I’ve been stirring the pot in my business lately, and I mean that in the best possible way. Two new projects are taking shape that blend creativity, energy medicine, and self-discovery in ways I’ve been wanting to explore for a long time. One is the Dual Energy Assessment, a tool for understanding your unique energetic makeup, and the other is a membership community, Everyday Consciousness, I’ve been building toward for months. Both feel alive in the way that things feel alive when they’re genuinely aligned with why you do what you do.
Which is exactly what I want to talk about this week.
Purpose.
I hesitate to use that word because it’s become almost a cliché, and because it tends to get reduced to work, to career, to the question of whether what you do for a living lights you up. Purpose is bigger than that. What I’m pointing at is a deep sense of meaning and direction in everyday life. A feeling that your engagement with the world matters, that you and your contributions are connected to something that extends beyond the immediate moment.
This doesn’t mean springing out of bed every morning brimming with exuberant excitement. It means having something that orients you, that gives the ordinary days a sense of direction and helps you navigate the rough ones.
What the Research Shows
The Japanese have a word for it: ikigai. Roughly translated it means a reason for getting up in the morning, the place where what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be sustained by all intersect. Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones research, which studied the longest-living populations on earth, identified ikigai as one of the consistent factors among people in Okinawa who live well into their nineties and beyond. Purpose, it turns out, is a longevity variable. The people who have a clear sense of why they’re here tend to stay here longer.
In energy medicine terms this makes complete sense. The energy that flows when we are living in alignment with our purpose is stronger, higher in vibration, and more resilient. When I work with clients who have lost their sense of direction, I can feel the difference in the field. There’s a flatness, a kind of diffuse quality to the energy, as if it has nowhere particular to go. When purpose is present and alive, the field organizes around it. There’s coherence and resonance. The energy knows where it’s focused.
Purpose has many expressions. It can be found in contributing to something larger than yourself, knowing your presence matters, nurturing relationships, creating beauty, solving problems, or helping another person feel seen. Discovering your “why” simply helps you recognize the thread that has likely been woven through your life all along.
My own “big why” is centered around empowering women to become the fullest expression of themselves. That naturally lends itself to healing, particularly self-healing, because I believe people are far more capable than they often realize. My purpose shows up in the way I parent, the way I communicate, the relationships I cultivate, and, of course, in the work I do every day.
Plugging into my purpose has helped me to clarify what I’m creating and why. Don’t get me wrong, I have days where I want to (and sometimes do) pull the covers over my head or curl up with a book and forget there’s a world outside. My strong sense of purpose helps me navigate my way back into the world.
For one woman, becoming the fullest expression of herself might mean trusting her intuition after years of second-guessing it. For another, it might mean setting healthy boundaries without feeling guilty or finally giving herself permission to pursue something she’s dreamed about for decades. It isn’t about becoming someone different. It’s about uncovering more of who you’ve always been beneath the expectations, responsibilities, and roles you’ve carried throughout your life.
Purpose isn’t assigned. It’s uncovered, gradually, through honest attention to what genuinely engages you, what you find yourself returning to, what irritates you enough to want to change it, and what you can imagine doing in some form for the rest of your life.
Your why doesn’t have to be grand. It doesn’t have to be visible to anyone else. It might show up in how you raise your children, tend your garden, listen to a friend in trouble. The question isn’t whether your purpose is impressive. The question is whether it’s yours.
If you’d like to spend some time with that question, here’s a short journaling practice worth trying:
Spend fifteen minutes with these four questions, then set them aside and come back to them in a couple of days with fresh eyes.
What activities make you lose track of time?
What values feel genuinely non-negotiable to you?
What excites and engages you enough that you seek it out?
What bothers you enough about the world that you want to do something about it?
When you read back what you’ve written, look for the threads that run through more than one answer. Those threads tend to point toward something that matters deeply to you. The invitation then is to find small ways to weave more of those threads into your everyday life, in a consistent practice of moving toward what matters.
That’s what purpose looks like in practice. It’s paying attention to what matters and connecting with that in ways that resonate with you and build on themselves.
Something to Sit With
What gives your life meaning right now? What lights you up, sparks your curiosity, or bothers you enough that you can’t quite let it go?
Pockets of Joy
I finished up the Dual Energy assessment the satisfaction of completing something worthwhile felt good. I took a few days to visit with family and relax before jumping back into it. This little bridge. made me smile. What was your pocket of joy this week?
Resources
What I’m listening to: Kenny Chesneys new song Burn my Boat has me singing along and swaying my hips.
What I’m reading: My oldest daughter gave me this to read last week: Goodbye Earl by Leesa Cross-Smith a story about four childhood friends, the secrets they keep, and the safety they seek. It’s told from multiple points of view – which isn’t usually my favorite – but once you’re pulled in, it’s hard to stop reading.
Learning Labs: If you’re curious about how energy and mind-body awareness can support this season of change, the ReWrite Your Aging Script Learning Lab can help you find it here
Be Inspired,
Cathy
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