In the previous article the number one mistake people make when searching for their purpose I talked about why so many people have a hard time finding their purpose.
(If you still haven’t read it, I encourage you to go read that one first so this article makes more sense to you.)
I also mentioned that your purpose is much more richer and complex than you ever imagined. In fact, the way I see your purpose, or every body else’s purpose, is by looking at it as a 3 fold path. 3 Paths you walk in life simultaneously.
The 3 Paths of Purpose are:
- The Path of Congruence
- The Path of Growth and
- The Path of ContributionEach one of us is walking those 3 paths in one way or the other during our whole life, but, of course, you get to choose how consciously (or unconsciously) you move along each path.
Understanding the 3 paths of purpose
The Path of Congruence:
You walk this path by discovering you who you really are, what your natural gifts and talents are, by connecting with your soul’s essence, and getting clear about what are the things you love and care about.
And once you know that, making choices that are in alignment with who you are. This is living in congruency and integrity with who you really are.
This path is most personal side of your purpose, because it mostly involves you. But none of us is an island. We all relate to other people and things. And that’s how we start walking…
The Path of Growth.
Life will inevitably send you life lessons, painful situations, with your relatives, with your co-workers, some health challenges, or money problems here and there. Stuff happens. You know that.
From all those experiences, we have the opportunity to learn and grow into a more evolved person: More loving, more tolerant, more pacient, more wise …
We have a natural impulse to grow, to be more, to expand, to use more and more of our mental, physical and spiritual capacities. And that will naturally take place in the moments of calm in our life.
So as you can see, we grow both from pain and from peace.
Hopefully, from all those experiences, we’ll learn some valuable lessons that can be passed onto others and thus we begin…
The Path of Contribution.
From our lives, we’ve obtained some valuable knowledge. And the natural impulse is to share it with others in some way or form, to help them avoid the msitakes we’ve made ourselves. It’s part of the hero’s journey, the return of the hero come with gifts and valuable lessons to share with his communit.
And when we share that knowledge (in which ever way we do that) we are walking the third path of contribution.
This is when we are meant to use your natural gifts, talents and expertise, and put them in service to others.
At this point, there is an importante choice you have to make:
Will you walk your path of contribution as a career or as a hobby?
Will you build a business around your contribution or not?
Either way it’s fine.
None of those choices is better than the other. Each one brings its own challenges and rewards. You won’t be more “spiritual” for not charging for what you do, you won’t be less “good person” if you do. They are just two different options.
And you get to choose (ever heard about that thing called “free will”?) In the next installment of this series I’ll go deeper into this Path of Contribution, but now it’s time to make your choice…What will you choose?
How are you called to walk your path of contribution? Are you called to become a conscious professional and create a business to improve the world somehow?
I’d love to know, please leave your answer in the comments below.