Fear of Purpose

Many people claim they want to discover their life purpose, yet are held back by fear. Often times there is a small voice within that gives repeated messages that their is "more" to life and that their true purpose is not yet discovered. Some of the signals of a life purpose wanting to be lived is a dissatisfaction or boredom with the current state of one's life and a growing desire for fulfillment. Although one may strongly feel the pull to discover their purpose, fear can keep it's grip even stronger. It can be uncomfortable...so much so that some people give up the notion of following their dream and opt to play it safe.

What I believe happens is that even considering changing our lives in some way, such as leaving our jobs, going to school, or possibly moving to a new place makes us question if fulfilling our dreams is worth it. We may not be particularly happy with the status quo, but imagining taking a leap into living a fulfilling life can put us into a sweat when it causes us to stretch into the unknown.

I see this phenomena of meeting and addressing fear as being a normal part of the process and encourage people to be gentle with themselves in their self discovery. Giving themselves some time to think about what their life would be like when they are fully living their purpose is a great way to experience the accompanying feelings of joy, peace, contentment and excitement. Allowing these feelings not only creates greater clarity, but when strong enough, fulfillment can be fully experienced and felt (before it actually occurs), creating more of a sense of sureness as the fear factor diminishes.

The fear filled resistance that can appear when on a quest for a purpose driven life is simply our egos trying to keep us safe and small. I believe the more we experience the joy of living fully, the more courageous we will become.