One of the most challenging things about spiritual development is being able to translate our spiritual life into our everyday life. As we shift in our consciousness, we become aware of that Divine spark within us. We have a soul-awareness that we are here to do something more. There is a fundamental need at this point in our conscious awareness to do something in the world that is aligned with our deeper selves. We want to consciously co-create who we are in the world. We want to discover our purpose.
Then we get stuck. We want to know what our soul purpose looks like on the ground. We start to question: is what I am doing as a job or career really my calling? Is it something bigger or more service oriented? Is it more spiritually oriented, maybe going into the healing arts, or joining an ashram?
What is my soul purpose?
That’s a big question. And not just because we are talking about the part of us that is eternal and connected to an infinite Source. (Although that by itself would be enough!) We are also talking about another part of who we are. Our human selves. And they are no less important.
So what’s getting in the way here?
I think what is getting in the way is we are interpreting our soul needs through our human needs, or thinking that they are the same thing. While they may be aligned, they aren’t the same.
One way we do this is thinking that our purpose is one, specific thing that our souls are here to do rather than a process of growth. Our human selves think our soul-selves need a specific job or calling to express itself.
I don’t think our soul-selves need a job, a career or even a calling for that matter. Our human selves absolutely need a job. I need to find some way to support myself and pay my bills and I’m pretty sure you do too. I also feel there is a real need to bring that sense of soul-self to the world. We generally translate that to mean that our human self needs a job that our soul wants. Which effectively brings us back to our souls needing a job.
There seems to be a belief around our soul purpose and I think it is around what we refer to as a calling. We’ve labeled it a calling because I think that word conveys the depth of the need for soul expression and the soulful quality of this deeper level of expression, both of which I feel are true. What I think trips us up here is that we interpret that to mean there is one, specific thing out there that we think our souls are meant to do. I think that is a human belief, not a soul need. Our souls need experiences that relate to what they are trying to grow around. How those experiences manifest, or what they look like on the ground, can take on different forms.
The human part of us understands form very well, so when we are looking at soul expression, we think of what it would look like on the ground as a thing – a physical job, or a physical creation. Then we look at the form and say that is how our souls will be able to express themselves. Essentially our human selves decide what our soul selves need based on what it looks like on the ground. We fixate on the specific expression or job rather than what experiences that job is providing for our soul growth and expression. So we quickly pigeonhole ourselves into a very particular end goal and focus on that.
How do we bridge that gap between our soul needs and human needs?
Widen the lens.
Our soul-selves are eternal, infinite energies and operate with a much wider perspective than the denser energies of our human selves. What this means is that our soul-selves view our life situations differently than our human selves view them. What is more important to us as soul-selves is what experiences our life situations, jobs, or careers will bring to us, or the contents, not necessarily the job or career itself, the container. Our soul lessons can come in many different packages, so there isn’t one specific thing that will help our souls to grow and express that growth. Our soul purpose is to make sure we see what those lessons are and work with them consciously. Or, take the contents out of the container.
Reverse our thinking.
We don’t have a calling to express our soul selves, we express our soul-selves through these callings.
Rather than trying to figure out what our human selves think is our soul purpose, we have our soul-selves guide our human selves. It may be helpful to see it as a flow from our purpose to expression. Or how our soul growth drives how we create/express our soul-selves in the world. By having our soul growth drive how it is expressed we aren’t tied down to one, specific form and trying to shoehorn our soul-selves to fit.
Effectively what that means is our “calling”, if you want to use that label, can really be anything that aligns with our purpose, or how your soul needs to grow. So you don’t have to join an ashram or start a healing center to express your purpose. Not unless you want to.
Because we are living a soul-guided life, it’s also helpful to remember you are already living a soul-guided life. (That’s not an editing error!) What you draw to you, is for you to experience. Opportunities that come to you are there for you. Essentially, what comes your way and what you choose is part of your soul purpose, which means, whatever you choose to do is your soul purpose.
