Maybe Your Life Purpose Is Simply Learning To Be Your Authentic Self
By Robert Dean
I’ve spent many days and restless nights pondering the mysteries of this world and the ever stretching universe that surrounds. I often find myself staring out into that star-speckled abyss in deep wonder. A feeling of searching draws me deeper towards the ocean of stars. I heard the question, “Who am I and what is my purpose?” I like to think many of us have this same deep sense of wonder.
As I’ve grown older, I look back on the different phases of my life. My interests have changed, my thoughts have changed, and the mirror keeps reminding me that yes, even my looks have changed, yet somehow I know that who I am has never changed. My environment, my jobs, my style, my habits, my thoughts, and beliefs, pretty much everything in my life has changed over the last 10 years, yet I am still me. And this lingering question has followed me through it all: Who am I and what is my purpose?
In my own head, I have a story of who I think I am. Others may have their own interpretation, but over my lifetime I have forged out a fairly well-defined sense of who I am. I have built a set of beliefs that have shaped my thoughts, my habits, and even the way I speak. People who know us associate certain qualities with our name—kind, positive, angry, calm, funny. Yet none of those things are who we really are.
One warm summer night, I was sitting out under the full moon, hypnotized by its luminous glow. A soft breeze gently ran across my body and I heard it whisper, “We are the same.” It was at that moment that I understood the truth that the moon had always been trying to show me. Just shine. That is all.
The moon is never trying to be anything other than itself, the perfect emanation that God had created it to be. The moon does not look at the other stars and say, “I wish I was more like Jupiter,” or “Why is that star so much smaller than me? Why does that star get to be over there why I am stuck here?” Simply put, the moon needs neither validation nor permission to be anything other than what it is. The moon knows that its purpose is to shine in all of its perfect beauty. The moon does not wish or need or feel inclined to do or be anything. It just is, and there is something so beautiful about that. When I started to look around with this same perspective, I noticed the same to be true about all of mother nature—the wind, the trees, the ocean, all of it, in its own place of harmony.
You may say that is a bunch of hocus pocus. The moon doesn’t have bills to pay, children to raise, and dishes to do. And yes, you are correct about that, but entertain this idea for a second. Take a moment to strip away all of the pieces of who you think you are. Get rid of your job title, take away your responsibilities, take away your beliefs, your physical appearance, even your name. Get rid of all of the things that you think make up who you are. What are you left with? Just you. That’s it. Just you. Your soul. Your true self, the one that is like the moon. A beautifully perfect emanation of God, exactly as you were created to be. And you are only created for one purpose… to shine. Just as God had always intended.
All of this other stuff is only an extension of who you truly are. We have been writing our story since the day we were born. We learned to love, to share, to be afraid, to stay quiet and even to hate. We’ve learned things like life is hard and money is the root of all evil. Boys don’t cry and women belong in the kitchen. You don’t deserve God’s love. No matter the life you were born into, you have undoubtedly been subject to all kinds of absurd, strange, and just outright wrong beliefs. Luckily, as we grow older, we begin to form our own belief systems, though they are not always any healthier.
When I began to analyze my life from this perspective, I realized that I carry around a whole lot of beliefs and thoughts that do not serve the quality of life I desire to live and are definitely not in line with the vibrational frequency of my true self.
This is the way I break it down to make more sense of it. Think of this as a waterfall.
At the very root, you have:
1. Your true self. This is the real you. Your soul. The perfect you that God created.
2. Your environment. What did your environment look like growing up and what does it look like now? Does it support your growth or keep you feeling stagnant?
3. Your psychology. Your Environment will forge your psychology, AKA your beliefs. Take time to reevaluate your beliefs and ask yourself, “Are these truly serving me and my higher self?” The way I check and balance myself is to ask, “Is this a belief that is rooted in God?” In other words, God is love, abundance, and infinite potential. If it is not rooted in this truth, then come up with a new belief.
4. Your emotions. Your beliefs will determine how you feel. If you think that the whole world is out to get you or that you don’t deserve to be loved, then you are going to feel pretty miserable most of the time. Change your beliefs and you will have better emotions.
5. Your decisions. When you feel bad, you make bad decisions. You make excuses, you play the blame game, and you come up with a million reasons other than yourself why life is bad. Feel good and make better decisions, because the small daily decisions will determine your future.
6. Your habits and routines. If I make the decision to smoke enough, it will eventually become a habit and that will develop into a routine. The same goes for exercising and even a simple smile to a stranger. If you make this decision enough, it will become a part of your life.
7. Life and death. All of the above will equate to how you lived your life and how you will die. As you can see when it is broken down like this, it all goes back to the source. You have to ask yourself: What kind of life do you want to live?
I truly believe that at the end of your life, only a few things will truly matter. How much you loved. How much you were loved and how much you regret. It is so easy to get wrapped up into the day-to-day scramble of hustle and bustle, but if we can slow down enough to look at all of the surrounding beauty that reminds us of our true nature — the moon, the stars, the wind, the trees, the birds, the ocean — then we can also retreat back to this place of truth that is rooted in the source: God. We can take back our power and write a new story for ourselves. One that doesn’t come from a place of control or fear, but rather a place that allows us to shine as our most authentic and true self.