In this episode we talk about, what brought us together and what we want from this process in order to be the most authentic version of ourselves and live in alignment with our soul.
Dani: Good morning ladies. How’s everybody doing today?
Natalie: Very well. How are you?
Dani: Good.
Candace: Very good.
Dani: So nice to see you.
Candace: Thank you.
Natalie: Are we starting with a card?
Dani: Yes, please Natalie.
Natalie: Okay, so the card for today is “The Unknown”. And it says, “When I find myself at a crossroads where something old has come to an end something new it yet to be formed, I am gentle and patient with myself. As I release the old, I trust that the universe is creating a space for the new to enter my life in its own perfect timing. I keep my heart open, and embrace the mystery, knowing I can’t hurry this process. Sometimes when I don’t know when, don’t know how, don’t quite know what or with whom, something magical happens. I open myself to the alchemy of my soul’s growth. I enter a change portal in my soul’s journey, that calls me to bow to a design and intelligence infinitely greater than my own. Living in this place of ‘don’t know’ calls for courage, patience, curiosity and trust. I reach out for support from those that love me. I open my heart to the loving guidance of the divine.”
Candace: Wow.
Dani: So I love that card.
Natalie: It’s beautiful. It has an affirmation at the bottom which says, “I bow to the infinite intelligence of the cosmos, and my next steps are revealed.”
Dani: Aha.
Natalie: Yay.
Candace: I love it.
Natalie: I love it. And today we’re talking about life purpose. And what of that is designed for us, and how we find it and how we live it and how we connect with it. I know a lot of people talk about trying to find, “What is my purpose in life?” That’s something that people begin to seek at a certain stage. So, my question is, “How do we live our purpose?” So, that’s what I thought we could talk about today.
Dani: I love that topic,
Candace: Me too.
Natalie: Yay. I have a spiritual mentor who I work with who is absolutely amazing, and I can remember watching a live that she did once when she talked about soul purpose. And she said that really the question isn’t “What is my purpose?”. It really should be “How can I feel meaningful in my expression of my purpose?” because your purpose is inherently part of you. And so it’s not so much about seeking it, like from external places. That potentially it’s something that you hold within, and you just need to awaken to it, or you just need to follow the steps.
Which I think is a really interesting concept, because I think most of the time when people think “soul purpose”, like my life purpose, “What am I here for?”, and you’re kind of looking externally for signs of validation, which obviously you may see signs of validation, but really it’s something that you hold within. And if that’s the case, you potentially can’t be separated from it in the sense that you might sometimes feel like you’re going off path. If it’s really in you, is that even possible? So, I don’t know if that sparks any thoughts for either of you?
Candace: Yes. Yes it does.
Dani: Would you like to elaborate on that?
Candace: So, it’s a bit of a different spin than maybe the way I’ve heard it said before. So, there’s that version of it, where your purpose is inside of you, which essentially means to me, there is no purpose. And not that there’s no purpose to life, but there’s no specific purpose or thing or path that you’re supposed to take. You’re just supposed to be you. Like your authentic version of yourself. So that’s the way that I kind of interpreted what you were saying. And then there’s very similar to that, that your purpose or your path in life is never wrong. So if you’re seeking a specific life or job or occupation that … I’m trying to make all the thoughts come together, and form words! And they’re not cooperating.
So if you’re seeking that, and you’re seeking it in exactly what you said, something external, that even if you go off in a different direction, you’re still on the right path because it’s part of your path and purpose.
Natalie: Yeah. So that’s how I interpret my story, because it’s part of you, that whatever direction you go in, you’re not going off path, because it’s within you, and so whatever direction you go in, that direction is going to teach you something that will bring you back ’round, if you veer off in a direction that potentially isn’t as aligned as it should be, it will either way, because it’s still part of you, teach you what you need to be taught to bring you back onto the path. If there is even one path or purpose, maybe there’s a multitude, so maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe if you go down there, it’s just going to go to a different … That’s where my mind right now. Now there’s too many freakin’ paths.
Dani: Right. So, is our purpose then, already determined, or are we determining it ourselves? And so you’re saying we’re determining it ourselves. If it’s already inside of us, whether we know it or not, then who put it there? Did we put it there?
Candace: Oh my gosh, my mind is blown.
Dani: Right? Okay, without going too far down there, I do love the idea that you touched on, both, that you can’t possibly be off your purpose, because whatever is coming up now is for you, and is to be healed, to be learned, to be absorbed. The rabbit trail is the thing, right? We know it’s not the destination, it is in the journey, and the older I get and the more I do this stuff, it does strengthen my belief that it is all for us, it is all on purpose. It is all for our benefit, and that we can use every little thing that happens along that path. So, I do love that, and I do find a lot of comfort in that for the journey.
Natalie: And I think the journey thing. It’s so, so true, because we’ve talking about this even with this podcast, like what is the destination? Is it happiness? But really, we watched a video. It was talking about happiness isn’t an end thing. It’s a process. And so maybe purpose isn’t this end thing that you’re trying to reach. It’s the process. It’s the journey that you go on which gets you there. And you’re absolutely right, because all the things that in my life that could be perceived as negative, or something that I wish I hadn’t done, or wish hadn’t of happened to me, or all of those things.
Now, with every single one of them I can see what was in it for me. I can see the benefit in that for me. So there’s actually, weirdly, an amount of gratitude that exists for some of those things, because actually I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be here doing this. I wouldn’t be doing lots of different things. I think that is really helpful when you’re thinking about purpose, rather than trying to attach some meaning to some end thing and goal, but you define your purpose to be. Maybe your purpose is to do the things that fill you up the most, and make you feel meaningful. That’s how you can most embody your purpose, surely, is do the things that really fill you up and make you feel aligned and in flow and all those good things.
Candace: So in that video that we had watched. It was a video on YouTube by Kerwin Rae, and we can post that in the blog post when this goes up. He was saying the purpose is not found by seeking it. The purpose is found in following the inspiration, and one step at a time it reveals itself to you. I feel like that does sit well with everything that we’ve already said, because it’s kind of like taking the way that I think people typically see purpose, and I know that I always did. As this “thing”. It has to fit in a box. “My life purpose is to get clean water in developing countries.” It needs to fit in that box, whereas, no. Maybe that doesn’t work. Maybe at one point I feel passionate about that, and so I start doing something related to that, say, volunteering with an organization, and then that leads me to the next thing, which could be, I don’t know, traveling to another country to build a well. And when I get there I realize that what I need to be doing is be a teacher in that other country.
And so each step of the way, if you’re following the inspiration and you’re following the passion that’s within you, it sort of presents itself, and more so over time. And I almost kind of think that, at this stage anyway, I certainly haven’t always thought this, but that purpose is more about being of service. So if you’re being of service and you’re helping to … I don’t want to say “raise the vibration of the planet”, because that sounds so over done, but if you’re helping to promote love, and healing in the world, then you’re already serving your purpose. And it doesn’t matter if you are grooming dogs, and bringing some happiness to those dogs who then share the happiness with their families, which then the chain goes on. Or, if you are building schools in underdeveloped countries or … It doesn’t have to be grandiose. It doesn’t have to be a thing. It’s the process and the journey, which you both already said, but just kind of reiterating that.
Dani: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I love that, and I think sometimes transformational people … I know … There’s a certain one that I’m thinking of, and I’ve heard more than one person say it, like, “Do you know your purpose? Because, if you don’t, you’re just wasting your time. You need to know your purpose.” I think I might have even heard Oprah say it. Oh, my gosh, Oprah on a pedestal. It is kind of one of those things that there’s so many books, “Find your purpose,” and so many things. I think it gets so … Sometimes, it gets kind of glamorized, put on a pedestal. Especially, we’ll relate purpose with our job or with our … As entrepreneurs, especially, I think a lot of them do.
I love more the way that we’re talking about it here, which is like what is the purpose of a tree? Growth, oxygen, community, contribution, unity with everything else and with all of nature. What is our purpose? That’s kind of what I think. The broad umbrella is evolution, growth, following intuition, doing things that call to us, that are inside of us, that, when we spot it outside of us, we’re like, “Yes, that’s really calling me forward.” That excitement that we get, that’s not like, “Okay, I’m pretty good at this and I can make a decent living and I’m going to do this,” versus, “Then, someone came into the school and they said, “This is what …”” Here I go, making it about a career, but it’s just the easy analogy. “They said they did this and I was like, “You can get paid for that?”” and it just blows your mind.
Those things that call us forward I feel like are as close to purpose as I’ve ever felt or had a clear idea on, that I know it’s part of my purpose if it’s just calling to me. It might not call to everybody, but it calls to me. It just calls out and I almost can’t not do it because it feels so good and because it’s so fulfilling and so joyful and those kind of things.
Natalie: I think that’s really interesting because, for the one thing, having come on here to talk about life purpose, the biggest thing that’s sort of hitting me is the definition of it. What even is it? Candace, you were very much like, “Oh, will I … My role is to do what?” Is it your role to take water to Third World countries or to be a teacher in that country or whatever? I wonder … This whole purpose thing of saying, lots of people saying, “You need to know your purpose,” but then is the purpose thing just another framework we, in our humanness, try and use to rationalize life, everything that’s happening to us, where we’re going, why we’re even existing? Is purpose something that we’re just trying to cling onto and be like, “Oh, this is my safety thing because this is my purpose?” Do you know what I mean? Is it? Is it actually even something? That’s where my brain goes. I’m just blown up. What the hell is this thing? Does it even bloody matter?
There’s that side of it, and then the other thing is I have … Even just the fact that we describe it as the job, it’s like is that what really life is about? We automatically … Both of you have done it and even I have done it. We automatically go to the, “It’s serving the people and it’s getting paid,” and all of those things, and is that really our purpose?
Candace: As you were talking right now, and I just want to throw this in before we move on. As you were talking and asking those questions, the question that came to me was, “Okay, so, if X, Y, and Z that you just said, does it even exist? Does life purpose even exist, or is it something that we’ve made up completely?”
Natalie: Mm-hmm (affirmative). To cling on to for safety. Yeah. Interesting.
I did a program with somebody, it’s an amazing thing if you get the opportunity to work with it, from a lady called Alexis Pierce. She runs a soul purpose program and she helps you discover or awaken or open your eyes to your soul purpose. The way that she defines soul purpose is on a spectrum. For me, my soul purpose spectrum is trust to fear. It’s like the things that you will go through in life and experience so, for me, I go through needing a lot of trust or having a lot of trust, and then having to go through the fear to get to the next level of trust. That’s something that happens with almost everything that I go through in my life, I have this fear to trust paradigm that I live in. For other people, it might be worthy, not worthy, all of those different things. We all have a different area of that.
She defines it as that, and it’s not putting something on the item, the job, the framework, it’s literally more of a feeling place. Knowing that, you’d think, “Well, how is that helpful? How is that helpful, to know that your, well, paradigm is trust to fear?” Well, for me, it really is because it helps me embrace the fear. It helps me embrace the shadow side of me, the light side of me with the trust, the shadow side of me with the fear, and actually own that and own that fear and try not to shun it, because understanding that it’s inherently part of who I am, as in it’s necessary in order to allow me to have the light and trust. You have to appreciate both sides of things. I know that was also actually mentioned in that video, which is like seeing the good and the bad in every situation. Until you can see the good and bad in every situation, you don’t really see that situation.
Yeah. I don’t know if that brings up anything.
Dani: Yeah. I think that’s so powerful. I think, without that perspective, Natalie, that you just hit upon … To be able to view a situation and say there’s good and bad in it, and every single situation, to be able to do that. Sometimes, it’s only in retrospect that we can have that perspective but, if we can at least … I think it’s more and more and more powerful. The closer to the moment it’s happening, to be able to have that perspective is so powerful for us as human beings. I think what you’re touching upon is one of the primary foundational elements to can you change your life, can you transform, can you go from a person who reacts to what they’re given and lifts out from right here to a person who gets to create what they want in their life and be the person who they designed and decided that they want to be when it might not be the most natural, habitual, regular choice that … The automatic choice that just comes to them, but can they change? I feel like that, that you were just touching on, is just one of those.
I don’t want to take us down a rabbit trail but I just want to emphasize, I think, how important what you just said is, and how vital that is, to be able to see things with the good and the bad. It’s essential in life purpose, too, because, like you said, even if you know kind of what general direction you’re going in, you go on a little side trail and you have a challenge or something, but you learn valuable pieces of information or you meet someone who is just key to your journey or you find some nugget along the way. If we can’t see all that good with the bad, then we just miss so many of those things that help us take us down the path on this journey toward evolution and purpose and all of that.
Natalie: Yeah. I agree. It’s … In thinking about that, so that’s the exact reason why this was so helpful for me, is knowing these two things, because what, in every situation that comes up, I can see what of me is then reacting with fear. I can see that and I would have previously either tried to shun it or made this big whole thing about it, it’s so damn scary, but now I’m just like, “Okay.” I know that this is just this little thing I want to try and go through that will allow me to trust, will allow me to get back to the light side. That helps you shift things.
Whether love to fear, worthy, not worthy, all of those things are actually the definition of purpose, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just another framework, but it’s a framework that’s helpful. Maybe the job, maybe that is something that is necessary to help us evolve, to help us move forward, to help us transform, is to attach this meaning to things. It doesn’t change is it real. Who knows now? I don’t know.
Candace: I think, too, as we’re talking, that there might even be a little bit of a difference between purpose versus calling. A calling is something that you do or be or experience, and the soul’s purpose or the life’s purpose is more about our soul’s evolution and what we’re here to learn and grow and the lessons that we’re meant to learn in this lifetime.
Natalie: Yeah. That’s very true. I like that, because that was something that was confusing me as we talk about this calling, which is a new one that I hadn’t kind of thought about, but it was also purpose and path. What’s the difference there? Because, if purpose isn’t a destination … Well, I guess path isn’t either because path is a journey.
Candace: I feel like all of these … Sorry?
Natalie: Are they interchangeable? Do you think those two things are the same, purpose and path?
Candace: I think probably every person has to define it for themselves, but the way that I am working through this in my mind as we’re talking is that it’s three things that people typically speak about and use the words interchangeably, but, to me, from my perspective in this moment, and I’m sure it might change in the future because it’s always changing, but more that the path is kind of the journey and the experience, the calling is the doing, the passion in life, and then the purpose about the lessons and the evolution. That’s the way that I’m seeing it right now.
Dani: I’m just going to really let that sink in.
Let that sink in. And, I think one of the things that we have touched upon that’s really powerful for me is I believe that … I kind of at the same time believe that our purpose is something that we kind of … And, no matter what we’re calling it … But, what we’re here to be, experience, and do, in the broader context, whatever it is, we call these all three words or whatever, is that part of it is just life experience, and following breadcrumbs, and following inspiration. And, everything lead us toward it. So, I really feel like it is a path and not a destination. And I also … There’s part of it, right? That is your purpose is what you say it is and the reason is because it’s like some things are kind of unknowable, but what matters then, if it is a unknowable, is having a framework to look at it that is beneficial for us and our own development.
Right? So, not particularly knowing if in the huge scheme of things is this right or not. Like Natalie, we’re saying your bridge from fear to trust and back and forth gives you a framework to understand. And so, I feel like that is more important than even the big answers, is what framework do I believe? Do I trust? What lens can I look through to help me see things, and the benefit of the good and the bad in them, and that helped bring me forward? That is the real question and, I think, the most powerful one.
And, this other stuff is so good to talk about and I love the delineation and where is that really? And, the calling is what we do is fascinating, but … And what we will really walk away with is, okay, what works for us? How can we look at it in a way that helps our lives? Helps us be happier and more fulfilled in life.
Candace: I was just going to say, for me, personally, because my entire life I have placed such a huge emphasis and value on finding my purpose. I used to see psychics. I used to go to classes. I did mediumship and intuition classes. And, every week, that was my focus. What is my purpose. What am I here to do? I was certified in hypnosis and then I went onto ultra depth hypnosis. And, I was certified in Reiki. And, you know, training for business. And, do … What is my purpose? What am I meant to do?
But, if I take take purpose out of what I’m doing here, it takes the pressure off. So for me personally, if I think about it like a calling, what am I called to do, I don’t feel that huge weight on my shoulders that there’s something to figure out and I need to get this right because I’m here for a reason. You know?
And, I think, I mean, probably for most people listening to this, we’re going to attract a certain kind of people. And, I would say that most of those people would have that pull or that feeling. “I’m here for a reason. I know I’m meant for more. I don’t know what it is.” Or, maybe you do, but there’s that deep pull down in your soul that there’s something bigger.
And so, I’m sure that it is a feeling that a lot of people can relate to. But, like I said, if I think about it for myself in the terms of, “What am I called to do?” Then, I can do that and not feel locked into it. Not feel like there’s only one answer. Not feel like there’s a destination. That right now I might be called to do medical intuition and next week I might be called to … I don’t even know.
Natalie: Do the Fandango.
Candace: Yeah, exactly. And, that’s okay because for me “calling” is something that I’m being pulled towards and thinking about life purpose is so huge and so narrow, you know what I mean? Like, there’s only one answer and if I don’t get it right, I’m wasting this lifetime and I’m going to have to come back and do it again if I don’t get it right.
I used to say those things to myself and I put so much pressure on myself to find my purpose and I spent a lot of money too. And, at the end of the day, maybe it doesn’t even exist.
Natalie: I didn’t think that was where this podcast was gonna go. Where it was like, “Does my purpose even exist?” This is why I love these conversations because it forces you to actually look at it. Look at it for what it actually is and try and make sense of it because, you know, I was the same. I feel like with life purpose is kind of like a responsibility that I need …
You know, I’m responsible for this, I should be doing this, so I need to do everything I can to find it. But, actually what if you just go to the calling and you go with what you’re called to do. And, if that’s all that fills you up, then you are living your purpose. You’re living the highest, best version of yourself because you’re only allowing in the things that the bring about that person in you.
So, very interesting. And, I wonder how many listeners are actually with us with, “Does life purpose exist?” Or, is everyone like, are you crazy?
Dani: I love that. I just think … And, it is. And, all of that … We’re just changing the framework on how we look at it and what we call it. And, all those stories we made up in our heads, or that culturally, or in our kind of environment, in our kind of transformational, metaphysical, new age kind of culture. We cultivate this, this pressure, and the whole service thing, and the whole all of it.
And, it’s really all smoke and mirrors, but it really is, I think at the end of the day, us trying to … At the end of the day, we’re trying to explain the unexplainable. We’re trying to grasp infinity with a finite mind and understanding.
So, all we can do is kind of point to it and kind of try to find a way to look at it that takes the pressure off and makes it a little more fricking fun to try to follow the calling. And, what if the purpose is to follow the calling, follow the fun, follow the inspiration, right?
Natalie: Exactly. And, that just brings me back to the card that we got, which said, you know, the last thing is I opened myself to the alchemy of my soul’s growth. I enter a changed portal in my soul’s journey. Journey, which I love rather than anything else. That calls me to bow to a divine intelligence infinitely greater than my own. Which, tells me that, you know, it’s not your responsibility to find and identify this thing. It’s your responsibility to just go with what calls to you, which is what you are being divinely guided to follow.
Candace: Mic Drop.
Natalie: Well, should we close there ladies?
Dani: Wow.
Natalie: Is there anything else?
Dani: I’m just trying to process you reading that again because as you read that again, it had a completely different meaning for me than when you read it the first time. And, yeah. My mind’s blown a little bit there.
Candace: Yeah, mine too. It’s like a couple of drops and oh, are we done for today? It’s just moving around, and around, and around.
Dani: I don’t know if we’re done. I’m still taking that in.
I’m like a deer in the headlights. Like, sure. Yeah. And, how awesome for the podcast who doesn’t claim to have all the answers, anyway. We’re like, we gave you a whole bunch more questions.
Natalie: See you next week.
Dani: She won that one. Yeah.
Candace: I think that’s really good though.
Dani: I think it’s perfect. Following your calling is the purpose. Yup.
Dani: It’s all just made up anyway. Like, nothing means anything except for the meaning that we give it. So, let’s give it a good meaning. Like, let’s just decide.
Natalie: Yeah, we get to define it. No one else is going to tell us, are they?
Dani: Right.
Candace: Not Anymore. Anyway, they used to tell me. Not now.
Natalie: Jog on!
Dani: Oh, I love it.
Candace: All right, well that was fantastic, girls.
Dani: That was.
Candace: Thank you. All right. So, for the people listening, you can see the videos and the past recordings on our website at followingsoulspiration.com. And, you can find us on Instagram and Facebook, which are both FollowingSoulspiration.
Dani: Come see us.
Natalie: All right. Bye, girls.
Dani: Bye.