Are You Living Your Purpose? Guest Article by Bruce D. Schneider, Ph. D. — Listen to Him Today

Note from Connie: As I’ve mentioned previously on this Sugar Shock Blog, I’m now a life coach, and I’ve become really excited and exhilarated by it and its ability for people to accomplish things and make their dreams a reality.

First off, I invite you to listen to today’s Gab With the Gurus Radio Show, during which I’ll interview renowned life coach Bruce D. Schneider, Ph.D., MCC. (As I announced previously, I’m also interviewing Cheryl Forberg, the Biggest Loser nutritionist, who tells you how to become ageless.)

Now, I encourage you to read a fascinating article by Bruce D. Schneider, Ph.D., MCC, who is a Master Certified Coach, licensed psychotherapist, Reiki Master, author of Relax You’re Already Perfect: 10 Spiritual Lessons… to Remember and Energy Leadership: Transforming Your Workplace and Your Life from the Core. Bruce is founder and director of the Institute for Professional Empowerment Coaching (www.IPECcoaching.com).

Please make sure to listen to my interview with Bruce on my Gab With The Gurus Radio Show.

Are You Living Your Purpose? By Bruce D. Schneider

Though we are all one energy force, one mind, and One Spirit, each soul incarnated into a specific form on earth for a unique purpose. We are here to experience different situations and similar situations differently, and to share these experiences with the Universe, our total consciousness. There are many different journeys to share. This is why there is more than one soul experiencing this world.

Your journey is now and exists at this moment, whether you realize it or not. It will be more enjoyable if you consciously pursue your spiritual purpose to bring the world to Love. You do this by expressing Love in whatever you do, and most easily express it when doing what you do best. Consciously following your spiritual purpose brings you ultimate joy, balance, peace, freedom, and happiness.

You have seen them. He is the conductor exuding power and poise as his orchestra performs a beautiful medley. She is the lawyer who fights for her client’s life as if it were her own child on trial. She is the waitress who serves customers with as much enthusiasm and caring as her personal friends. And he is the gas station attendant who still cleans your windshield even when his co-workers won’t. Who are these people? They are spiritual beings who breathe life into their work. They are people who express themselves in what they do, and not simply for financial reward. They do it because they couldn’t do their job any other way. They are living their soul’s purpose and consciously doing what they do with Love, and they are happier than most.

Have you ever felt something missing in your life? If so, this could be the reason: The soul has a twofold purpose in each lifetime: (1) the universal purpose to rediscover itself as Love, and (2) an individual purpose to experience a specific role it can do better or differently than any other soul in a given lifetime. The latter enables the soul to help itself and other souls more easily rediscover Love. In other words, your individual purpose is the best way to promote the universal purpose.

There are no "ideal" jobs. Not every person should be a healer or a teacher. We need conductors, lawyers, waitresses, and gas station attendants. Each person lives his or her purpose by performing his or her job in a spiritually loving way, which reaps the many rewards of a purposeful and relatively stress-free life.

We are special

Each of us can do something totally unique. The challenge is to discover your spiritual "niche" on earth, so you can realize your potential for happiness. If you live untrue to this niche, your energy will be unaligned with the Universal Energy, and you are likely to feel something missing in your life. You’ll experience a feeling of dissonance, which can lead to disease.

Let us suppose, for example, that in this life you can best serve the journey of Love by expressing yourself as a salesperson. But because of your free will, you did not choose that line of work. This can cause "dis-ease" in the form of unhappiness or even physical illness. Disease is a sign you aren’t following a connected life, body, mind, and spirit. Clients who discovered this and how it was best for them to work, achieved more gratification in their lives. Some actually healed their physical conditions just by making certain changes in how they perceived their work. By understanding and living their individual purpose, they filled the void created by a disconnection to the Divine and removed the feeling that something was "missing."

Application: Hit the lottery and know your purpose

One of the surest ways to know if you are living your purpose is to imagine winning the lottery and having all the money you’ll ever need. If you’d choose to continue doing what you do, it is surely your purpose. The rewards of living your soul’s purpose go far beyond money. If you think you’d retire, you may just be burned out. If you do hit the lottery, take a vacation and then do what you do with Love, instead of just going through the motions. You never need to retire from Love. You can always serve your purpose and enjoy what you are doing and how you are doing it for a lifetime.

When you are connected to your spiritual purpose, your life becomes easier and more satisfying and rewarding. Why? Because you are no longer operating as an isolated individual out of tune with the Universe. Instead, you are working with the Universe, consciously connected to the Universal Mind and utilizing the vast potential of the energy around you. When you find your true purpose, the Universe has no choice but to help you by providing information and energy.

Adapted from Relax, You’re Already Perfect: 10 Spiritual Lessons… to Remember, © Copyright 2002, by Bruce D Schneider, Ph. D., reprinted by permission of Hampton Roads Publishing.

Bruce D Schneider, Ph.D., MCC is a Master Certified Coach, licensed psychotherapist, Reiki Master and author of "Relax You’re Already Perfect: 10 Spiritual Lessons… to Remember and Energy Leadership: Transforming Your Workplace and Your Life from the Core." He is founder and director of the Institute for Professional Empowerment Coaching (www.IPECcoaching.com).

I also invite you to learn how to pursue your passions and move your life to a positive, new direction — just listen to my recent radio show with four amazing, articulate coaches — Dr. Michelle R. Callahan, a relationship expert, coach, developmental psychologist and writer; Deborah Van De Grift, a health and fitness life coach, as well as senior school director for iPEC Coaching (where I’m attending); business coach Ed Abel, founder of the Abel Business Institute. These talented coaches shared their insights on this increasingly popular process. Listen now to the fun show now.