpose, we somehow muster more energy for whatever project or whatever is in front of us. We stay cheerful and inspired, and life really is joyful, right? But if we just sort of feel like we’re a leaf blowing around in the wind, we don’t really have clear direction, we’re just sort of taking up space and spending time that doesn’t really cultivate joy. So today on the show, we’re gonna get into two core characteristics of being able to identify your personal purpose. Or in Sri we can say your Dharma, which is, you know, the, the, the reason for your, for your life here, um, what we can fulfill, the potential that’s there. And if you are listening to this, if you are alive, if you are breathing, then you do have a unique purpose. In fact, I wanna read a quote here from Paramahansa Yogananda, and this is to start chapter three.

02:14 You are warrior of the new book. You are more than you think you are. On page 33, Yogananda says, “God sent you here for a purpose….Realize how tremendously important that is! Do not allow the narrow ego to obstruct your attainment of an infinite goal.” So the ego is the voice in our head, the unbridled voice at times that tells us we’re not really smart enough, or you don’t really matter, or, you know, um, you’re not good enough, blah, blah, blah, or you missed out, or whatever. <laugh>, if you are alive and breathing, you are here on purpose and for a purpose. So I’m very excited to get into this topic today, which has the ability to really transform things and to light a fire in your life, which will feel fulfilling and incredible. And again, just boost your overall energy and wellness across the board.

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And a little reminder that the latest book, baby You Are More More Than You Think You Are – Practical Enlightenment For Everyday Life, is recently out in Paper book. So you can pick up this practical guide for transforming your life wherever books are sold. Alright, let’s get right into our show today. Cultivating Happiness through purpose in your everyday life.

Question around the topic of: How to Cultivate Happiness Through Purpose in Your Everyday Life: Kimberly, love the podcast. I have raised my children and love them very much, But they are all off living their own lives and I am struggling with what to do with my life and being happy.

And so our question comes today from Zoe who lives in Australia. Zoe, thank you so much. My love for participating from down under a place that I used to live and explore and I love because it was such a formative part of my personal journey of growth. So sending you so much love where wherever you happen to be in this incredible country. And your question is, Kimberly, I love your podcast. I have raised my children and I love them very much, but they are off living their own lives, and I’m struggling with what to do with my life and to be happy.

04:59 So Zoe, thank you so much, mama, <laugh> and friend and community member for your question. I think that we can all relate to this in some way. It can be any form of something outside of ourselves that gave us a strong path of love and direction and purpose, but it’s not permanent. So this could be a job that you loved and you loved what you were doing, and you felt good about your title that suddenly went away. Or in Zoe’s case, all our children at some point are going to grow up and not need us as much anymore. I’m not yet at that point. And parenting, I’m really in it right now with my, my two year old and now seven year old bu turned seven a few days ago. But I, you know, that’s, that’s coming of course, or a relationship that went away or even, um, you know, our bodies are changing.

06:02 So if you get really attached to your looks and you’re outta appearance or your weight or whatever, and then it changes. So all of this is point, this, you know, it can go into suffering if we go deeper into attachment and trying to hold on to these external things, but we don’t have to do that. We don’t have to do that. The, the teachings and the great ones that have come before the yogis and the great scriptures from all around the world have taught us that the place to find fulfillment, joy, love, and our purpose is deeply rooted inside of each and every single one of us. So we can really find solace in that no matter where you are in your life, if you feel very, uh, lost right now, or directionless, or that something has been pulled away from you or shifted suddenly or whatever, know that you can reconnect or connect to for the first time, maybe to this place inside of you.

07:03 And it’s never too late. So we think about Louise Hay who founded the publishing house. I’m now with Hay House. She didn’t start writing her books till much later in life, I wanna say in her forties and fifties. Same thing for Eckhart Tole, who I love very much. He was, uh, academic and a professor and then had this big experience, this enlightenment experience, and then started writing and teaching about it much later at life also in his, I believe, I wanna say late forties and fifties as well. And there’s many other, um, you know, amazing people that have created later in life, you know, sixties, eighties and beyond. And so this awakening to why I am here is not going to look the same way for you and anyone else. So it’s unique to you. We’re gonna get into this in just a minute, but when yoga, the quote I said at the beginning of the show, do not allow from Yogananda do not allow the narrow ego to obstruct your entertainment of an infinite goal. Ego is the mind. And so ego can say, oh, well, you know, you’re not gonna be a cartoon tole or you, you’re not enough or what <laugh>, whatever it is, that’s the ego just in its, you know, infinite ways it divides and judges and separates making a judgment of what is right or bigness or too small or this or that, or all these egoic, you know, uh, opinions and limiting ideas.

08:48 In the infinite divine intelligence, everything is equal. Everything is of equal value, and everything is of the, the infinite, the unique expressions. So as humans, each of us has a unique dharma that’s going to look very different from someone else’s. So one of the biggest pitfalls in society, as we know, is the trap of comparison. The egoic trap of this, this versus that, that, and it’s very limited in its understanding. It’s very surface. It doesn’t understand the essence, which is that this is part of a much bigger picture that we don’t really understand. And there have perhaps been places and lives that we’ve been before and we will continue to go on to. So to compare in this, you know, finite moment in time, our infinite energy and the uniqueness that we bring is only gonna bring suffering and is certainly a habit that we need to relearn how to let go of.

09:55 And so the more we can anchor and connect to our purpose, the more we can support ourselves in doing just that. So there’s research around this as well, which we will lean to in the show notes. There was a survey from McKinsey and Company, for instance, that, um, that surveyed over a thousand people and it found that purpose was able to sustain people over difficult times. And the research also found that skills and purpose for the people surveyed did shift over their life. So this is another reason not to be attached. And, um, in the case of Zoe here, we may pour so much of our time and attention into raising our children. And then when they grow, it’s an opportunity to shift that energy and attention into something else so we can rebirth time and time again. Another study, this one also came from 2021, found that purpose diminished in midlife for some study participants, but those who maintained a strong sense of purpose through midlife, when we start to kind of look forward and backwards emerged with better health.

11:13 So this is great. We’re linking purpose with health and science. And finally, um, there’s other research correlating happiness, mental health and resilience with a higher sense of purpose. So when we have more purpose, we tend to take better care of ourselves. We are, um, just stronger in our bodies, the body and the mind during constant communication. So if we are just down and overthinking and not feeling great mentally and emotionally, it will definitely impact our, our physical health. So is really, really important and something that we need to, um, to talk about because otherwise we can start silently, not even maybe verbally communicate this to our friends, our loved ones, our, our partners. But silently we are starting to just worry and wonder that our lives don’t really mean anything or that they don’t matter. And then this starts the degradation of our entire lives.

12:18 Where again, the truth is that each of us matters so much. We’re part of this fabric of life. Each of us is unique, each of us is a unique contribution to the whole. On that point, on that note, I want to, um, read a little bit from the You Are Warrior chapter once again from the new book, page 36. Each one of us is unique and each one of us has a unique purpose. When you are aligned with your purpose, it means you are part of something bigger than yourself. Your purpose will then move you into action steps and move through you, and you end up having more energy to make your dreams happen. In fact, a lot of the quote work you do, whether it’s baking, picking up the kids from school, running a business, plucking your eyebrows, or even spending time with your in-laws ceases to feel like work. It starts to feel like an extension of who you are and what you are contributing to the world. When this happens, you know that you have opened the door to the true self working through you.

13:32 So purpose is expanded. Purpose is not dependent on anything outside of yourself, which is the, you know, we can have ambitions, but your purpose isn’t defined by your job title or your position in a company, or you know, what you could list as achievements or whatever it is. It’s so much more expansive than that. And so when we approach it from a really expansive place, it then we can really tap into our potential. Because rigidity and smallness come from the ego. That’s the birthplace of limited ideas. We don’t wanna believe that. We don’t wanna buy into that because then we just start to really drag ourselves down. And life is not this full potential of joy that I think is the birthright for each of us. So let’s talk about how do we define our purpose if it is not around externals? So the first part of purpose, and this is, you know, my perspective of purpose, which has been shaped by especially ancient yogic teachings, a lot of different philosophy that I’ve read from around the world, and great writers from Rumi to Lazu, uh, Jesus, um, just so many incredible teachings and of course the great yoga guru Paramahansa Yogananda.

15:13 So purpose for me has two components. And when we align these two components, then we are able to really flourish. And this anchoring in this un this deep clarity and understanding of our purpose will create so much power in our lives. It gives us direction, as I mentioned. It gives us energy, it gives us resilience to keep going. When life gets so hard, it feels so hard sometimes we can know that underneath these happenings, there is a greater picture. We are part of a bigger plan, and our lives really do matter.

1st Part of How to Cultivate Happiness Through Purpose in Your Everyday Life: Understand that we are here to connect back to who we really are and to believe it

So the first part of purpose is to understand that we are here to connect back to who we really are. And I do believe that. So that is as expansive as it gets. Each of us is here to come back to our hearts. Each of us is here to journey down from living completely in the head to varying degrees, down the six inches into the heart.

16:20 We are here to live the true self potential, not the limited ego. We are here to live in love and light and to discover that inside of ourselves, we’re not the bodies that we thought we were, we’re not the achievements and the job titles. We are this actual energy, this formless energy, which you can call the soul, spirit, individualized inside of us, the heart, whatever word you wanna say or term you wanna say. I believe that the first part of our purpose here, whether you are a teacher or a doctor or a librarian, or a stay-at-home mom, or a construction worker or a producer or whatever you are doing, the, the through line of purpose is to connect to this energy inside of you, which we do through lifestyle, through the four cornerstones to come back to the center. This is where the steady joy is.

17:27 And nothing on the outside world can take that away from you. It’s steady and consistent and a deep give you a deep sense of purpose. So we’re here to really connect to who we are. And when I started to understand this, oh, it was such a game changer for me because it took away so much pressure and it gave me so much peace because I knew that I couldn’t control the outcome of everything. I can’t control how well, you know, things do. I can’t control, um, forces in the market and the world and things like that. But I can keep going and keep focusing on this journey of self-discovery, on this journey of raising my consciousness towards enlightenment, which is my goal, which is freedom, true freedom, which we discover inside of ourselves. So that’s the first part of purpose. And so no matter what you’re doing in your life, if you start to put effort towards the four cornerstones, food, body, emotional wellbeing, and spiritual growth to center yourself, to become a resilient, loving, kind, compassionate human, you are deeply serving the world.

18:48 It really is true when Gandhi says that, you know, we change the world first by changing ourselves. I’m paraphrasing of course, <laugh>, but our energy, our vibration does impact everyone else and especially the circle around us. So the first part of purpose is to coming back to that unconditional love that I believe we were all born here to realize and to align with.

2nd Part of How to Cultivate Happiness Through Purpose in Your Everyday Life: Connecting who you really are with your unique gifts and talents

And the second part of purpose is connecting that with the, your unique gifts and your talents. And so that is, you know, we’re all here with a different energy and different gifts. And so yes, it could play out in a corporate career or it could just be the way in which you, you know, show up in with at your church or in your neighborhood, at your community, at your children’s school. It doesn’t have to be, again, like I said, connected to a specific job title or anything.

19:50 It could be that you have a way of helping people get along or you’re really creative, you’re great at outreach, you’re great at, you know, creating events or volunteering or just being really loving to anyone who comes in your path. So it is the combination of these two, which creates your unique purpose. So let me read a little bit about that and we’ll go back into that. In this way. We all have the same purpose. This is from page 38 of the new book. And there’s great exercises here as well, and writing exercises and journaling exercises to help you really clarify this that are pretty specific. So they’re in this chapter and also in the, you are a Creator chapter, really great exercises for helping, uh, I would take your hands and guide you through this process, but here on page 38 it says, in this way, we all have the same purpose, and yet it’s different at the same time. What do I mean by this? For all of us, our core purpose is to serve others, to help others in this what in this, in some way it is by doing this, that we ourselves expand and grow. We grow past our own limitations. And so we are also helping ourselves reach our highest potential and stretch to actualize our dreams.

21:15 Yet your purpose is unique to you because you have a unique energy that you can bring into the world. And so it will get channeled into work and projects in a way that only you can do. In other words, you can serve and help others in a unique way. In chapter 19, you are a creator. We’re going to take a deep dive into your unique essence, but for now, just let this idea start to sink in. You are here to serve in your own unique way. So I would say to you, Zoe, as you know, you transition past motherhood and you’ll always be a mother, but as you said, your children are grown now. So a different phase of motherhood, we’ll say, it is time to see where am I passionate? Where do I have gifts and talents where I can help to serve? And at the same time, you have more space to perhaps meditate, contemplate, journal, reflect on your own growing consciousness, on your own contribution to the world in terms of uh, just a bigger heart, growing in love and co compassion.

22:24 So remember your vibration, just focusing on that. Zoe’s going to help the planet, but also you can see where else you can serve and that love and that energy moving through you towards others, whether that’s in volunteer projects or starting some sort of company or getting involved in something that is in somehow serving others. And again, this is a very broad way of looking at it. We’re not just talking about volunteering for a nonprofit, but we’re seeing, hey, I work at the post office and so I’m going to channel kindness and try to uplift every single customer, every single person that I come in contact with today that is living your purpose. It’s, it’s embodying kindness and compassion and then serving others that come across your path. So I would encourage you Zoe, to um, to do the exercises and to really think about, feel rather not think, but feel in your heart.

23:29 You know, and this may take time, it may take a couple sessions at least to really sit with this. It is a wonderful way or a wonderful contribution to this process, to do it outside in nature, under big, wide open sky, maybe in a forest or next to a body of water. So we can really just absorb this pureness of nature around us. We can start to sink into this place of non-thinking and non-no into this power of being. I also encourage doing the exercises and contemplating your unique purpose after meditation. So we actually have a practical enlightenment guided meditation on our website, mysolluna.com, which is about contemplating questions. So I guide you through thinking of a question and then we meditate. And in the potent period afterwards is a really wonderful time to journal and to see what new ideas and inspirations come up and out of you.

24:31 And to really take, um, take, grab those, get those because those are really wonderful. Sometimes we’re in the flow of just thinking, thinking all day long. A million different things are coming. All these alerts on our phone, media and social media. It’s hard to hear the more subtle messages of your heart and your intuition. So that’s why it’s really important that we are able to, to have practices that are specifically designed to listen to the inner guidance. And this is the inner guidance, Zoe, that will take you forward to this next exciting potential juicy period of your life. Which isn’t like, oh, sad, oh, look at me, I, I’m an empty nester. My kids are grown. I’m not needed anymore. But rather I’ve done this incredible thing in my life. I have raised my children. And now what? Now what? Cuz there’s so much incredible potential here, Zoe, for you and everyone listening to this, do not get bogged down with attachment in the ego telling you that, oh well you missed out or should have been this way, or now this is done.

25:41 It sucks. <laugh> every day is a chance to rebirth and renew every day. We could have fresh eyes. Another, uh, wonderful tool I wanna mention again because we’re right in the middle of this new launch, is the waterfall cleanse, which is three days and it will take you through this deeper level of resetting your life. We are actually on April 3rd doing it as a community group for anyone that purchases prior. You’ll get a registration link, we’ll be meditating together and I’ll be taking questions and, and speaking a bit about this. But a cleanse in a the holistic cleanse can disrupt everything or disrupting our eating patterns, which gives us a chance to look. It’s like doing a walk about or a vision quest to journal, to meditate with this intention of what is next for me. We really ask spirit here to speak to us. We’re open to listening. Spirit, what do you want me to do with my life? You could just ask our universe, whatever God, whatever word you wanna say, I’m here universe, I am ready to serve, to help. Where can I be of most service?

26:58 So I’ve gone through this with my life and I used to wonder a lot, why am I working with celebrities? Because I’m not into movies and TV and all that stuff, <laugh> so much. And it was just a really, you know, it continues to be an interesting part of my life, but they’re such amazing kind humans and they need a support. And it was just where spirit wanted me to go and the mind was trying to rationalize or think of ideas. And it’s really not about that. It’s just, hey simple, this is where I can support. This is where I can show up, this is where I can be of love. So remember you are here to realize yourself. You’re here to realize who you really are. Yoga said, earth is like a hospital. We’re all si sick or you know, in process in some way.

27:51 And when we start to come fully into the hearts, when we anchor into unconditional love, the way of truth, the way of unity, then we can eventually merge, ascend, you know, whatever your personal ideas are. But we’re here to realize the truth of who we are and we’re here to serve so we can merge them, we can deepen our understanding, we can expand beyond the limited ego through service and through just helping the whole however we can. So that’s not such a thing as small, big in the eyes of spirit in the universe. That’s a manmade understanding. Whatever it is so-called small or big in our daily lives. How can we bring more unity, compassion, and love to the world? So please check out the research and other resources over on our show notes, mysolluna.com to go further into this topic. And please check out the exercises in chapters three of 19 and the new book You Are Warrior, which you are, you are creator, which you are to help you clarify and define this further. And again, the waterfall cleanse is here for you to guide you through the experience of Reese resetting and going deep into purpose right now in your life in spring, if you’re in the northern hemisphere or fall if you’re in southern. Which is gonna be very, very powerful really. Um, creating great intention around this idea of what is my purpose? Spend three days and this openness to spirit disrupting our life to come out to reemerge, clear, focused and as we mentioned in the title of our show with more peace and more joy.

29:41 So I send you so much love, I just think it’s amazing that we’re here together on this life journey. If you and I are sitting here together, if you’re listening to me, we are connected and we are connected for a reason. There are no coincidences in the infinite universe of intelligence. So thank you and I love you and I honor you and I am here for you always. So you can reach out to me with questions on our website that maybe I will answer an upcoming show hopefully. So also on social media you can reach out or you can leave comments on our website, on the blogs I write or anything. You can find me and I’ll find you <laugh> and I’ll be back here Monday for our next interview podcast. Till then, sending you so much love. Namaste.

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