This may sound ridiculous, but when you do soul work you come to realize that the soul’s purpose IS to find its purpose! The whole point of the human condition is that we must undergo a “boot camp” of sorts in each lifetime in order to create the opportunity to look within. Our many challenges—the myriad of obstacles we face throughout each lifetime—trains us to overcome adverse conditions, problem-solve the most complicated of life circumstances and live more intelligently with each mistake we make. Along the way, we pick up skills, knowledge and strategies that point us in the direction of our higher purpose—the next step of our evolution. If we follow this path and reach our “higher” place, then another one opens up so we can reach for the next level—the subsequent higher purpose along our soul’s evolutionary walkway.
Many factors affect our ability to find our soul’s purpose—many being less known concepts until a person has progressed enough to understand each concept more. For instance, the idea of soul age comes into play. Most people have heard about old souls, focusing attention on the wisdom they somehow inherently hold. These individuals are seen as wise beyond their years and tend to already have life figured out. They live in a way that indicates they know their place in life and also acknowledge they are already working toward doing something meaningful. Young souls, on the other hand often struggle to get their days aligned, let alone live their lives effectively altogether. In this case, soul purpose isn’t generally on their radar; instead, survival is the main challenge of their existence. Developing the skills to live more easily, then, might be the primary soul purpose of that particular person’s life.
Karmic contracts also play a part. Often a person is more compelled to engage in certain relationships, adventures, family dynamics/expectations or other “human” endeavors, not really paying attention to a singular purpose or mission they feel they need to achieve. Their contract—the agreement they made with themselves, other souls or the Universe in general, provides the fodder for growth in that particular lifetime, which results in meeting their soul’s purpose if they reach this point.
Reincarnation, itself, is a soul purpose. Sometimes souls decide to come back just to learn more. Their purpose is complete once they’ve learned what they are supposed to or once they have served the role or “purpose” they played in someone else’s life.
A person can live their soul’s purpose for that lifetime without completing some monumental task. In this case, it is up to the individual to make their mark on life despite what society or anyone else tried to dictate.
Coming from someone who has done soul healing/soul coaching for a long time, I’ve come to understand that it takes many, many lifetimes for a soul to become conscious enough to know what they are really supposed to do to fulfill their soul’s ultimate purpose. Expectations, societal pressure and other forms of direct or indirect pressure must be overcome to find a person’s truest path. This generally doesn’t happen in just one lifetime.
Our soul purpose in any given lifetime, then, is entirely based on learning what we are supposed to in order to both become clear about our innermost needs or desires and to align our lives accordingly.
THIS is our purpose in each and every lifetime—to become conscious enough about what we need or don’t need to align our lives for what I call radiant living. No bells and whistles or grand announcements are necessary once a person finds their true path. They’ve just “arrived” at the conscious point when they know they are doing exactly what they are supposed to (“alignment) at any given moment. This doesn’t usually occur until they’ve lived enough lifetimes to gain the inherent wisdom to identify their purpose early enough in life to make a major difference.
A person who has truly found their soul’s purpose tends to live and breathe it once it has been discovered or revealed. There’s no question what it is. The only question is how to live it well enough to find completion at some point in time. The main challenge is to overcome any obstacle that gets in the way of you living that purpose.
We tend to romanticize the idea that we must find our soul’s purpose to succeed in the game of life. Thousands of books and even more videos and workshops exist to help a person find their soul’s purpose. The reality is that as long as you are leading a life that is aligned with your innermost self, you are already living your soul’s purpose. We can have many life purposes along the way, but our ultimate soul’s drive isn’t fully realized until they have reached the end—or nearly the end of their reincarnation cycle.
The video connected to this blog provides more information and guidance to explore the concept of soul purpose more fully.
Katherine T. Kelly Ph.D., M.S.P.H.
With 35+ years of direct clinical experience, Dr. Kelly doesn’t just believe in helping others to heal; instead, her mission is to help them to evolve. Using her own integrative and trademarked framework—the Soul Health Model—Dr. Kelly approaches her work with clients from a “whole person” or “whole organization” perspective. She provides a uniquely progressive, yet down-to-earth approach and is well-known in therapeutic, medical and corporate communities. She thrives as she helps clients and organizations to reach what she calls “conscious evolution” through a variety of self-designed strategies. Her dedication to healing has been widely recognized as she was the recipient of the Provider of the Year Award by the regional Mental Health Association and was nominated as an Incredible Woman for a local community television network, which spotlights role models to inspire young women to pursue their own passions.