Goal and Purpose are the Procreation of Transformation.
A goal without purpose eventually leads to apathy. A purpose without a goal tangles us in frustration.
Thanks to the birds and the bees we know that when a man and a woman make love, they have babies. Let’s imagine for the purpose of this post, Goal is the man and Purpose is the woman and together they make love. They merge in unbridled passion, losing themselves to one-another. Time, space and all other existence disappear into a void of nothingness. Climax after climax they flow from the edge of chaos into a slow and steady build-up of momentum.
(Yes, there is a point to my eye brow raising use of poetic licence and all will be explained!)
Every mother and father know that feeling when they see their new born for the very first time. They fall head over heels in unconditional love with their new bundle of perfection in an instant. They can’t believe that they created something so perfect, so beautiful, so precious, but together they did. When you equate this to you, in the sense that your Goal is the father and your Purpose is the mother, what you can create and give birth to can truly take your breath away.
When I think of times in my own life when I merged the sacred union of goal with purpose, I discovered potential within, far beyond what I thought possible. I gave birth to my creativity, my drive, my passion, my tenacity, my hard work ethic, my determination and the God given power, that I never realized I had.
And the same is true for every human being when we merge a goal with a purpose.
I am currently seeing a client who booked in with me because anxiety was taking over her life. She is a beautiful, articulate, intelligent young woman trying to build a career in the corporate world. She also wants to travel, meet new people and return to college to gain her Masters’ Degree.
Anyone would agree that this individual has the world at her feet. But she contacted me because social anxiety had taken over her life to the point that she dreads holding conversations with friends, let alone give complex presentations in the board room or set off to explore planet earth. Her anxiety was thrashing her confidence, her concentration, her learning ability, her life plans and pretty much every other area you can think of.
What I admired most about this young woman is that despite her crippling, screaming anxiety holding constant dominion over her mind, she still had the courage to listen to that voice within that said, ‘Come on girl, you’re better than this – enough’ and she acted on the voice of her inner power.
In our first session we identified her Goal and her Purpose:
Her Goal: To be free of anxiety.
Her Purpose: A desire to truly LIVE.
She knows deep down inside there is an adventurous, fun loving soul bursting to explore this world – that’s her true self. She also knows that self-doubt, fear and anxiety is all she needs to dissolve to discover who she truly is.
Without her goal, her purpose would find her falling into an abyss of frustration and the complete suppression of the self. Imagine what that would feel like?
Equally, the same can be said if her goal was absent of purpose.
We’re only a couple of sessions in, but I can already see a vivacious light emanate from this beautiful soul and I am keeping an eye on this space, excited to see who she discovers herself to be.
When I was writing my novel, my goal was to release the story to the world. My purpose was twofold:
- To address a part of our social history – to honor the silenced innocent.
- To light a way forward, through pain and help those suffering to heal, let go and be finally free.
I admire anyone who writes books, it’s a truly immeasurable amount of work. But, for me, the biggest block was the fear. It was like dark shadows taller than the tallest sky scrapers, towering over and around me, they even had a loud, dark voice that threatened the exposure of self to the world would kill me.
I know for sure that without my goal and purpose reaching beyond my own ego, I would never have finished or released my work. All through that time, goal and purpose danced together in passion and I gave birth to Saoirse.
So, if it’s as simple as defining a goal and a purpose and on you go to realize your potential, why isn’t everyone swanning around giving birth to their dreams, day in day out?
Because it takes more than that. Goal and purpose are the bed rock or to use my earlier analogy: the parents. Without one, the other is redundant.
For goal and purpose to dance their dance and create the realization of potential it takes commitment of the whole self. Focusing your mind on the goal and nothing else. Placing passion behind your purpose, because you love you, you love life, you love all that you have the potential to create, discover and experience during this life. With a goal in mind and purpose in your heart you get behind the wheel of your life and drive it forward, giving birth to the discovery of who you are – and sharing the best of you with the world.
One thing (among many) that I love about being human is, when we show up for life and reach the very best that we can possibly be, our best just gets better.
As we reach new peaks our viewpoint reveals a more expansive world and we see beyond limitation. We grow and so does the world around us. I love that about life. And when you merge goal and purpose in this sacred union, that is exactly what happens – life becomes limitless.
So, you see, together goal and purpose are the procreation of dreams come true.
With that said I pose two questions to you:
What is your Goal?
I don’t care how outlandish your answer is and nor should you right now. Just identify your goal.
What is your Purpose, your Why?
Every person alive has a purpose, including you – if it feels like there is a mini you, bouncing around in your brain right now, searching for your purpose, stop. Go into your heart and ask this:
What is my passion?
What do I love?
Is it teaching, caring, crafting, learning, building, writing, counselling, accounting, travelling, building a business or something else?
Be honest with yourself. No limitations.
Now feel it. Feel that purpose. Get behind it. Know it and then go discover. Yes, it will take time, it will take commitment, discipline, hard work, sometimes you might even feel like pulling your hair out and that’s great! It means you are searching for ways forward through the challenge. You are growing and breaking through the barriers of expectancy, on your way to becoming who you truly are.
I’m aware that right now your head will immediately want to grab the answers and figure out the how.
‘How am I going to do that, get there, so much to change, so much challenge etc?’
But you don’t need to figure out the how right now. You just need to identify your Why, your Purpose. Feel that purpose in your heart and let it flow through your whole system.
Now give your big outlandish goal a time frame and decide on the next best step, one that will take you closer to your goal. It could be a phone call, an email, a Google search and continue from there – and let the Universe work Her magic, because She will, I promise, it’s the Law.
And whatever you do along your way, remember – You’ve got this.
With love & blessings on the procreation of your transformation,
Hilary x
Hilary Connor,
Author & Spiritual Wellness Coach & Mentor