Twin, triplet, and quintuplet charts deepen our understanding of how Human Design uniquely manifests in real life. Even with identical charts from the same birth moment, each individual expresses their Design differently. This unique expression is at the heart of Human Design’s value. Why does this happen? Keep reading!
Our Design, as defined by our unique Human Design chart, describes how our energy is meant to flow. It shows us our best tools for applying our energy, making appropriate choices, identifying our greatest strengths, and what we will be drawn to. The direction our energy flows is meant to show us where and how to carry out our life plan and soul purpose. This is because our energy naturally flows toward what we are meant to do, be, and learn.
Our Design energies express themselves through our creativity, our relationships with others, our sense of place in the world, the vocations that interest us, and how we find meaning and fulfillment. In other words, our Design is the map that leads to the highest expression of our purpose. Above all, your Design is intended to serve your ongoing evolution.
However, the Chart is not the Soul. Human Design offers a framework for understanding our energy, but core individuality extends beyond the chart. This distinction is essential to Human Design’s purpose: to illuminate your unique expression rather than prescribe a uniform outcome.
Although twin charts—whether fraternal or identical—share themes, each twin expresses them uniquely. Each person is born with a unique agenda or soul contract. Many influences beyond Human Design shape us, including psychology, astrology, numerology, sociology, genetics, and upbringing, to name a few. Even twins in the same family perceive things differently. Each part of the Human Design chart has a range of expression, from reactive (lacking awareness) to aware (understanding responses and their impact). Everyone, consciously or not, chooses how to express their Design.
Most importantly, we each have a unique soul trajectory that describes where we’ve been and who we’ve been, including how we’ve treated others, how others have treated us, and how we may have affected collective history, for better or worse.
Our soul history shapes the purpose and direction of our current lives. In other words, the dharma, or life purpose, which we incarnated to express and explore, and the karma we came to restore (karma meaning the law of cause and effect, where past actions influence current experiences) are influenced by our previous lives. Karma is inevitable, as all actions must be brought into balance. Dharma is necessarily woven into the fabric of our lives.
This is because the Universe’s direction evolves toward higher consciousness. Higher consciousness is about unity, not exclusion. Exclusion always creates imbalance, inequity, suffering, and ongoing karma. The agreements or soul contracts we’ve made help us connect to our dharma and lead us to the karmas that seek resolution.
Your life is woven into a complex tapestry of evolutionary intentions, spanning from the personal to the collective. This field is nurtured within the boundless consciousness of the Universe, which no single interpretive modality or combination can fully express. Its breadth appears immeasurable, and its origins shrouded in mystery.
The bottom line is that how any Design will express itself has everything to do with the Soul that took it on for that lifetime. Again, souls are at different stages in their evolution — we have different histories, some longer, some shorter. Some of us are younger souls, while others are older. All of these influence your unique goals (dharma) and obligations (karma) in life.
As you become more aware of who you are and what you came here to do, your discernment about which choices are right for you also increases.
This is why even those with your exact Design will lead dramatically different lives—the soul’s uniqueness determines how any chart is lived, underscoring Human Design’s true power.
So, what does this reveal about Human Design’s value for self-discovery? Its power lies in helping you understand your unique soul’s purpose, even when Designs are identical.
Because different people can be born with the same chart, does that render our Design meaningless? Does it mean we can’t use our Human Design to identify our uniqueness and purpose and to help us anchor in that purpose? Of course not.
You give your Design its meaning and direction. Human Design is a tool; your soul determines its purpose in your life.
Your Design offers valuable information and points you in the right direction. It is up to you, the unique soul living that Design, to express it as you intend. You are more than your Human Design, but you can use it to find your path and purpose.
Even if you do not believe the Soul creates intentions or has a trajectory shaped by previous lives, you are still driven by unique yearnings that compel you to create an authentic life.
I leave you with this: follow your Soul’s (or your authentic) intentions, because therein lies the direction for your life.
Positive thinking can help bring out the best in your Human Design. When you are optimistic, it is easier to access your innate gifts.
A positive mindset clears emotions and keeps fear out of your decisions. It helps you see options and opportunities. When you are not weighed down by resentment or unfairness, it’s easier to access the gifts of your Human Design.
Optimism helps you succeed. While positive thinking can’t change your Soul Intentions or your Design, it can support them. Your optimism can’t create wealth, fame, or extraordinary talent, nor can it transform your appearance. However, it can help you become trustworthy and keep you on track to express your Design at its best.
Your Soul Plan was Decided Ahead of Time. Your Human Design supports your Soul Plan. You arrive with a complex, interconnected Plan. You may make new agreements here; these can replace or supplement those that don’t manifest.
Becoming an author or speaker requires specific agreements and talents. You must inspire others and choose your words wisely. If you want to be a best-selling author or speaker because you are passionate and believe in justice, take some time for self-reflection. Check if you are designed for those platforms. Using your talents and following what calls you aligns your life with your Design and agreements.
When you use your gifts and your interests, you align with your Intentions and Design. Life is more complicated when you try to become someone you are not meant to be or when you lack the agreements that would help you. Agreements move you along: mentors, introductions, employers, and teachers. In arenas without established agreements or personal and professional strengths, you will struggle to gain recognition and support.
Follow the Unfolding of Your Soul Plan to See Where it Takes You. Over time, you discover your Plan. If you’re not interested in fame, it’s not a matter of laziness or failure; it’s a matter of personal preference. If your work doesn’t appeal to a broad audience, it may not be your mission, or it could mean you’re not meant for celebrity status.
Please don’t assume that a humble life has no impact. Your unseen actions may support those with big missions. You may never know how many benefit from your words and deeds.
You will be happier being yourself, not chasing achievement for validation. Your Soul Plan doesn’t require grand gestures unless these are intended. How do you know if your life is “big” or “small”?
Follow Your Heart. Follow your passions and interests. Consider your resources—physical, emotional, and financial—and those who support your calling. Remember that rest and nourishment matter. Health supports what you do and helps you feel good about your life, even if you relax and enjoy your surroundings. Sometimes, inspiration strikes when you least expect it.
Have you lost your mojo, your energy, passion, and sense of purpose in life? This feeling of emptiness and lack of excitement that you may be experiencing is often a sign of burnout—a state that touches every aspect of our being. Many of us face periods when nothing seems enjoyable, rewarding, or worthwhile. If you’re feeling stuck or disconnected, you’re not alone.
No mojo means you’re burned out. Burnout has multiple origins and affects every aspect of our being: we become physically tired, emotionally exhausted, unfocused, and spiritually depleted. When burned out, nothing appeals, and questioning your purpose is easy. Disconnection from meaning, purpose, and oneself can leave you feeling cut off from life. Burnout can last for a brief period or persist for years. It can block your ability to see alternatives and find solutions to reclaim your life. This mindset convinces you there’s no way to turn things around, so why try? Now that we’ve identified what burnout can look and feel like, let’s examine what might be behind it.
Causes of burnout:
Investing your energy in unfulfilling projects.
Committing to things without genuine interest or out of obligation.
Chasing a dream that may not be your dream.
Overdoing it and not enough rest.
Losing a loved one, including pets.
Did you move somewhere you didn’t want to be?
Did someone betray you?
Did you lose your job?
Do you secretly feel not good, talented, or smart enough?
Or not attractive enough?
Do you hide your feelings of inferiority with extra effort?
Is your food nourishing you?
Have circumstances changed suddenly and unexpectedly?
Have you forgiven yourself?
Have you forgiven?
When was the last time you saw beauty?
Have all the things you tried to get unstuck yielded zero results?
Have you given up on getting meaningful change?
Recognizing possible causes is the first step. Let’s talk about how you can move forward.
Take time to do some serious resting. Take a break from expectations about who you should be or what you should have accomplished. Pushing yourself now will only worsen burnout. Without clarity or focus, seeking solutions will exhaust you further and may seem pointless.
The dark seduction of burnout is believing there’s no hope or solution. Review your track record—remember when your talents benefited others. Much of what we think is important is superficial or untrue. Identify where these myths trap you. Free yourself. Walk away.
Focus on rest. Nurture yourself with what brings you joy—nature, pets, music, poetry, or art. Tend to your basic needs and release pressure to feel better immediately. Patience is key; your desire for change is the crucial first step.
Commit to reclaiming your life. Despite difficulties, you remain in control and have the power to advocate for yourself. You are valuable as you are, and every decision should serve your best interests. Write yourself into a new story.
You can tune into your desires for the future. Let your choices serve the life you want, the way you want to look and feel, the people and experiences you seek. Be patient and kind to yourself. Many who survived the holocaust found comfort in memories and dreams of a better future.
Beyond rest, there are practical steps to help reignite your enthusiasm:
Put on music. Dance. Get your energy flowing again.
There is something you’re passionate about. Reconnect with it!
Believe in yourself. Choosing to do so will create your own personal movement.
Trust your intuition. Don’t second-guess yourself.
Focus on what is working, focus on your strengths. Focus on what makes you feel happy.
It’s okay not to know the outcome, the answers, or how you will get from here to there. Let your creativity unfold and lead the way.
Surround yourself with beauty. Yes, there is still beauty! Create beauty.
Could you write your story the way you want it to be?
Treat yourself with love and respect.
Get out of your head. Stop overthinking and second-guessing yourself.
Create rhythm and consistency in your life.
Enjoy being YOU.
You can reawaken your mojo by moving toward what calls you and taking small steps to feel alive again. Life holds enormous possibilities. While you are here, there is much to explore and enjoy. But first: rest, let go of demands and expectations, and surrender to life’s flow. There is another vision for you. When ready, take action and live as yourself.
After taking steps to recover your energy, go deeper: identify your core essential truth. It is indefatigable and primal, helping to get you moving. Something endures at your core, unchanged by time or place. This is revealed when everything else is stripped away. Your life anchors in this truth—it is steadfast. Stay connected, and it will sustain you.
What do you need to do to release, heal, and align to reconnect with your core essential truth?
It’s human to experience isolation, depression, and loss of hope or focus. This can happen when we ignore our needs or what’s around us. We often fall to rock bottom and must find a way back up. Many have fallen and recovered. Don’t see what happened as permanent. Every event is just a point in your life’s journey. As long as you say yes to life, more follows.
Even if your original plans fail, don’t give up. Your soul still finds ways to realize its agenda, even if the helpers and timing have changed. Because you have a purpose, the force behind it persists. Despite obstacles, your soul strives to create the experiences intended for you.
As long as you are alive, change will happen, and new opportunities will arise. Keep your heart open, and when a hand reaches out to pull you up, take it. Say YES to life!
Instead of struggling to identify a specific vocation, focus on what matters to you. What did you love to do as a child? You can look there for clues. What excites you? What feels adventurous? What makes you eager to start your day? These are hints to your vocation. Activities and topics you feel drawn to can highlight your next career. Follow your instincts, and your most fulfilling way of engaging with the world vocationally will follow.
• What do you love to do? You want to enjoy your work, so think about activities that make you lose track of time.
• Which specific activities or situations make you feel so happy and engaged that you lose track of your problems and time?
• What did you once love to do, but have essentially forgotten about or given up on because it didn’t work out at the time or simply made no sense? Or did you not receive much support for it? Revisit it. Re-engage it. These things, whatever they are, are yours. These are your gifts. They are to be used in service to others and for your own continuing development.
• What are you really good at? Again, what you’re good at is also what is fun and meaningful for you.
• What are you really passionate about? Where do your yearnings lead you? Your passion will get you over humps, writer’s block, self-doubt, waiting for an invitation, pretty much anything that rears its ugly little head and tries to talk you out of embracing your natural design. Or, put another way, your inclinations and your yearnings.
• What are you passionate about sharing or teaching others? If you don’t think these points point to your vocation, think again.
• What have you acquired much knowledge in just because you enjoyed going there? In other words, what have you really been training for all your life?
• What are you really good at? Take stock here. What you’re good at is more than a hint of where you should put your time, energy, and attention. What vocations does this translate to?
Having said the above things, consider whether your passions and yearnings best express themselves through a single vocation. Or even as a standard, conventional vocation.
We have been enculturated to believe that one’s talents and passions can best be expressed — or only expressed — through a particular vocation. That may not be the case for you. You may not be here to do “normal” or conventional work or specialize in just one area. Maybe you are here to explore, experiment, and do many things! Your passions and talents will likely connect naturally to several types of vocations or careers. Still, it is best to steer clear of thinking that what is out there in the ordinary workaday world will necessarily be your perfect match. What is important is that you put your attention and energy into what calls you. Follow that, and you will make the ‘career’ connections you need. In other words, you can find the right path for your gifts.
Understand that it is not uncommon that what you do for a living does not always require or ask for the highest expression of your gifts. Your official job may not be as fulfilling for you as a “hobby” in which you find a lot of joy, and where others also benefit. Our way of thinking is that what we do for a living should align with what brings us the most joy and where we have the most significant impact. This is actually not true; in real life, such jobs are not always easy to obtain, although it may work out that way. What is important is that you create the space to use your gifts, even if you are also working a regular job. In this way, you continue to cultivate your unique presence in the world, and most importantly, be your most effective self. You will also have the peace that comes with knowing you are being and doing all you can.
Navigating your calling is filled with challenges. Choices can be unclear, and the intentions of others can affect us in ways we cannot control. These outside influences, while not always meant as lessons, still impact our journey. The central message is to stay focused on your inner purpose while remaining adaptive to changing circumstances.
The main principle for navigating your path is this: adopt openness, curiosity, and a willingness to seek help to learn from every experience. Not everything is a lesson or meant for your growth, but you must respond skillfully, manage responsibilities, and maintain accountability to yourself and others. Trust that larger forces are at work even when your way is unclear. Focusing on inner resilience allows you to adapt and move forward.
Building on this idea of aligning with larger forces, it is often easier to fulfill your soul intentions for your INNER life — what you are passionately drawn to, what stimulates your creativity, what pulls you with the force of a giant magnet — because these serve your evolution, and because this is who you are and you can’t help yourself. When you feel compelled to move towards something, it is often because that situation aligns vibrationally with your soul’s overarching purpose.
Our inner life—what we choose to read, study, turn into hobbies, or develop fundamental skills in—is often more successful in achieving its original goals. This is mainly because these pursuits are self-directed and do not require others for fulfillment, unlike a professional career. As we satisfy some of our purposes and yearnings through an active inner life, we experience great joy. Meeting these needs can compensate for many things that do not occur for us in the outer world. Yet our outer lives bring a different set of challenges and dependencies.
Fulfilling our “outer” lives through our professional and vocational pursuits often depends significantly on honoring previously established agreements. Important agreements are established before our incarnation, but some are made subsequently to expand further the original agenda or as backups to failed primary contracts. For example, it could be a business partnership, a decision to date exclusively and be monogamous, take a job where your employer has agreed to pay you a certain salary, sign a lease, or be in a specific location by a date certain to meet — and the other party then breaks these agreements. When this occurs, the goals you were aiming for are delayed, and you must rely on your resourcefulness to find alternative pieces to fill the gaps.
Some goals can even become unattainable when they were dependent on a specific agreement. The loss of essential contracts can make it more difficult to implement your plans as initially conceived. As these losses accumulate, we can find ourselves living ad hoc lives, making things up as we go, and using what’s available to make our lives as agreeable and meaningful as possible, finding ways to compensate for having missed the boat.
When plans stray from their intended course, remember your soul always seeks new ways forward. Even if new pathways differ from what you envisioned or happen on a different timeline, your underlying purpose persists. Staying resilient and connected to your core intentions brings meaning, even during detours, and this focus is the heart of your journey.
Even when dreams are delayed or altered, and the journey takes unexpected turns, trust that support is present. Embrace change and enjoy the unfolding journey, allowing new opportunities to inspire you. Let go of resistance, follow your calling, and remain open to the meaningful possibilities that come your way.
Finding your purpose comes from following what truly brings you fulfillment. I use the term fulfillment intentionally instead of success because success is often linked to social status, wealth, and power. While we might achieve “success” for a while, it can be exhausting and overwhelming if we are trying to be someone we are not meant to be.
Identifying the paths that lead to a life filled with purpose and personal fulfillment is not difficult. Simply follow your bliss, your curiosity, and whatever calls to you, and continue along that path. You will inevitably encounter forks in the road, but if you stay true to your curiosity, you will know which direction to take next. These forks challenge us to remain authentic and honest about what truly feels right for us. Even if we take a wrong turn, no experiences are wasted; every moment provides valuable information.
You will encounter some subjects that you study briefly, while others will become your main focus. However, if you pursue what excites you and follow your interests and passions, you’ll be living your purpose. In doing so, you’ll gather the knowledge you need to continue growing.
Purpose is discovered in your experiences of the moment, through both expression and action. It is not limited to a single definition or end-goal, such as launching a product. Instead, your sense of purpose evolves throughout your life as you grow in self-awareness.
Purpose can be expressed through specific vocations, but a vocation serves as the context for expressing one’s purpose. A vocation itself is not synonymous with your purpose, although some vocations may align closely with it.
Consider your purpose as a continual journey driven by your excitement and curiosity—always accompanied by following your heart. It is not something that can be easily confined or defined by symbols like a business suit, scrubs, a gavel, a hard hat, or an advanced degree. The essence of purpose lies in discovering and maintaining a connection to all the elements that foster the ongoing expansion of your consciousness and joy. This journey is infinite and without end.
Soul intentions shape your purpose. These are agreements you made before incarnating—your soul’s agenda. They include dharma, karma, and promises to yourself and others. You’ll know your purpose through the deep desires that call you. Notice what resonates most; it points to why you are here.
Your soul’s purpose isn’t about material achievement or ego. It’s about sharing, giving, and receiving love, and being fully present. Life’s purpose is ultimately to learn to give and receive love.
Your purpose isn’t necessarily tied to a career; it may not be about making lots of money or being famous—at least, not for most of you. Maybe your life purpose is to make money, or maybe it will result in making money, but don’t assume that making a buck is your soul’s primary purpose for being in a physical vehicle. Rather than focusing on which vocation will make you the most money, focus on creating a life that gives you joy and gives you a forum to be of service. If you allow logic to overrule your heart’s desires, you will miss the boat.
Your soul seeks to be fully present and engaged. Whatever drives you to be involved and present is likely a part of your life purpose. By being present in your life and following what calls you, you fulfill your purpose.
State your intentions to connect to your Soul’s purpose:
I am now connecting with my soul’s purpose. I am worthy of it. Without me, my soul cannot execute or complete its plan. By expressing my soul’s purpose, I bring great clarity and joy to myself and others. By expressing my soul’s purpose, I support the continued unfolding of my soul’s plan. By expressing my soul’s purpose, I support the ongoing unfolding of all creation. I now allow my soul’s purpose to come forth and call me to live it.
Help with identifying your Soul’s purpose:
What experiences have been both profound and meaningful?
What do you love to do?
What activities or situations bring you so much joy that you forget your troubles?
What did you love doing but have essentially forgotten or given up on because it didn’t work out at the time or didn’t make sense?
What are you naturally good at?
What are you really passionate about?
What are you passionate about sharing or about teaching others?
What are you here to contribute? Don’t overthink it. Just say it.
What have you really been training for your entire life?
What have you learned a lot about just because you enjoyed going there?
What experiences do you want to have? List them.
Why do you desire these experiences?
What do you need to do or have to gain these experiences?
Community and location: where and with whom you feel aligned provide important information about your soul purpose.
Who are your people (who do you feel accepted by, at home with, and comfortable around)?
Who are your people (who do you feel accepted by, at home with, and comfortable around)?
What organizations and environments do they typically work in?
What kind of work do they do?
What work environments attract you? Indoors or outdoors?
Do you like being around a lot of people? A few?
Do you prefer big cities, small towns, or rural areas?
Choose your top values from the following list. Identifying what you value will help you discover your soul’s purpose.
Achievement – mastering goals
Aesthetics – working with beautiful things and being surrounded by beauty
Affiliation – working with people like you
Authority – managing or directing other people’s work
Creativity – the ability to innovate and try new approaches
Ethics/Morals – free to work with your values
High Pay – commanding a large salary
Independence – free from others’ direction and control
Recognition – becoming known for your expertise
Status – having a high prestige job
Your infinite Self
Your Infinite Self is your Higher Self, your Super-Wise Self, which sends aspects of itself into the dimensional world to experience a new way of being.
How to connect to your calling
Believe that you can create what you need. When you let go of things that aren’t yours to do, what you are here to do becomes much clearer. Here are some practices to help you let go of behaviors that lead you to take on responsibilities and obligations that aren’t truly yours:
Get back inside your own truth. This will reconnect you to your center.
Re-engage your creativity.
Do the activities that bring you joy and pleasure.
Connect with people who truly see and value you.
Take breaks and rest!
Have genuine, innocent fun.
Reconnect with what is beautiful to you.
Engage the rich world of your imagination.
Remember that you are truly resilient.
You are lovable and deserve to be loved.
You do have the power to call in and create the right life for yourself.
Remember that you have a track record of courage and making the right decisions, no matter how hard it was.
You have a unique wisdom, built brick by brick from your life experience, that you can share.
Trust yourself to act in your best interests.
Strive to be real, that is, authentic to yourself and to others.
Value yourself. Understand that the time you have is precious and needed for your evolution and joy, as well as for others.
Get to know and respect your energy capacity, and learn to work with it sustainably.
When you apply these actions, what belongs to you will remain, and what does not belong to you will fall away. In this way, your purpose and calling can emerge freely. The gifts and challenges of your journey, along with the hard-won insights and knowledge you have acquired, are too precious, too necessary, and too much fun to be buried or set aside by energy-consuming false callings (including wrongly assumed responsibilities) that distract from and are not aligned with your authentic nature or purpose.
You have to fulfill your calling. That doesn’t mean you become selfish and unavailable. When you act with integrity and faithfulness to your purpose, your responsibilities to others become much clearer.
Next steps
Allow yourself to feel your desires. Your desires hold your truths. Identify your truths so you can live from them.
Listen to your heart with deep attention.
Say yes to whatever makes your heart zing. Your truths will make your heart zing.
Let go of thoughts that tell you you’re not good enough. You can do this by facing your fears. Facing your fears will take you to the very edge of your courage. That edge is where you can launch into who you are.
Become willing to be on the journey (letting go vs. striving).
Live each day as if it were your calling.
Take action on what seems most right or most important.
That goes without saying! It was so in the beginning, and it will be so to the end. You have a unique purpose encoded within you. You are here to act from that purpose. You are here to live, breathe, create, and experience health and great joy from that purpose. Living your purpose has immeasurable good. Even if you cannot articulate that purpose at first, if you seek it with an open heart, it will find you.
How can I know my life purpose?
What do you care about? What have you fallen in love with? What did you love to do when you were very young? Look there for your life purpose. What are you compelled to bear witness to? What loosens your tongue to speak the truth? What will make you leap out of bed? Look there for your purpose. The activities you are naturally drawn to and the things you long to learn about or explore will point you to your life purpose. Follow what calls you.
Your soul’s intentions drive your purpose and aren’t tied to the material world, though they must express themselves within it. Remember, the soul isn’t about hierarchy, ego, or one-upmanship. You won’t find your life purpose there. The soul is about sharing, giving, and receiving. It comes from love and being fully present. In its grandest sense, your life purpose is to learn to give and receive love.
Is it about living an exalted life, that is, one where you are famous, glamorous, impressive, and influential, and make lots of money?
Your purpose isn’t necessarily tied to a career; it may not be about making lots of money or being famous—at least, not for most of you. Maybe your life purpose is to make money, or maybe it will result in making money, but don’t assume that making a buck is your soul’s primary purpose for being in a physical vehicle. Rather than focusing on which vocation will make you the most money, focus on creating a life that brings you joy and offers a forum for service. If you allow logic to overrule your heart’s desires, you will miss the boat.
Of course, any life has room for trial and error, especially when finding your life purpose. In fact, you need to make mistakes, and you inevitably will. No matter. Mistakes will teach you what matters to you and what you can live without. This discussion is not intended to imply that only a rigid course of action will get you on the right path. It is the willingness to test the waters and to be resilient when things don’t work as planned or follow a neat trajectory that will be most beneficial in identifying your purpose. The goal is to permit yourself to experiment and not know.
Does my life purpose best express itself through a vocation?
We have been enculturated to believe that one’s life purpose can be expressed best—or only expressed—through a particular vocation. It can be deeply satisfying to pursue mainstream courses of study or take a job in an established and respected vocation. When that is the case, you are meant to pursue those interests further. But many of you are not here to do “normal” or conventional work, or to specialize in just one area. Many of you are here to do many things! Because there is an almost infinite variety of life purposes and ways to express them, you may not always find a vocation that seamlessly aligns with your unique purpose.
The reality is that collective culture and consciousness lag in understanding vocation. As a result, most of you will live your purpose as best you can, whether alongside or in addition to what you do to make a living. The important thing is that you live your purpose and do what you can with the support you have. When you courageously live your purpose, you are truly in the vanguard of raising consciousness about the deeper meaning of vocation, including setting new criteria for the standards by which vocation is valued.
What does it look like when I’m living my purpose? More importantly, what does it feel like to live it?
You will know you are living your purpose when you feel a deep sense of personal fulfillment; you will know, from your sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, that this is what is right for you. Your purpose is something you do, whether or not you get paid for it, because it gives you tremendous satisfaction. Your soul’s need for profound fulfillment and the connection to all things that arises from living your purpose will light a fire under your feet.
What is the common denominator across every life purpose?
Your life purpose takes shape and meaning from your soul. Your soul drives your life purpose. So you can ask: What does my soul want? What is meaningful to my soul? Your soul wants to be fully present and engaged. Whatever compels you to be present and fully engaged is your life purpose, or part of it. By being present to your own life and following what calls to you, you will live your purpose. How do you get there? It’s actually quite simple. You do it all the time without thinking about it. Follow your bliss. Follow your joy; follow your yearnings. If you follow your joy, you will gradually shape a life in sync with your life purpose. Your joy and fulfillment are your clues.
I want to be faithful to my life purpose. I want to live it, but I don’t know the next step because I’m still not clear about that purpose.
Trust that the next step will become clear. Take the step that excites you most — this is always your cue for the right direction. Taking the next step toward your joy is far better than not moving at all. If you find yourself losing your joy, correct your course to reconnect with it. When you follow your joy, your life will gradually realign with your life purpose. When you follow your joy, what is right for you will find you. If you cannot feel anything, move forward anyway. You will find what feels best again.
Believe in yourself.
Believe you have a right to be here. You have as much right as anyone to be here. A place in this world is yours alone. Your role and contributions are needed more than ever.
What is calling you right now?
Pay close attention to what draws you. Significant clues here can help you find your purpose. Are you responding to those clues, or ignoring them because they seem impractical and perhaps even crazy? Trust that you were built to overcome the obstacles to your purpose. Trust that you are meant to follow your path, however crazy and unwise it may seem to others. If you live your purpose authentically, you will be supported.
Our world desperately needs your gifts! This makes it imperative that you live your purpose. Pay attention to what will not leave you alone. Living your purpose is not just for your sake, though that is important, but also for the world’s sake. Because each of us contains a unique piece of the creative genius behind this world’s design, every human being must participate. Therefore, understand that being who you are is everything. Your divine assignment is meant to drive this world’s evolution; it works only when you live your purpose.
Develop your talents to the fullest and use them to make the most significant contribution you can – this is true success.
The soul is that part of you that never dies and is reborn into incarnation after incarnation. The soul is the part of you made by the Creator Source, of the Creator Source, and the Creator Source. Your soul is your portal back to God. It is your piece of God, and it is what makes you God. Your unique experiences, contributions, mistakes, and insights inspire and teach God and the Universe, causing them to expand.
Each one of us is a unique, never-to-be-seen-again expression of personality and soul. And just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two souls are alike. Each one of us is created in a way unlike any other. Each one of us has a legacy to fulfill that is unlike any other. That is why it is so critical to do what you agreed to do. Your legacy begins with your unique piece of the Tao. That legacy is the result of the path your soul has traveled, lifetime after lifetime. Your signature, or frequency, is unique. This frequency is your piece of the Tao, or your chip off the old block that is God. No one else has it.
Your soul transmits your legacy of evolving consciousness to your physical being. This legacy of consciousness incorporates the body of experience gathered from both the incarnate and discarnate planes. It is the cumulative sum of your soul’s trajectory (the history of where you’ve been), set in motion long ago. Your soul’s trajectory compels you to seek your purpose for this life. Your soul is equipped to guide you, first and foremost.
How do I draw down my soul?
This can also be asked as: How do you bring your life into alignment with your truth? There is no manual other than listening to the call of your intuitive knowing. When you listen to that call, you become increasingly adept at discerning the next right action. You do not need to wait for inspiration per se. By taking actions that best reflect what you know is true for you, you will connect to your path. It is critical to take action, even if it is not yet clear exactly what that action is or how it should look. It may seem counterintuitive, but you need to stay engaged even if you don’t know your next step. As you move forward, you will self-correct because you will know when you’ve stepped off your path.
More tools for drawing down the soul
Follow your yearnings. They are valuable sources of information. It’s important to know what will give you emotional satisfaction. If you want to be happy, you’ve got to tune into your yearnings and follow them. When you follow your yearnings and let them be expressed, they will lead directly to your appropriate way of being and expressing yourself in the world. That’s because they demand a certain kind of focus and experience. In fact, whether you are aware of carrying an internal agenda for your life or not, you will connect more and more to your soul intentions, because that is the inevitable result of following your yearnings.
How will I know when I’ve drawn down my soul?
Latent powers, talents, and abilities you never knew you possessed will emerge. You will feel, along with great excitement, great fear. You will find yourself blasted right out of your comfort zones. You will be challenged to walk a path seemingly covered with burning coals, and this path apparently continues – and continues. You understand that you will have to plunge ahead into the unknown and into terror if you are to take a stand for yourself, for your right to live your right life. You will also have the inexpugnable sense that you are the one in charge of creating your life, and this recognition alone will empower you to slog on. After all, you are your own highest authority, and you do know what is best for you. You will come to know without hesitation that you have finally come face to face with the Divine. Your great excitement will lead you to your Great Work – the creation of your life, the life you were meant to live.
Your soul’s purpose continually expands and evolves
Drawing down your soul is not a one-time act or event; it is ongoing for the rest of your life. This is because your soul seeks mastery and expansion. The soul needs expansion. Once you have mastered a subject or activity, you will feel the urge to create something new. The soul’s nature is to continually reach toward greater exploration and greater soul expression. The soul is meant to create without end. Each time you are in a process of expansion, remember that the map has not yet been created, and your ongoing willingness to be creative with your next step will create it. Working with your soul purpose will stretch you beyond what you thought was possible. No one develops mastery or finds their greatness without being stretched or taking on some struggle.
In your struggle toward mastery, your soul is your greatest and most loyal ally. You will be empowered to bring your divine plan into form by unfolding and activating your gifts. With your soul as your co-creative partner, you will be motivated to fulfill your purpose. Your soul is your blueprint for your life. Your soul is you.
Your birthright is to express your true gifts. The activities you are naturally drawn to, and what you long to learn about or explore, indicate your birthright and soul purpose. The key is to follow the paths that you find fulfilling. Every human being is an aspect of the Creative Impulse that spurs humanity’s and the world’s evolution. Therefore, understand that being who you are is everything. It is what truly matters, because your role as a positive force in this world’s evolution is effective only to the extent that you have drawn down your soul and activated your true nature.
When you find your efforts repeatedly obstructed, it is because you are pursuing goals that are not right for you. Closed doors and rejections clearly show that your current approach is not for you. Conversely, when you make concerted efforts toward the activities that are your birthright, you will receive assistance to move ahead. This assistance comes in many forms: through dreams; through words not necessarily spoken to you but meant for you just the same; through strangers as well as through co-workers, family, and friends; through those who share your values; and through open doors. You will feel as if you have just emerged from deep waters you have aimlessly swum in for a long time. You will have broken through to a brightness and freshness that offer new vistas you had no idea existed.
Your soul is in partnership with the universe. When you sincerely seek to identify and follow your mission, you will receive assistance from many quarters. When we say that the Universe itself is available to help you, we include everyone who makes themselves available to answer your questions and reflect your thoughts back to you; we include the words you read and hear that especially resonate with you, finding deeper meaning in them; we include the images that speak to you; we include your dreams; we include physical sensations and emotional responses that evoke a heightened sense of knowing that something is right for you. These are among the ways the Universe conspires with your soul to guide you.
Sometimes things are really, really tough. There will be times when you find yourself in extreme circumstances, as the saying goes, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Examples include job losses and long periods of unemployment, during which you watch your resources dwindle to nothing; health crises that leave you unable to support and care for yourself and your dependents; or the departure of someone you depended on to maintain your financial stability. Add to this dismantling of your life the crippling losses of a beloved pet or a breakup with your longtime beloved. When your house is burning down, your only recourse is to surrender. I know you didn’t ask for this. You didn’t want it, either. Not by a long shot. Not ever. And you’ll be damned if you surrender. Until you can’t take it anymore.
But now that your house has burned down, and the resources you depended on to maintain the coherence and stable foundation of your life are gone, you are dependent on your wits and the kindness of strangers. And of your friends and family. And hopefully, there will be some kindness. In these times of extended crises, when we are stripped of our anchors, our comforts, and our very identities, the soul has an opportunity to assert itself in full-blown clarity. It’s hard to believe, I know, but when we are stripped down to nothing, that is when we can truly see, once we clear the terror from our eyes. And you will not clear the terror until you walk right into and through it. Let me give you some examples of those who worked with seemingly insurmountable life circumstances and a great deal of terror. Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Theresa. These are among the well-known who did not permanently succumb to despair but instead surrendered to the calling of their soul. They pursued their truths despite tsunamis of opposition and heaping platefuls of personal suffering of every conceivable kind, too painful to contemplate. And there are others—Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Chelsea Manning, and Chris Hedges. These outspoken truth-tellers faced ridicule and denunciation because they brought to light information—against the will of the powers that be—that the world community desperately needed to see. These courageous people could have continued to live their lives in relative privacy and quietude, but a calling greater than the peace and safety of their immediate lives compelled them. Your soul’s assignments will sometimes take you completely out of your comfort zone and land you straight in the middle of terror.
Your soul is an out-of-the-box thinker. When we experience terror, the choices available to us expand or contract depending on our ability to think out of the box and push back against the impossible. We can engage a higher level of consciousness, the consciousness of the soul, thereby gaining insight into new options. Your soul is an out-of-the-box thinker. Having traveled thousands of years through time and space and between, it has a perspective and problem-solving capacity that far exceeds the limitations of a frightened mind. When we reconfigure our thinking to include what we once believed possible, entirely new vistas open up. With the creation of a new paradigm and a new lens to look through, all previous paradigms are eclipsed and collapsed. We can now go to places we have not been before and find solutions that we did not know were available.
Human nature is to see only a very small part of the totality of what is going on at any moment. True, we can’t possibly see everything, but we can train ourselves to step outside the normal boundaries of how we respond so we can see more of the picture. Our capacity to see is often limited by our needs of the moment – whether they are physical, emotional, or survival-based. Many influences are always at work in any given situation. We can challenge and remove some of those influences. Some we can eliminate with ease, and some with effort. But once we remove certain influences, we simplify our situation. With expanded soul consciousness, we can train ourselves to hone in on the core issues in any given moment and, armed with this information, solve problems with relevance. We can deconstruct what is happening right now so we have a much better handle on a complex and often messy situation.
When I was a little girl and looked in the mirror, I felt strongly that the reflection wasn’t really me. I silently asked, “Who are you?” Where did you come from? Why are you here now? I would get chills when I asked those questions, and the shadows of timelessness would begin to envelop me. My image in the mirror morphed into a thousand different shapes. That was absolutely frightening to my four-year-old self, and I would run away each time. Even so, I kept going back, surreptitiously creeping toward the mirror to investigate my reflection again. As I got older, I stopped pursuing this adventure. I didn’t, however, forget my questions, nor did the deep need to have them answered go away.
To draw down your soul,
you must drink from its well.
But where is that well?
It is the depth you have always carried.
It is the murk where you’ve hidden your deeds
and the light that exposes and cleanses all imbalance.
It is your inheritance and your legacy.
It is you.
What Does It Mean to Draw Down the Soul?
When we draw down our soul, we seek to align with our authentic, true nature so we can remember who we are and act on what we came here to do. Our authentic nature is to act in concert with our higher self. Drawing down your soul means aligning with the aspect of yourself that resides permanently in the higher-vibrating planes. It also means activating that eternal aspect from within.
Why Draw Down Your Soul?
So you can find out what you planned to do when you got here. So you can come to know who you really are. The great yearning to uncover the mystery of who we are, and the great yearning to take ourselves on our own heroic journey, propel us to draw down our soul. By aligning with our souls, we will come to know ourselves and truly see what we are made of. The current trajectory we’re traveling – what we do, who we meet, and bring into our inner circle – will drastically change.
When you bring down your soul, you will step beyond your comfort zone, but you will also experience your high potential as it unfolds before you. When you align with your soul’s plans and purpose, you will be astonished to discover you can stretch beyond what you ever thought possible in what you can create for your life and for the benefit of others. You cannot wait to get out of bed to get back on task, because when you bring down your soul, you bring Creation into manifestation. You are standing in the shoes of God.
You Were Born to Greatness
Greatness unfolds as you live out your soul purpose. To live your greatness, you must know who you are and, in each moment, do what you can to support that. Your soul holds vast reservoirs of knowledge and abilities you have acquired over your many incarnations. When you bring forth the sum of those gifts, you can create profound change in yourself and in the world. Think of your soul as your personal library, filled with everything you need to guide you toward a life that is clearly directed, resonates with rightness, and is deeply fulfilling. Your purpose’s greatness is not defined by fame, conventional power, or fortune and wealth. Greatness is not defined by being in the world’s limelight in an exalted way – it is about successfully identifying, pursuing, and accomplishing your purpose.
When you are not living your purpose, your life is at best dull, ordinary, and unfulfilled. At worst, it is marked by setbacks and even cruel experiences. Overcoming the limitations of being in the wrong place and situation is difficult. It is nearly impossible to come into our own when we are in the wrong environment, with the wrong people, and applying ourselves to tasks that are not ours.
You Were Born to Power
Most of us never access the power we have because we have agreed to conform to cultural paradigms. You were born the leader of your life. You are in charge. Sometimes, even often, it seems absurd to think of ourselves as leaders, especially as powerful leaders of our lives, when we don’t seem to have much power or control over anything. When our livelihoods don’t yield much in paychecks or meaning, or when a livelihood is nowhere to be found, it certainly doesn’t feel or look like we have much say over our lives. But these circumstances, painful as they can be, are not statements about our value or our true power. They don’t reflect who we are. We may believe that we have no value, but the truth is, our value always stands outside of time and place. You cannot give in to any belief that says your value rises and falls with your accomplishments and others’ approval. We may believe that we have no power, but the truth is we have the power to move heaven and earth.
Can you say more about this power we have to move heaven and earth?
When we say you have the power to move heaven and earth, we mean your innate capacity to bring into being the life you agreed to live, even in the face of challenges you find yourself in, or have been in, for quite some time. We are referring, specifically, to your personal power, the power that comes straight from your soul. That is the power to lead your life. We are also referring to your capacity for resilience in the face of uncertainty and opposition. Your soul will lead you, but you must be open to receiving its guidance. This information comes in many ways and through many sources. These are the sources that speak to the depths of you, sparking heightened excitement and curiosity. You will know when you are hearing your truth – it will have the unmistakable ring of conviction. You will know beyond a doubt that your soul is speaking to you.
Job loss and prolonged unemployment remain ongoing realities for millions in the United States. I have experienced multiple layoffs, and each time I return to work, it has not restored the stability I once had. The financial damage caused by unemployment is rarely fully recovered, especially when savings are depleted and debt rises—an almost inevitable outcome, given the inadequacy of unemployment benefits. Even after securing a new job, the burden of debt can feel overwhelming, making recovery seem like a distant goal.
While some argue that personal responsibility or karma explains job loss, these beliefs overlook how widespread and frequent unemployment is, affecting all demographics. This issue is far larger than any individual’s actions and challenges the myth that hard work alone guarantees success. The concept of self-reliance overlooks the systemic forces that affect us all.
What stands out is that employment depends on more than individual effort. Securing a job always involves others, whose decisions ultimately determine our opportunities—no matter how much we try to lift ourselves by our “bootstraps.” This interdependence challenges the notion that personal merit alone is enough to secure a job.
At the end of 2010, I was laid off and remained unemployed for 14 months. During that challenging period, I applied for more than 300 jobs that matched my qualifications but received only two interviews. The first interview yielded no results, while the second led to a position at a law firm. Unfortunately, the role didn’t align with the job listing, and the duties did little to strengthen my resume. Nevertheless, after 14 months of searching and with dwindling resources, I was grateful to have a job.
However, just over a year later, I was laid off again because of the firm’s economic restructuring. This was yet another in a long history of layoffs that had persisted since the early 1980s.
To better understand my situation, I sought input from others. My well-meaning friends offered various perspectives: “This is your karma coming due,” “You’ve ignored your life’s calling,” and “It’s a wake-up call from the Universe—figure it out before it’s too late.” These comments placed the full responsibility for my hardships on me while also suggesting an upside: if I can create discomfort, then surely I can create joy and abundance. Supposedly, this journey is about recognizing what the “Universe” wants from me, and I can’t achieve that simply by holding a job.
What is Karma? I want to take some time to explore the feedback on my question, “What do you think might be going on here?” First, let’s establish a shared understanding of karma. In Hinduism, karma is the principle that individuals reap the consequences of their actions in this life or in past lives, possibly even multiple previous ones. It is a cosmic principle that emphasizes that one cannot escape the repercussions of stealing what rightfully belongs to someone else—especially essential items like food, clothing, shelter, and funds needed for survival.
Moreover, taking away resources that enable someone’s well-being—such as education, reputation, and health—disrupts their ability to live the life they are entitled to, a life they may have agreed to before birth. Stealing someone’s foundation of support is akin to stealing their life force and, in this sense, can be compared to murder because it removes all choice from the affected person.
This act creates a significant imbalance in both personal and universal order, and that imbalance must be corrected. Ultimately, no one can avoid the necessity of returning what does not belong to them. While some may believe they can postpone facing the consequences for multiple lifetimes, an unavoidable force will eventually compel them to restore balance and do the right thing, whether they like it or not.
Karma is magnetic. When you are near someone to whom you owe restoration (or who owes you), you will feel drawn to them. Often, you will feel an overwhelming attraction. The intensity is not easily dismissed. This is necessary to build a relationship that lets you resolve past painful interactions. Attraction also shows up in dharmic agreements (though perhaps without the burning intensity of karma), such as teaming up for a mutual task. Follow the yellow brick road, as it were, and the connection’s purpose will eventually be revealed. In both cases, a mysterious pull will make you want to explain it as “that person is fascinating,” “that person is attractive,” or “they have something to offer that I’ve been looking for.” In any case, your karma has hooked you—or your dharma is calling.
Sometimes karma takes the form of direct payback. What you did to another will be done to you by that same person. In this instance, the other person is forcibly taking back what belongs to them rather than waiting for you to return it graciously. This is far less pleasant than engaging in a relationship that may have other mutually rewarding aspects, but lacking grace, it gets the job done, and you are released from that karma. This is the form of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but more advanced souls prefer to avoid such literal payback. It is far more pleasant to heal the broken connection between you by offering gifts that serve the same purpose as returning stolen goods. This also opens the opportunity to take the relationship to a higher level, one in which you mutually find ways to assist each other’s journey. The willingness to do this will depend on the severity of the original theft. It will be much harder to accept someone who previously murdered you as a friend you can trust. It can, however, be done.
Often, karma works like this: instead of being drawn to a person or a situation (a place of employment, an organization, a course of study, an educational institution, and so on), you find yourself the surprised and unwilling recipient of a series of unpleasant, life-altering events. Bewildered by how and why these events have disrupted your life, you may begin to search not only for the cause behind them but also for the meaning they might hold. In this scenario, you are experiencing what it is like to have crucial support taken away from you, allowing you to intimately understand what you did to another when you stole what they needed to live a flourishing life. This type of karma is sometimes called self-karma because it isn’t brought about by directly manipulating another person, but by an agreement you made with your higher self to understand the ramifications of undermining or destroying another’s life options.
Unemployment as Prima Facie Evidence of Karma Given the above, I might be in the midst of self-karma. Alternatively, I’m receiving direct payback from former employers, reflecting past actions I took toward them. If stressful circumstances are always a sign of karma, unemployment becomes a forced restoration by my employers, repossessing what I once denied them: livelihood. That’s one possible answer to why I lost my job. But other facets exist. Perhaps karma is not involved at all. The immediate reason given, downsizing, often points to a complexity that goes beyond a simple explanation.
How to Know If It’s Karma How do we determine when karma is at work? I don’t believe there’s any way to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we’ve entered karmic territory. Still, when you feel as though you’ve stepped into the twilight zone – when the status quo of your life peels away unbidden to reveal strange images, dimensions, or new insights, or when time seems to slow down and even freeze, or when there’s nothing you can do to convince the other party of your good intentions – you might be in the zone of karmic payback. Other things may also be happening that have nothing to do with karma and aren’t the subject of this discussion; however, karma can manifest similarly to what I’ve just described.
However, the proof of release from the karmic pudding ultimately comes down to this: you will know a karmic tie has been released when the charge of the situation is gone. You no longer feel compelled to remain in a relationship with someone or in a job that was replete with unsolvable issues. After the restoration has occurred, you begin to feel calm, balanced, and neutral about the whole thing – that is, after you are done processing your human reaction. It is as if you have awakened from a long nightmare, and you know you are now in your right mind because the fever that once held you in its thrall has finally broken. At this point, it is a matter of choice whether you walk away (assuming you haven’t been irrevocably dismissed) or stay to create a new, healthier configuration that all parties agree to take to a higher level.
Signs of the Times Sometimes the karma of the immediate parties isn’t at play. It could be the signs of the times, that is, the shared historical context, which is the common denominator to which everyone, regardless of station, status, creed, race, or gender, is subject. According to a July 28, 2013, article, Survey: 4 in 5 face near-poverty, no work (published online at TPMLIVEWIRE by Hope Yen), “Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Survey data…points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.” From another article: “The vast majority of people in the United States will experience poverty and economic insecurity for a significant portion of their lives.” For the statistics behind that statement, see Gary Lapon’s article, Poor Prospects in a ‘Middle-Class’ Society, August 18, 2013, published in the online magazine Truthout.
Without too much argument, I think we can agree that national and world affairs are an inextricable overlay on the course of our lives, mixing their enormous bandwidth into the much smaller frequencies of our own. We barely need to raise our heads to see that fracking, the broken nuclear reactors at Fukushima, the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, ethnic genocide, human sex trafficking, and many, many more life-ravaging actions have a reach and impact far broader and deeper than any personal karma could claim. These acts are karma against the entire planet, intentionally generated on an incomprehensibly large scale by the abusive politics of power.
The Global Karmic Pandemic of 2020 In 2020, the entire planet found itself at the mercy of a pandemic caused by a new virus, SARS-CoV-2. Some believe this virus was cultivated by the imbalances resulting from the cruel and unconscionable ways human beings treat animals and the environment. The extreme physical cruelty that caged animals in wet markets and factory farms endure weakens their immune systems. Forced to live in filth and deprived of health and freedom, they become easy hosts for bacteria, parasites, and viruses that quickly overwhelm their bodies. These malefic entities easily pass to humans (and then the animals get blamed and subjected to inhumane wholesale slaughter). When you consider that these beings have emotions, live in constant terror, and endure horrific pain, it is clear that the damage done is multidimensional, with far-reaching effects, and is nothing short of sacrilegious.
Some also believe this virus originated in a laboratory. Regardless of its origins, one must consider that the actions taken to create it or cause it to manifest reveal a disrespect for life, including disregard for its impact on the planet as a whole.
The effect of this virus, whether one wants to call it karmic or not, is karmic. When I first wrote this article in 2013, far fewer people were unemployed. Yet each of those people suffered no differently from those whose multiple sufferings are directly related to unemployment. At the time, the numbers were not enough to influence change in federal and state policies. Now the numbers are striking—off the charts—and yet Congress must argue and delay taking obvious action. They must do their job and take care of their people, or add yet another straw to the unraveling of the structures that support human lives and well-being. Not doing what you have been tasked to do, especially when you have the power to do so, especially at the level that can make or break civilization, creates karma.
The Destruction that DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) Wrought In 2025, the new administration’s actions led to a surprise ‘cleansing’ of multiple federal departments, causing thousands of people to lose their jobs. Most of these departments were already understaffed, so their ‘cleansing’ was severely crippling. Some departments were shuttered entirely. The eradication crusade against ‘waste,’ ‘fraud,’ and ‘abuse’ included demands that law firms, universities, and individuals exercising their right to free speech restrict their businesses and activities to comply with new rules. Legal scholars universally regard these new rules as unconstitutional, but the consequences for violating them have been severe. Although most lower courts have ruled these actions unlawful and unfounded, the administration continues to pursue its objectives in defiance of those rulings. The Supreme Court has vetted the racial profiling of brown people and people with accents. The Department of Homeland Security’s ICE forces are responsible for violent assaults and the detention of thousands in squalid hellholes, including pregnant women and children.
What is this about? Human beings have a dark nature that desires to conquer, subdue, and exclude. Conquering has often meant breaking and destroying systems and structures that, though imperfect, were cobbled together to support humanitarian goals. There is nothing sacred when this nature is unleashed. Think of the Dust Bowl, swarms of ravenous locusts, tornadoes, or hurricanes. Has the karma of the United States, whose founding fathers were wealthy white slaveowners, come home to roost? Are we being shown that democracy, voting rights, and equal opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice were always tenuous? And are they tenuous because they were never firmly grounded in the genuine belief that all people are created equal and have the same right to a life in which they can actualize themselves? The truth behind all the lies is being brutally revealed on a giant screen everyone can see, and it will hopefully inspire the necessary corrections and restorations.
When so much breaks down and falls apart, our karma has likely caught up with us.
Karmic Impact, Delays, and Detours It is not sustainable to be repeatedly knocked down in the name of paying back karma. It doesn’t make sense to continually strip away a person’s livelihood, leaving them unable to fulfill their life tasks and agreements. In other words, it may not be karma at work. When we painstakingly created the agenda for the current incarnation, we agreed to address our karma – working through past unbalanced, painful situations with others and our own self-karmas – as well as our dharma – the continuing expansion of our souls. We do this by surrendering to experience, including specific life tasks and agreements, facilitating and mentoring others, nurturing relationships, upgrading old skills and learning new ones, and stepping up into a larger (or smaller) game, among other things. To fulfill both karma and dharma, we bring forward the themes of a dozen or so past lives that align with the themes of our current life. The goal is to realize ourselves more fully.
But things don’t always work out as planned. Sometimes we have to fill in the gaps, creating and recreating from scratch. We may face delays, detours, or reroutes. Sometimes those who agreed to help us deliberately abdicate. And life isn’t set in stone. The best-laid plans of the wisest souls are still subject to the slings and arrows of unpredictable fortune – accidents and other people’s choices.
When your efforts to make yourself at home are repeatedly obstructed, it may be because you are seeking membership in a tribe whose tasks and agreements don’t align with yours. They will not recognize who you are or what you have to offer. This is true even if you function competently in their environment. In these instances, the underlying issue is a lack of familiarity at the soul level and a lack of agreements of various kinds, including work agreements, facilitation agreements, mentor agreements, and opportunity agreements, among others. Without agreements, you become a foreigner. Although foreigners can be attractive because they are different, those same differences can also seem threatening and even repulsive. If you find yourself in a workplace where you experience constant abrasion and the tribe is busy creating “evidence” to support their low opinion of you, it is time to leave. You’re unlikely to convince anyone of your value. You may consider that what is at work here is a form of self-karma in which who you are is ironically mirrored back to you by reflecting who you are not.
However, finding yourself in situations like this doesn’t always mean you are working against your own agreements. It might mean that, or it might mean the community that holds your agreements is unavailable. Your creativity and willingness to participate wherever you find yourself are essential to keeping the threads of your life from unraveling. Sometimes we need to make things up as we go. The upside is that we develop mastery in flying by the seat of our pants, using our own initiative and wits to keep body and soul together.
The Larger Context We all live within a context shaped and still being shaped by capitalism gone wrong. Those of us who know better make no bones about this – human beings have created a political and economic civilization built on the belief in power-over, superiority of race or talent or intelligence or looks or wealth, competition, and the “survival of the fittest.” This paradigm is pervasive, and even if one sees right through it, we still have to deal with its consequences. Without a cultural belief that embraces the right of everyone to the tree of life, which includes making available the financial resources and opportunities to allow individuals to bring forth their best contributions, each one of us is on our own. Some of us have family and friends who can, from time to time, help bridge the gaps, but many do not. Even so, without a larger societal support structure that recognizes the grave reality of unemployment and resulting poverty, the suffering of millions will continue. These comments also include the handicapped, the aging, the less skilled, and those who suffer from debilitating physical or mental issues. Their entry into the “game” is even more severely circumscribed.
The reality is that for most of us, our voices are limited and our contributions are often undervalued. Nevertheless, we cannot give up or surrender. We must believe in our right to be here and in the necessity of fulfilling our unique purposes. We must recognize a universal truth: without our full participation, the evolution of life and the Tao itself will be hindered.
These times demand collective courage and a willingness to dig deeper to make a difference. We need to recognize how our personal contributions perpetuate injustice and inequality, and where our words and actions may be thoughtless or unkind. Individually, we must strive to live righteous lives with conscious awareness. By doing so, we can help mitigate the consequences of both individual and collective karma.
These times also call for creating a community guided by an ideology that fearlessly declares: We are all one; it is unthinkable to leave anyone behind.
I wrote this piece to examine how we respond to traumatic, life-altering events—specifically, how we might remain engaged after irrevocable change disrupts our intended path, and whether such turning points are accidental or purposeful. I aim to explore how we maintain meaning and agency in the face of unforeseen upheaval.
The following discussion is limited in its exploration of these ideas, but it provides a starting point.
**~**~**~**
If I do what I agreed to do (follow my soul’s intentions), will my life unfold smoothly?
This is not the astral plane where injury can’t happen. On the physical plane, your intentions often clash with others’, leading to conflict and even destruction. These obstacles don’t mean you’re on the wrong path; instead, they illustrate that purpose does not guarantee ease. The main question persists: how do we stay connected to our purpose when our path meets resistance? Stay committed to what you believe is your unique purpose, even in the face of external challenges.
In other words, following your intentions doesn’t mean you’re not going to have to work hard. When tracking your purpose, your choices and actions will align with your beliefs and goals, not with what others expect of you. When you are true to yourself, you gain clarity and the deep satisfaction that comes with being on the right path.
Your soul intentions will cause discomfort.
Indeed, following your soul’s intentions often brings discomfort, which is necessary for growth and change. Discomfort forces us to seek solutions and propels us from inertia. While seeking comfort won’t automatically lead to fulfillment, it can spur the necessary action. The essential argument: Creation and meaning arise from tension; discomfort reignites our engagement and creativity, demanding we actively shape our path even when security is lost.
What if my world explodes even though I’m doing what I agreed to do by following my soul’s intentions?
Now and then, life throws us serious curve balls—unexpected shifts that derail our plans. The 2000 film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, exemplifies this: Chuck Noland faces total upheaval after an airplane crash leaves him stranded. With his established life destroyed overnight, he is forced to confront whether and how he can rebuild his sense of meaning and agency. This story illustrates the fundamental question: how do we respond when our lives change in ways we did not choose?
A hypothetical exploration of Chuck’s soul choices. Holding up a lens that looks at the events in a life as the direct result of soul choice, some questions (far from exhaustive) come to mind about Chuck’s life-transforming event:
1. Was he following his original soul’s agenda before he crashed into the ocean, and was the course of his life untimely ripped by an unforeseeable accident? 2. Was he forcefully reminded to return to his original intentions, and if so, what might those have been? 3. Or, was his ordeal on the island always meant to be the next phase in his unfolding life plan?
Before I proceed, I would like to clarify that I do not offer definitive answers, but rather ask these questions to illuminate how we can find meaning and agency in the aftermath of life-altering, unexpected events. The process of grappling with these questions may offer insight into how trauma helps us regain purpose and direction.
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Question 1: Was Chuck following his original soul’s agenda before he crashed into the ocean, and was the course of his life untimely ripped by an unforeseeable accident?
Scenario 1: As an employee of an international company, Chuck was doing what he came here to do. He was developing leadership skills, including those in managing others, time management, and relationship-building with coworkers, supervisees, friends, and intimates. He was successful at his job – he accomplished his goals, and he was competent, trustworthy, and reliable.
He planned to get married, have children, and support his family both emotionally and financially. He handled stress and responsibilities maturely. Conscious of time as a resource, he lived a deliberate life with clear plans.
Then his tightly crafted, intentionally designed life was completely derailed by a horrific accident.
The accident destroyed his old agreements. He had to reinvent his life, creating it one moment at a time. What did he bring to this sudden shift? Everything he knew and was capable of.
Chuck could have died in the ocean, but instead, his life raft drifted to an uninhabited island. Perhaps he was guided there, or maybe it was just luck.
If he were guided, there was a higher intention for his life to continue despite it being thrown so completely off course. If it was an accident that he landed on a shore, he was still faced with the choice to give up on his life or to do whatever he could to survive and find a way to return to the life that had been ripped from him.
Do we choose to give up or persevere?
Whether or not there was a higher force that guided Chuck to the island shore, he still had a choice to make. He could continue living or find a way to exit.
When stranded and isolated, we can either give up or surrender, or we can engage fully with the unknown. Isolation and scarce resources can break the faint-hearted or push you to find courage and embrace life, even with no idea what it may look like.
Although Chuck’s ordeal was unplanned, he had to decide what to do with it. Creating his life alone, he faced the challenge of building from scratch—drawing on his inner resources without support from others. He had to become the creator of his own survival.
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Question 2:Was Chuck reminded, by harsh intervention, to route back to the original intentions for his life? In which case, what might they have been?
Scenario II: Chuck wasn’t living his true purpose, just relying on existing skills. He was competent but not working on what he was meant to do. He had already mastered these skills and was avoiding the effort needed to grow in new ways.
Sometimes we ask for wake-up calls.
The truth was that Chuck had resisted taking on new skills and relationships in his previous incarnations, and now his resistance had come back to haunt him. In fact, he had asked that this time around, if he failed to track his original purpose, that he be reminded in no uncertain terms that a change of course was required. Enter a horrific accident. Now his tightly crafted life was completely and intentionally derailed – by his own design.
The accident ended his stale patterns. Forced to improvise and adapt, Chuck was pushed to develop new skills and a fresh mindset. Only by losing old comforts did he find the drive to evolve into who he needed to become.
Ultimately, the soul seeks not only survival but growth, meaning, and transformation. No matter how disruptive or unplanned the detours may be, it is through these challenges that we find both our resilience and our purpose. Our task is to keep moving forward, to reinvent ourselves if necessary, and to trust that even in times of upheaval, our lives can evolve into something meaningful. By embracing each twist in the journey, we discover new dimensions of ourselves and our path.
Who was this person that Chuck needed to become? It was the person his soul required him to become. The soul wants to be fully present and engaged. The soul needs to have experiences that challenge it to expand and develop new aspects of itself. It is inherent to the soul to be creative and to be dynamic. As sparks of God, we are each a god in our own right. God is the mastermind par excellence of Exploration and Creation. When his/her incarnational expression spends too much time going over the same lesson plan, the soul will endure boredom only so long.
What was included in Chuck’s new lesson plan?
Self-reliance. The courage to persevere in the face of an unknown future The courage to persevere without external aid from tools or others. The courage to tend his own wounds. Profound creativity in designing new applications for otherwise mundane objects. Learning to deal with and accept severe restrictions and limitations. Learning new skills.
What else did he learn? He came to know his heart’s desires. He understood what was truly meaningful to him now that he was removed from the din of his former noisy and hurried life. He came to be in far greater alignment with his soul.
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Question 3: Was the life-changing event of living on the island simply the next phase in the story of his unfolding life plan?
Scenario III: As an employee of an international company, Chuck was doing what he came here to do, but there was more he had agreed to. He was developing leadership skills, including those in managing others, time management, and relationship-building with coworkers, supervisees, friends, and intimates. He was successful at his job – he accomplished his goals, and he was competent, trustworthy, and reliable.
The truth was that Chuck had resisted taking on new skills and relationships in his previous incarnations, and he had asked for an intervention that would require him to make a radical departure from life circumstances that no longer offered his soul either challenge or excitement. However, he still wanted to polish his abilities to handle the challenges of high-level leadership demands, and so included those in the first part of his life. When the time came for him to achieve sufficient mastery, he wanted to be allowed to step up to new life skills. And so it came to pass.
When Chuck was finally returned to his former life, he had a medicine bag bursting with new skills and self-knowledge. With these hard-won and intrepid tools under his belt, his capacity to handle whatever life brought him had increased by magnitudes. Whether or not he had asked for training in new levels of mastery, he was nonetheless given a stark and unprecedented opportunity to do so.
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Additional Reflections Sometimes life takes unexpected twists and turns, getting out of hand. Sometimes we don’t have much in the way of resources or know-how to deal with unknown territory. What can we do? We can find help where help is available – usually in unexpected places. We now have a genuine opportunity to reach deep within ourselves and beyond to seek solutions that will give us the momentum to move forward and escape from dark places. Not only do we seek solutions, but we also strive to find the courage to face our fears. We find hope in each breath, and we receive messages and guidance from sources that were previously hidden from us. In extremity, our senses intensify, giving us the ability to understand the language of signs and symbols that were previously invisible and incomprehensible.
Aligning with our Souls There are some exquisite gifts to be attained in the process of standing for our lives. The more difficult the challenge, the more ferocious we must be in our resolve because that is what is required if we are going to live. The more difficult the challenge, the more determined we must be in our intentions to live the lives we have agreed to live. The more difficult the challenge, the greater the demand to find creative solutions that will get us clear of the breakers. And why should we live? We must live so that our souls can continue to experience more love, more beauty, more joy, more knowledge, more connection, more excitement, and more anticipation of what is yet to come and what we can yet become. There are some exquisite gifts to be attained in the process of standing for our lives. The biggest one is that we become more aligned with our own soul. And when we are aligned with our souls, we know intuitively what our right lives should look and feel like.
We often forget or fail to truly grasp the reasons behind life’s reversals. While we may have asked for intervention on behalf of our souls, it is also possible to be thrust helplessly into irrevocable life shifts that were not part of the original plan for our lives. Despite being cast away – whether or not of our own choice and design – we can still forge our way forward in reliance on the most powerful intrinsic attribute each one of us possesses. And that is our legacy, as chips off the old block that is God, to be the Creators of a new life.
When you express your unique piece of the Tao, your life will be a beautiful reflection of who you are, because you will be being who you came here to be and doing what you came here to do.
Carry on, my wayward son
There’ll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don’t you cry no more
Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
The center lights around your vanity
But surely heaven waits for you ~ Kansas
You are already whole. The physical you, manifesting now, is a smaller yet still beautiful version of your entire self. Whether you are thriving or struggling, remember: what you see is only one piece of the whole you.
No matter your situation, only a part of your spirit is present here. Your essence, or higher self, never incarnates but watches over your experiencing self and remains whole, no matter what happens.
You might wonder how wholeness is possible in a world marked by suffering and atrocity. How can we consider ourselves whole in the face of personal and collective pain? How can anyone believe that wholeness or grace can endure even amid evil and suffering?
Let’s take a moment to reflect on the human spirit, which remains resilient and indomitable even in the face of unbearable circumstances. History offers many examples of such courage and resilience, including Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa. These individuals did not succumb to despair; instead, they held firmly to their beliefs and pursued the truth, despite overwhelming opposition and suffering.
How did they do this? What kept them going?
They believed in a cause greater than themselves, took action to change conditions, and remembered their original purpose, even if only as a deep compulsion toward truth.
How do you keep going if it’s just you alone?
You cannot take on every cause. Follow your own guidance and stay on your path by living your unique soul purpose—your dharma. You aren’t expected to work alone. Seek out organizations advancing causes you care about, and find your mission mates there.
How do I discover my dharma?
What do you love? What do you care about? Look there for your dharma. Use your gifts for everyone’s benefit. You received them to help you fulfill your dharma. What calls you to bear witness or speak the truth? There lies your dharma.
To strategize social justice work, regularly meet with a supportive community to uplift one another and serve as channels of mutual support and grace. You can’t face evil alone; grace supports your spiritual immune system and acts through you when you honor your sacred mission.
It’s all an illusion, anyway.
Since we are already whole, is it correct to conclude that the horrors of the world are an illusion? Some New Age schools of thought answer, “It’s all an illusion, anyway; everything is perfect as it is.” This prompts a difficult transition from personal and spiritual wholeness to confronting real suffering.
Tell that to the Palestinians being driven from their homes and massacred. Tell that to the victims of Sandy Hook. Tell that to the 27 million women and children who endure bestial treatment in the enforced slavery of sex trafficking. Tell that to the victims of the Holocaust. Tell that to the Vietnamese decimated by the murderous ideology of “Kill Anything that Moves.” Tell that to the women of India, who have been raped and murdered for generations. Tell that to the Native Americans. Tell that to the Native Americans who walked the Trail of Tears. Tell that to the slaves of African ancestry. Tell that to the undocumented workers. Tell that to women who have been subjected throughout history to gender-based violence.
It’s a worthless debate. This question becomes even clearer when we consider how our understanding of wholeness changes when we are the ones experiencing great suffering. Here, the philosophical notion of illusion clashes with lived human pain.
How can you be whole and maimed at once?
Your ultimate self is always whole. The part of you in this world may be wounded. Connect with your Spirit Body to heal your Physical, Emotional, and Mental Bodies. Remember your promise and why you came here. What contribution are you withholding by losing your courage?
You can use the tools that will bring heaven to your aid. You already hold them. What are these tools?
Grace. Prayer. Community. Friendship. Self-reflection. Self-care. Connect with your heart. Remember. Bend, don’t break. Stay strong. With abundant energy, facing adversity is easier.
Grace encourages us to live boldly, even in the face of fear. Will Grace shield you? Not from every challenge, but enough to guide you toward your soul’s intentions. Grace’s field is always present and active in the world. You are still here, aren’t you?
What if you’re too depressed to take further action? What if you’ve given up in overwhelm? How do you transform your condition?
At this point, the fundamental question shifts from personal pain to a broader one: how do we transform the darkness in the world?
Refuse to surrender to the belief that darkness is more powerful than light. Refuse to surrender because you do not accept that darkness, no matter how powerful, painful, or savage, is the ultimate reality. Refuse to believe that you have nothing of value to contribute. Bear witness to your own suffering. Continue to act on what you believe is the greater truth. Connect to the eternal flame of peace within, the peace that passes all understanding. Stick to your dharma.
Know that your spirit has what it takes to be in this world. You would not have been put here otherwise.
Choose actions that serve humanity, as this aligns with your higher self. Setting intentions and following through help you realize your full potential. Develop your gifts to their fullest extent and use them to make a meaningful contribution. You have the capacity to fulfill your purpose.
What is Soul History? How Soul History and Soul Intentions Create Your Soul Trajectory
Soul History records what you have done in each incarnation. Your Soul History also includes your role within your originating group and the groups your Soul has associated with over its many incarnations. These groups are formed around a larger vision that requires everyone’s cooperation. That larger vision encompasses an aspect of Divine Evolutionary Intention that is beyond our ability to truly grasp. We can, nonetheless, try to guess at that larger intention through the part we play in it. Soul groups themselves create trajectories, for better or worse, and your various incarnations will move between different groups, learning from the primary focus, or dharma, of each one.
Some groups focus on dismantling what no longer serves; others have agreed to create what sustains all; yet others will preserve and protect what sustains all; and others build bridges that connect cultures. These are just some of the foci that groups rally behind; there are many more. Over time, soul group intentions (or their failed expressions) leave their mark in history, and where they have failed, much work and attention are required to repair, reinvigorate, or even create new forms that will support the original intentions. These experiences inform and define your own trajectory.
A trajectory is the arc traced by your soul’s progress as it creates, with each incarnation, its unique history across time and space. Your trajectory is defined by how you have lived. If we assigned a thick ribbon of light to a life well lived and a thinner ribbon to a life handled less well, a soul’s trajectory could show increasingly thick ribbons connected to thinner ones, then back to thicker ones, as it etches its record through time. Alternatively, we could graph a trajectory using a 100-point system, with the highest points given to lives well lived and fewer points for lives handled less well. The graphed trajectory for a life that went back and forth could show dramatic rises and dips. We can do well in some lives and then find ourselves taking the proverbial two steps back in subsequent lives.
Of course, one could reasonably argue that if one does well in a life, overcoming desires for revenge, for example, and generally rising above most fears, the trajectory should improve, arcing higher with each life. In lives where the heart expands with unconditional love and a person’s actions are informed by that expansion, the graph would spike. Or, using the ribbon-of-light analogy, the ribbons would thicken markedly. Some life circumstances will be far more challenging and require more “light” to manage, but over time your soul’s trajectory will reveal its unique pattern.
A trajectory is not created randomly. The Soul’s Intentions create it. Soul Intentions are created to fulfill your agreements with yourself and with others. These Intentions compel us to take on incarnate form, because life is required to fulfill them. Their agenda is driven by what your soul desires to experience and by what you may need to release or delete from a former life.
We do not always live out our Soul Intentions; we may become disconnected from them across many lives, in whole or in part. This can happen when we choose to “go our own way” rather than follow the original life plan. It can also happen due to external interference. When we lose our connection to our Soul Intentions, life can become more confusing and even difficult.
One Soul’s history and how that history demonstrates how a soul might seek to express its intentions
Now we will look at the trajectory of a young woman, Emily, who sought to understand the origin of the pain in her heart. Emily is seated before her Council of Elders. She is deep within Spirit territory, in a regression process that has already taken her through a past life in which she died by her own hand. Emily tells the Council she is experiencing pain in her heart. She believes this pain stems from her attachment to a man she loves. This man, Brian, is much older than she is and is also married. The Council is gathered in what appears to be a bright, open meadow. Emily feels optimistic. She knows she will get the answers she seeks.
Emily asks how she can let go of her powerful attachment to Brian and fulfill her highest purpose. The Council tells Emily that Brian is connected to her purpose, but she must be patient. There are still things to unfold. She asks again about the pain and wants to know what she agreed to do in this life. First, the Council reviews her past-life connections to this man.
A Council Elder speaks: This soul is not a member of your originating soul group. He belongs to a “mate” soul group. You first met about 4,000 years ago in a desert that looks like Saudi Arabia. You were a member of a nomadic tribe that lived in the desert, moving when water sources dried up. The tribe had sheep and goats. You were a small girl when a group of horseback marauders raided the camp dwellings. Their way of life was to plunder and destroy, taking whatever supplies, food, and women they wanted. The man you are currently involved with was a young teen then, and his heart did not truly embrace the violence of this way of life. Nevertheless, it gave him the skills and companionship he needed to survive. The young teen intervened on your behalf, saving your life, and from then on he cared for you. This was the beginning of the love that grew between you, though it was not an easy love. This young man did the best he could to raise you, but it was a hard life for a woman, and you died at an early age, still filled with grief. This is the originating source of the pain in your heart.
In their next life, Emily and Brian met in Oregon in the late 1700s. They were siblings. They were very young when they were playing by a creek and were shot with arrows by an Indian who was angry at the white “invaders” settling in Oregon in greater numbers. As Brian and Emily’s souls departed, they promised to be there for each other the next time they incarnated together.
Emily and Brian meet again in rural England in the early 1800s. Retaining the same gender as before, they marry and spend their lives on a small farm. They have two children – a boy and a girl. They live a happy, though hard, life, caring for each other and their children, and they die in their 50s. They share a strong, loyal connection and support each other in every way. Their heart bond deepens with each successive life they share.
The Elder shows Emily one more life in which she and Brian find each other again, this time in London. Brian is well-off and entitled. Emily is poor and lives outside the city. They occasionally see each other when Emily goes into the city to purchase supplies. When they first meet on the street, they feel a sense of familiarity and are drawn to each other, but they do not act on it. Their interaction consists solely of glances. Emily, ten years younger, would love to approach Brian, but she cannot do so outside an appropriate social context. And given that she is not his equal, the meeting will never happen. With little to do, Brian hangs out in saloons, drinking and gambling. To Emily’s sorrow, Brian eventually marries someone of his social standing. He later dies in a saloon brawl, shot through the chest. Emily sees him in his last moments, as he lies dying in the streets. This life, in which they were forced to keep their distance and couldn’t explore their real connection, added to the pain in Emily’s heart.
Emily and Brian’s hearts were initially connected through circumstances that were deeply painful for her, while Brian also found an opening to compassion despite his warrior-marauder perspective. The plight of the small girl whose parents were murdered offered him the opportunity to rise above the lawless, insensitive ways of his band. As the Elder revealed, Emily’s heart pain around Brian had its origins in that life. After that life, the souls of Emily and Brian saw a spiritual opportunity to apply the lessons of the open heart and decided to explore them by incarnating together. As we can see, the pain in Emily’s heart is complex. It began with great anger towards him for 1) what he did to her desert tribe so long ago, and is also complicated by her appreciation of his efforts to save her life. In summary, Emily’s heart bonds to Brian further include: 2) her love for her little brother, 3) her love for her husband, 4) the unrequited love from the London life, and 5) the current situation in which Brian is not available to live his life with her.
In this trajectory, successive incarnations between Emily and Brian do not necessarily create increasingly stronger connections – at least as we understand them from the level of personality and what most of us would like to see happen. A difficult beginning marked by forced contact follows, in which Emily learns to love her enemy, followed by a series of lives with familial bonding. However, in their most recent lives, they are prevented from sharing the profound affection they genuinely have for each other. Personality would much prefer a story in which the lovers are happily and permanently reunited each time, but the soul – like the heart – has its own logic and, more importantly, its own higher purposes.
Now the Council is ready to answer Emily’s question about why she chose the current incarnation. Don’t you remember? You came here to be a peacemaker. We have told you that the best way to bring peace to this world is to help individuals find it within themselves. You are going through this struggle with Brian so that you can learn peace amid personal turmoil and uncertainty. The best thing you can do right now is stay connected to spirit, trust the process, and be joyful.
Emily is also told that each of their souls is working to manifest their individual purpose. She is told that she needs to commit to the path of joy and love. If she does, her attachment to Brian will diminish as her focus turns more and more to fulfilling her unique soul intentions. She is encouraged to pursue her studies in psychology and meditation. They tell her: Yours is a peacemaking soul; it is also an illuminator of love. Healing vibrations for others emanate from your heart when it is open, and you are following your path. You can express these soul gifts through the venues where you seek to study and work. When Emily asks again about the possibility of a future with Brian, she is reminded to pursue the path of love and joy. Understand that this is the highest way to live your life. The path of the heart is the path of wisdom. The future cannot be foretold; you make your destiny by the choices you make in each moment. The more your choices are informed by your soul’s intentions, the more joy and fulfillment you will have.
Through her incarnations, Emily’s soul specialized in the path of the open heart. An open heart will be broken, but a well-navigated broken heart can create expansiveness that holds space for others’ brokenness. It also teaches, by example, that the gifts of an open heart lead to wisdom and compassion. The cumulative influence of her incarnations created a gentle, approachable personality that others find safe and welcoming. Her successful passage through difficult experiences gave her the insights and tools to show others how they can do the same.
Understand the ways in which we can recognize our soul intentions
Emily’s need to understand the purpose of her current life indicates her desire to align with her original soul intentions. Emily’s natural interests in meditation, psychology, reincarnation, and harmonious connections with others have been persistent and strong this life. Her Council validated that these are areas where she could focus her professional efforts fruitfully. They also observed that while these approaches to fulfilling her purpose are appropriate, she could express her soul gifts in other ways, and suggested she explore this further. In other words, Emily should follow the general warp and weft of what she seeks to accomplish, as this will help her discover additional ways to satisfy her objectives. She will be surprised and delighted to find that the spiritual path she is committed to is richer than she realizes.
“What do I need to do to fulfill the requirements of my intentions, and what is my next step toward getting there?”
Pay attention to the experiences that resonate most with you, as they will help you identify and remember what you agreed to show up for. Pay attention to your emotions, as they will guide you. Let go of the paths not taken and the roads not fully traveled, and begin here: live each day as if it were your calling. Without excessive attention to detail or overthinking, choose the activities that seem most right or important. Instead of demanding immediate results, revel in the quietly unfolding intrigue of each moment. Take small steps, one at a time. You don’t need to offer arguments or resistance; simply take each step, improvising as you go. You do not need to know the next step or the next action – by responding to the choices that call to you, to those impulses that seek expression – your life plan and purpose will reveal itself.
As you faithfully listen to the call of your intuitive knowing, you will become more adept at discerning the next right action. You do not need to wait for inspiration. Simply take actions that best reflect what you know to be true for yourself, and you will steadily regain your footing on your course as you remember your passions, which will reconnect you to your soul intentions.
I lived with this question for years, though I didn’t realize I was asking it. Later, in my studies of transformational tools and principles, I was told that “Something unique wants to express itself through you; something that only you can give birth to.” I thought this was, at best, a nice sentiment. It was very egalitarian, leaving no one out and making everyone special. But I had also heard the phrase often enough, expressed somewhat less loftily: You are special. There is no one like you. By the time I heard it again, I was already seriously inured to it and perhaps even somewhat cynical. Of course, we’re unique; who isn’t? And that’s where, for me, the whole concept of personal uniqueness distilled into something without much meaning.
For quite a while, I succumbed to the enervating idea that uniqueness, in and of itself, isn’t unique. Since we are all uniquely distinguished from each other, what’s the big deal? You’re tall; I’m short. You’re muscular; I lack definition. You have red hair; I have black hair. Your eyes are green, and mine are brown. You excel at tennis, but I can sing. You’re great at math, and I write more clearly than you. What’s to get excited about? Now, if you’re handy, I’m feeling a bit of excitement. But I digress.
At some point, it occurred to me that I had been looking in the wrong direction, clinging to the wrong idea, and being stubbornly myopic. I decided to challenge my habitual perception of uniqueness by shifting my stance that uniqueness is a common attribute with no benefits. Breaking from my earlier jadedness, I asked: What exactly makes each of us unique? In no time, a realization asserted itself with incontrovertible clarity: It is our soul’s longing and the agenda contained in that longing that lead us to our purpose. Our specific longings show us the paths we need to take and who we can become. So what makes us unique? What makes us who we are?
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV. 4.5 tells us that our deep, driving desire is:
You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.
Here is the beginning of discovering your soul’s purpose: identifying your deeper truths through your deepest desires. Our uniqueness and destiny lie in our desires and in what awakens our passion. When we act on these unique desires, we are compelled to seek what is right for us, which in turn nourishes us. Following true desires attracts what we need to become who we are meant to be. Ultimately, by honoring our soul’s longing, we express our purpose and find fulfillment.
