Anna Sayce

Tag: purpose

  • See the Clues that Point to Your Life Purpose

    See the Clues that Point to Your Life Purpose

    I first began searching for my life purpose exactly 14 years ago when I found an article online on how to discover your life purpose.

    It involved an interesting exercise in which you write out anything that comes into your head about what your purpose might be, until you write something that makes you cry. And the part you write that makes you cry is your purpose.

    Upon doing this exercise, I discovered that my life purpose was something really vague and corny-sounding, like:

    “To help others to be happy and to succeed”

    (More wordy and long than that, but summed up, that was the essence of it.)

    But I think I cried more out of depression though than out of joy at having admitted to myself what my purpose was. How the heck was I going to translate this vague purpose of helping people into something I could do that paid the bills and made me happy? And actually made an impact on the lives of other people?

    That was in January 2007. At that time, I was reading a lot of personal development material about living a life that’s congruent with your values and finding work you love.  All of it seemed really irrelevant to me in a practical sense because I didn’t believe it was possible to do work I loved, yet it appealed to me intuitively, because I was so bored of my work and dreamed of something better.

    I had been working as an English teacher in Dijon, France for about four months and I was already fed up. I knew that I did not want to teach languages for the rest of my life, yet the other jobs I’d tried were even worse, so teaching was the lesser of many evils, as far as I was concerned.

    Then six months later, I trained as an Akashic Record reader, which put me on a path of greater purpose, and in the end stopped teaching languages. Through my new path of healing and intuitive work, I learned a lot about the nature of soul purpose and how it manifests in our lives.

    And interestingly, many of the clients who get soul purpose readings from me are in the same position I was in 14 years ago, in that they know they want to help people but have no idea where to go from there because they think they lack the skills to do it.  To move past this, you have to understand that…

    Life purpose is not just about helping people

    Consciously serving and helping others is definitely a part of a light worker’s purpose, but it’s a mistake to think this is your whole life’s purpose.  We’re not here to save the world from itself.

    As I explained in my article How to Find Your Calling As A Lightworker – your purpose is not a mission of doing, but of being. On a spiritual level, your purpose is simply to be here; to be incarnated here; to be yourself; to allow your soul’s deepest urges and desires and values to manifest and take shape in your physical reality. Your purpose is to learn and evolve. And to teach others, directly and indirectly just by being here and being you.

    Because life purpose is a mission of ‘being’, living your soul purpose happens by knowing yourself really well, knowing who you are and what you love being, so that you can consciously express and be yourself more fully. Know thyself, it says on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. If you want to live a purposeful life, you need to know consciously and notice what values are important to you; what you love to be and do; what you’re interested in and what your natural strengths and gifts are. All of these point to your purpose.

    How to notice the clues which point to your purpose

    I realized recently, while I was doing a reading, that life purpose seems to be expressed on three different levels.

    If you’re not yet aware of your purpose, examining these three areas or levels of your life separately could provide some clues as to what your purpose is, where you’re expressing it already and how you can start expressing it more consciously.

    Level 1: Soul

    Life purpose, on the soul level, is a collection of themes, energies and values that are important to you. These are like the deepest urges and dearest values of your soul. Some themes I’ve encountered (just to give you an idea) are compassion, truth, peace, harmony, freedom, tolerance, integrity, exploration, curiosity, power and wholeness. Energetically, those themes and energies will be expressed in all areas of life. You’ll bring these into your career and relationships, into your whole way of being with others. There will usually be two or three which are really important in your life. This is the ‘being’ part of your purpose.

    Questions to ask yourself to find out more about your purpose on this level:

    What is my soul’s deepest desire?

    What do I value and hold dear above all other things?

    Other ways in which you can find out more about you and your purpose on a soul-level:

    1. Get an astrological chart drawn up

    This can also tell you a lot about the energies you’re here to bring as a spirit. I would recommend getting a birth chart drawn up if you’re interested in learning more (they do them free at Cafe Astrology.) I’m not saying that you’ll get a free birth chart drawn up and then straight away find your life’s purpose. But it can definitely give you some clues. Watch for the themes which may come up again and again and elsewhere or themes which particularly resonate with you. For example, I have my ascendant in Libra, which means I love being the harmonizer in relationships and keeping everyone happy. I do that both in my work and in relationships. Creating harmony is a big theme that comes up as part of my purpose. This also shows in my Akashic Record as being so.

    You really have to be observant and track the themes that come up again and again using tools such as astrology and numerology (Numerology, particularly your soul urge number can also be interesting to find out more about your soul’s desires and purpose.)

    Something that comes up more than twice or three times is probably a major theme of your life purpose that you may feel drawn to expressing in a career. Something that comes up once or twice may be expressed in a more passive way, in how you are with people and in personal relationships.

    2. Get an Akashic Record Reading

    Mining the Akashic Records for information about your purpose on a soul-level can be useful. When I’m looking at someone’s purpose in the Akashic Records, I look at their origins as a soul (which gives many clues about what they’re here to bring and teach others) and also the soul-level strengths your soul has chosen to bring into this incarnation (which are a BIG indicator of your purpose). Looking at what you’ve been doing between lifetimes is really interesting and helpful. And your career should ideally utilize many if not all of the soul-level gifts which come up as significant in your Akashic Record.

    You can get an Akashic Record reading here and a mini Akashic reading here.

    Level 2: Personality

    The second level upon which your life purpose manifests is the level of the personality and this is reflected in your strengths, likes, and interests. This is the slightly more grounded and practical expression of the soul-level energies that are dear to you – some examples are authentic self-expression through writing or speaking, healing, relating to and empathizing with others or helping others to solve their problems. This is anything you like to do and are really good at.

    To find out more about your purpose as reflected in your personality and strengths:

    1. Take the StrengthsFinder test – StrengthsFinder Book 2.0

    I recently did a reading for a guy who was making applications to University. What his guides told him about his purpose in his career reading perfectly matched and perfectly utilized the strengths that came up in his Strengths Finder results. Of course, it did. The fact is, we choose our strengths BEFORE we even incarnate. So if you’re wanting to know more about what you consciously chose to express in this incarnation, consider taking the StrengthsFinder test or another test like it, to point you in the direction of your life purpose.

    It can be helpful to take other personality tests (such as the Myers-Briggs test) to see if similar themes come up. My Myers-Briggs result came up as INFP (introverted intuitive feeling perceiving) which is the idealist or sometimes called the healer. This isn’t surprising as a big part of my purpose is healing work.

    2. Dig for compliments

    There is another very simple way to become aware of your strengths – ask those around you what they appreciate about you and what they think you’re good at. This may sound like a less modest option, but the results can be surprising and very revealing. I discovered this last year when I was attending a business workshop. To prepare for it, I had to send a letter to those around me saying something like:

    “Please tell me what you think my unique ability is – i.e. anything really distinctive about me that you appreciate and can count on me for”.

    The responses were surprising to me, because almost everyone highlighted a particular aspect of my personality and a strength which I didn’t realize I had.

    We often take our strengths for granted because we’re so used to having them and using them, so we forget how valuable they can be to others. Anything we can bring to others, which we’re already doing and enjoy doing, is a very passive aspect of our purpose, but good to become conscious of nevertheless, so you can use it more consciously and actively.

    Level 3: Activities/Medium

    The final level upon which your purpose is expressed is in the physical. This is your ‘medium’.

    The physical is where those strengths, values, likes and interests can be translated into a medium – actual career activities that you can perform, like being a physicist, working in a shelter for abandoned animals, computer programming, journalism or translating.

    Your life purpose is not this medium, it’s just an expression of it. In fact, you will have quite a few mediums – you will certainly have personal relationships as a medium for your purpose, you will have a career outlet (or more than one) for your purpose, perhaps parenthood will be a medium for your purpose as well. The mediums may change at certain times in your life, and new mediums will appear throughout your life for you to express yourself.

    I have learned that living a life that’s aligned with your purpose is a constant optimization process of tweaking your mediums. For instance, in the past at times I’ve become aware that I’m not enjoying my work as much as I used to. In those cases, I’d work out what I’m resenting doing, such as doing a particular type of reading, and eliminate it, so I can spend more time doing readings/activities I do enjoy. Even if you’ve found your ideal career or medium for your purpose, there is usually something you can do optimize your enjoyment of your work.

    How to take your purpose and translate it into a career

    If you’re in a position where you know yourself well but have no clue where to go from here in terms of expressing your purpose and finding a medium, know that you don’t have to ‘do’ anything. Simply intend to attract opportunities to use your gifts and strengths more fully. Value and appreciate them. Manifest and seek out opportunities to do what you enjoy. From that place of appreciation and enjoyment, it is much easier to attract a career path which allows you to express your purpose fully. I’ve seen it happen this way for myself and for many others.

  • How to Find Your Calling As a Lightworker

    How to Find Your Calling As a Lightworker

    Do any of the following statements resonate with you?

    • You feel an intense desire to be of assistance and contribute something good to this world
    • You feel that planet Earth is not what it was meant to be
    • You sometimes feel alien and out of place here because of your values

    If you said yes to more than one of the above, you’re probably a lightworker – a soul who has a mandate for spiritual service.

    If you’re a lightworker, your purpose will inevitably be some variant on this theme: to serve others; to contribute something good to this world; to raise consciousness. So, the ‘why’ of your purpose is simple.

    Where more lightworkers get stuck is in finding the ‘how’ of their purpose. How are you going to contribute and be of service? Where do you go from realizing your purpose to actually putting that purpose into practice?

    To identify the ‘How’ of purpose, you first have to understand the nature of purpose.

    Purpose is not what you do – it’s what you are

    My guides constantly point out to me that we are fulfilling our soul’s purpose just by being here and being who we are. In readings, when I ask about purpose, my guides rarely talk about tasks to complete. Instead, they often give a set of qualities or attributes that you’re here to be. This is not usually a task – it’s something that is entirely natural to you because it’s who you are.

    Who we are counts

    We underestimate what we can achieve and heal just by being ourselves. Like the proverbial ripples on a lake, every action we take and every word we say has consequences.

    A friend recently told me a story. On the anniversary of her daughter’s death, she was visiting her daughter’s grave in the cemetery to put flowers on it. She had parked her car in a spot that was easy to get out of, on a tiny country road, but when she returned to her car, she had been trapped into that space by two other cars, one behind her and one in front of her. Getting out of that space looked impossible. By the time she had eventually got out of the parking spot, she realized that there was no way she could turn round and she had effectively trapped herself in the road. The only way she could turn round was in someone’s drive, which had a locked gate. She was trapped in. She began to panic. The emotions of sadness and grief began to overwhelm her. She was wondering what to do.

    Then she saw the occupant of the gated house coming down her drive and opening the gate. My friend got out of her car to thank her and as she did, the stranger gave her a hug and held her for a moment. She began to cry and was overcome with gratitude at the kindness this stranger had shown her.

    The woman probably never realized how appreciated her kindness was. But like that woman, without putting a lot of effort into it, we all bring our positive energies to the world every day, whether they are healing, courageous, nurturing, innovative or patient. You impact on people in small ways every day. Purpose is not about ‘what should I do’ but rather ‘who am I and how can I act in a manner that is true to myself?’

    We don’t have to think ‘how am I going to do good today?’. As the spiritual teacher Byron Katie says ‘when you see suffering, love moves into action through you’. You do good because it’s in your nature.

    Who are you and what are your values?

    Ask yourself: what is special about you? What energies do you bring into this world, just by virtue of being you?

    Unless you’re lucky and just fall into it, to find your calling, you have to know yourself. Having a calling is about taking what you love to BE in your life and finding the most natural continuation of that which financially remunerates you.

    So ask yourself: What do you long to bring to the lives of others? – healing? Nurturing? Supporting? Honesty? Courage? Compassion? Leadership? – This can be a difficult question to answer because it means you have to go inside of yourself and connect with your heart – something many of us aren’t used to doing. Pay attention to how the answer comes when you ask this question as it will surely be your Higher Self (your soul) that communicates with you.

    What are you already being in your personal life that you love?

    The interesting thing about this is that you are often already expressing, or at least LONGING to express these defining energies, in your personal life. Take a good look at your personal life and listen to your friends and family. What do they really appreciate about you? What do they feel is fundamental to you?

    Before I became a healer, I brought the energies of healing into many of my personal relationships. I dated men whom I could help and heal and attracted friends who needed my help. I so wanted to express these energies in my life and that was the only way I had found to do that. In the end, my desire to express these energies was so strong that I attracted a career that was a good fit for channeling my healing energies. But before I could be in the place where I could attract the right career for me, I first had to identify my passion and my talents and see where they were already at work in my life.

    Finding your calling does not have to be a fruitless, frustrating task. Even if there isn’t a career that seems like a good fit for you at the moment, don’t despair. Sometimes we have to do a little inner work before we can get there.

    To live your purpose even further and get into a place where you can find your perfect career, ask yourself:

    1. Who am I really?

    2. How can I be more of what I am, in my personal life? Around friends and family? With strangers? How can I most naturally bring what is special about me to the lives of others?

    Further clues to your passion

    Another way to identify who you love to be is by looking at your previous jobs and the job you’re doing now. Why did you like your jobs in the past? What did they allow you to be and do that made you feel alive?

    For example, before I trained in healing, I was a teacher. I loved teaching because it allowed me to impart information and raise consciousness. I loved to help others grow and develop themselves. In fact, that was the only reason I was in teaching!

    What if you’ve never had a job that you liked, ever? If you don’t know what your passion is, then you might need to explore a little. Try out some new things – some new hobbies, some new jobs. Notice when you’re enjoying yourself. Think about why. Ask yourself – what is this allowing me to be and do that I love being and doing?

    Blocks to finding your calling

    Block # 1: When you can’t be yourself and don’t value yourself

    If your calling is a mission of being yourself and expressing that which is fundamental about you, it follows that self-acceptance is essential. If on any level you are repressing who you are and not saying yes to yourself, you’re not in a place where you’re seeing that you have value to contribute. You probably won’t see what that value is. It’s impossible to attract your perfect career from that place. Only when you have self-acceptance and self-esteem can you find your calling. Naturally, you aren’t going to attract an outlet that allows you to express more of who you are if you aren’t already being yourself.

    But once you align with your authentic self, you begin to attract activities and people who are more aligned with your real self, in personal life, in leisure time, in friendships. This puts you in a very powerful position to attract your dream career.

    Block # 2: When you don’t know who you are anymore

    Occasionally a person can be so alienated from himself and his values that he has gradually lost that inner compass which tells him what aligns with who he really is and what doesn’t. And so he ends up ignoring his spirit and doing something just because others say he should.

    To get back in touch with your purpose, sometimes you have to shed everything we’ve been taught about what you’re here to do and be and get back in touch with yourself and what you really want. Actively cultivate a connection with your Higher self, who knows who you are.

    Block # 3: When you’ve been taught that it’s actually impossible to be yourself and get paid for it

    Like most people you may have a collection of limiting beliefs that follow the refrain ‘you can’t be your true self, stay true to your values and do what you like doing – it won’t pay the bills’.

    Once you understand who you are and what you’re here to be and do, seek a calling that aligns with your passion and gifts and don’t compromise.

    So, to summarize, you can begin to attract the right calling when you know who you are, accept and value who you are, and are committed to being that. Attracting your calling is relatively easy to do from a place of self-acceptance and self-esteem. You draw the activities and people towards you which allow you to creatively express yourself. If you’re not in that place of self-acceptance and self-knowledge, aim for that instead right now.

    Go on a journey of self-discovery

    Ask yourself:

    • Who or what is preventing me from being my true self?
    • What do I wish I could be?
    • What do I and others feel is unique about me?
    • What jobs and activities have I enjoyed in the past and why?
    • What do I love to do/be in my free time and in my personal life?
    • How can I express myself further in small ways, personally and professionally?
    • How can I hold true to my values more?

    The most important thing to know is this: You are the way you are for a reason. You were born to be you and creatively share yourself with the world.

    Further Reading: