The Three Parts of Life Purpose

In his book, True Purpose, author Tim Kelley talks about there being three aspects to one's life purpose. For our purposes, we will use Tim's construct as its clarity helps simplify the process of finding one's purpose effectively. Of course, a construct is just that. Something made up to make things easier to understand. So, while this works well for finding one's life purpose, it is of course, not the final or only way to define purpose, just a very good one.

The first aspect of purpose is essence. Your essence is that part of you that does not change. It is your essential being state, that part of you that is always there. Like a ray of light that follows you into a room and leaves when you leave, you don't have to do anything to make your essence shine, it just does so naturally. It is there as your essential nature. Examples of essence are light, love, joy, kindness, etc. Your essence is a noun. It is what you are at your core.

The second aspect of purpose is blessing. Your blessing is that which you do to others and have been doing to others since you were a child. It is your gift to the world, so to speak, the action you take on a regular basis in relation to other people. For instance, you may be someone who always makes people laugh, or who helps people find their way or who teaches others to love themselves. These are just a few examples of the literally millions of blessings that people can have. A person's blessing is the core of their purpose in that it is the action they are meant to take in the world. It is a kind of action that they do over and over again throughout their lives and when they are in careers and home situations where they are free to do their blessing, they are happier than they are when they are not in situations supportive of their blessing. For instance, if a person is someone who makes people laugh and is in a situation where everything is always serious and laughing is frowned upon, they are less likely to flourish in that situation than when they are in a situation where laughter is encouraged and enjoyed.

According to Tim Kelley, everyone has an essence and everyone has a blessing. These two parts of purpose are both givens in every human being and are non-negotiable. Then, Tim posits a third aspect of purpose.

The third aspect of purpose is one's mission. One's mission is a task that one has come to this world to do once. It has a beginning, a middle and an end and when it is done it is done. Not everyone has a mission, and unlike essence and blessing, one can choose to opt out of a given mission if one does not want to do it. Examples of mission are 'bringing peace to the Middle East' or 'ending relapse from all addictions' or 'bringing equality to people of all races.' In huge missions such as these, often many people will be called to them and it will take many participants to bring them about. But, once Middle East peace has been achieved or relapse has ended or equality is a reality for people of all races, the mission is complete. A mission may take many years or lifetimes to achieve, but once it is done it is done.

One can find out what their essence, blessing and mission (if they have a mission) are. Then, once one does find them, which means once one finds one's purpose, there is the task of fulfilling it, which is a lifetime's work!

Now that we have looked at each aspect of purpose, we will take a look at how to find one's purpose in our next blog!
Please post your questions or comments to this blog or email me for more information at bbuncher@theempowermentcoach.net .

Have a great week and consider the value of finding your life purpose as the next step in your recovery!

All the best,

Beverly Buncher
Family Recovery Coach