Purpose

 

I was interested in checking out an online movie recently entitled “Meditation”. I clicked on the link and as the serene music began to play, a voice spoke the following words: “Our purpose in life is to help each other through it.” I hit the pause button and didn’t watch anymore of the movie, not because I was uninterested but because I felt the potency of those words.

Having spent the past several weeks going through the death and subsequent grief of my Mother’s death, those words rang loudly. I have felt the love and support of so many people helping me get through life. It expanded my thinking that purpose isn’t just an individual pursuit but one of humanity and how we tap into our own life’s purpose affects others. I often support yoga students in their studies by saying “practice begins within”, meaning that when we begin to understand our individual needs and work to meet them, it begins to move outward to others. When we create the inner container for our own growth and evolution, we create an additional or perhaps larger container to support the growth and evolution of others. Instead of looking outside of ourselves for answers, we turn inward and recognize that all we need to know is sitting within us.

I decided to do a bit more research and came across work on the purpose of life from the University of Minnesota and Richard Leider, who is a coach and purpose expert. To quote Mr. Leider, “genuine purpose points to the end of a self-absorbed, self-serving relationship to life.” Basically, when we become clear on our authentic purpose, we are able to share it with the whole world. This sentiment so deeply aligns with how we can approach our yoga practice, from the inside out, enabling ourselves to help each other through the many challenges that life throws onto our path.

Leider also came up with an equation: gifts + passion + values = purpose. Rather than trying to find an occupation that ties us to a restrictive label according to what we do, purpose can be more expansive no matter what stage of life we’re in. When we understand our special qualities and gifts, what we do well and a unique personal characteristic, coupled with the spark that ignites enthusiastic passion and align it with our personal values, our purpose begins to reveal itself. In an article in Fitness Matters entitled “Discover Your Purpose” by Lee Jordan, MS and Beth Jordan, the authors state that “If you can be fired or retired from it, or if it can be taken away from you, it’s not your purpose”. So often we confuse our profession or occupation with our purpose and so often they couldn’t be further apart.

Getting clear on our talents, passions, and what we value can apply to anything that we’re undertaking regardless of whether or not it brings us financial reward. From the age of 19, I have been teaching in one form or another. Yet, it wasn’t until 15-20 years ago that I realized that sharing knowledge was one of the reasons for this embodiment. I was always drawn to sharing knowledge and supporting others whether they were my first young gymnasts that I coached, teaching at my university to physical education/recreation students upon my graduation, group fitness classes, personal training, or the current incarnation of what I’m doing in the form of sharing the teachings of yoga. The content has changed but the purpose hasn’t. And whenever the form of what I’m currently doing also changes, I’m guessing that a large part of me will continue to see how I can share and support knowledge and the empowerment of individuals.

I had the unique gift in life of training four nonagenarians during the same period and they all had something in common. They were all still connected to their purpose in life in their 90’s. One was a writer, one a professor emeritus, one a consultant for his son’s retail business (which he started), and a retired teacher who was working at the local braille institute teaching vision-impaired people how to knit. They were all engaged and mentally agile, still participating in a way that seemed to be an ongoing connection to and reflection of their whole life. They had a purpose to support and walk others through their lives. I don’t even need to look back at what they taught me as their actions at the time were powerful examples of how we can move through life with purpose and meaning. It supported each of them in thriving to their final days and that is a gift I was happy to receive.

Most of us want to thrive as we age, staying active and healthy. One way to do that is to live with purpose as a guiding light. I thank the many wise elders that have shown me an example of what that looks like. After all, we are here to help each other make it through this often wild and unpredictable thing called life!