Responding To Query From A Reader

Hi Brad,

I would like to know how you reconcile the seemingly paradoxical set up that goes with this ... being resilient and flexible means being open to any and all change having a life purpose means holding to your purpose come what may. In this context, how can I know for sure that something I see as my life purpose today might not be my life purpose tomorrow? (... 'then it's not your life purpose' I hear you say, but what if I was wrong or not seeing the big picture maybe when I discovered my life purpose 'yesterday'? Is there truly no room for doubt for those who arrive at their life purpose thru your methodology?

MY RESPONSE Great question. You've given me the opportunity to ponder on this for a day or so and here's what came to me.

Short answer: You just know. But then, I realize that's too short an answer. I don't know that I would accept it by itself, so to take it a bit further.

This is what I perceive happens. In the Life On Purpose Process, we first work to uncover the person's inherited purpose. This is the fear, lack, struggling to survive based life shaping force that can keep us from ever really getting around to clarifying our true purpose.

By uncovering this, the person can move beyond it -- set it aside, at least long enough to gain access to their true purpose. I'd say when I look at my own life experience and from working with many of my clients, doubt stems mostly if not entirely from the inherited purpose. When I'm clear I'm not operated from fear, lack or struggle, there's clarity not doubt.

The second part of the equation is from experiencing my life purpose. When I'm living true to my life purpose -- when I'm experiencing a life of purposeful, passionate and playful service, when I'm in touch mindfully with the abundant universe in which I live and I balance that with simplicity, and when I'm truly experiencing spiritual serenity -- then I'm 'in the zone' I'm experiencing a level of joy, satisfaction and fulfillment that is unmistakable, and there is no doubt. I JUST KNOW that I'm living true to my divinely inspired life purpose. And the more I live it and the more I experience that level of joy and satisfaction, the more affirmed I am.

Ok, that's my take on your great question.

2005 Brad Swift of Life On Purpose Institute, Inc. This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.