Inside: Living on purpose doesn’t mean having light for the whole path or knowing all the answers. It simply means living an examined life, awake and intentional, shifting course as needed, understanding you get to choose who and how you want to be in the world. Here are 11 questions to help you end your year on purpose.
Sometimes I wake up with thoughts or questions circling through my heart & mind.
“What do you want?” I asked myself over and over one morning as I went through my morning routine. This isn’t exactly uncommon for me; I want to be sure to live my life on purpose.
We can often articulate what we don’t want from life but we don’t always know what it is that we do want. Or maybe we know we want to live with purpose but that sounds scary and vague and way too big.
We only see the two steps in front of us so we don’t step out at all.
Scary or not, change comes. We grow and heal and become. We learn to trust the journey, make small adjustments to our direction, and if we don’t quit we end up somewhere good. Maybe not where we expected, exactly. But good.
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Living on purpose doesn’t mean having light for the whole path or knowing all the answers. It simply means living an examined life, awake and intentional, shifting course as needed, understanding you get to choose who and how you want to be in the world.
We gain more clarity about what we want and what we’re good at as we step out, not before. We make mistakes but learn that our imperfection does not exclude us from a beautiful life or beautiful relationships. But we only find those when we choose growth, when we choose to do the messy work – to peel and prune and chop away everything that no longer serves.
Like the lies we’ve believed about our worth. Unforgiveness. Bitterness. Addiction, mean self-talk, isolation. Trying to keep up or make others like you, not dealing with the deeper truth that you still don’t like yourself. Resisting joy or other good things in case something bad lies around the next bend.
If you want to spend some time getting clear on what you want and ditching the rest, I’ve got some questions that can help. Give yourself at least an hour to settle in and journal out the answers and see what comes up for you.
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11 QUESTIONS TO END THE YEAR ON PURPOSE
- What do you want? If you’re telling yourself the full truth – what do you want?
- How do you want to feel? Are your habits, time commitments, other life patterns moving you closer to this desire?
- How do you want those in your circle of impact to feel or what impact do you hope to make in the world, in your family or inner circle? We aren’t responsible for other people’s choices or feelings but we can think about how we impact those around us.
- How are you using your gifts in the world? How can you show up and offer your light in big or small ways?
- Where are you stuck? Be specific.
- What do you need to let go of? Think about the emotional, physical, relational baggage you’re ready to release.
- What life-giving habit do you want to add into your life? What is the ONE THING you could add in that would have the most significant, positive impact on your life in this season?
- Are you spending time with growth-minded people? Do the people in your inner circle deserve that space in your life?
- Do you need help? Name the place you need or want help. Make a concrete, step-by-step plan to get the help you need.
- Are you ready for change? We sometimes say we want something but aren’t truly ready to take action. Tell the truth to yourself – are you ready?
- Where is perfectionism, comparison or fear holding you back from what you truly desire? What would you feel like or what would your life look like, sound like, and feel like if you showed up through comparison, perfectionism, or fear?
We’re all on this journey together and no one has it all figured out. But as we come to the end of another year, we can start laying aside the distractions and get curious and honest about what we truly want and who we choose to be so that we end the year on purpose.
And then we step out.
Just one small but purposeful step at a time.
Krista xo
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