Think about how much time people spend time pursuing the perfect body – dieting, exercising, taking care of their skin and hair. While that is, of course, important for our health and well-being, ultimately, we know that our bodies are impermanent. Once we leave this world, we can't take them with us. What is permanent, however, is the soul - something that we spend much less time and focus on developing.
The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches that our souls go through a process of reincarnation - a cycle of birth, evolution, death, and rebirth. The Light we reveal in each lifetime is eternal, meaning it never goes away. It becomes part of who we are. Our job is to rediscover what we have already learned from past lifetimes and to build upon it by finding and transforming the parts of us that need the most work. That is the purpose we each have in this world, but it's much easier said than done.
Here are 3 tips to help you pursue your life's purpose:
1. Lean into the areas that challenge you most. They are an indication of what you are meant to transform.
We are not born as blank canvases. We carry both our progress and our incomplete work with us from lifetime to lifetime. The purpose of reincarnation is to learn everything we already know, to rechoose, to relearn, and even to unlearn some things from past lives. If we look at our lives through the frame of reincarnation, it can lend a different perspective on the work we need to do.
Simply being good people is not the goal of our life's work. We should all strive to be good people, but our work goes beyond that. There are specific areas we each need to focus on that are unique to us. The areas that we find most difficult for us are often the very parts of us that need the most attention. For instance, if you have trouble standing up for yourself because you fear confrontation, that's an indication it is an area for correction.
The things that come naturally to one person may be very difficult for another. That's because we each have a unique role in the world that only we can complete. Don't run from the things that are challenging for you. Embrace them and face them head-on.
2. Whenever an opportunity for a good deed comes into your life, grab it! You don't know if that opportunity will come back again.
We tend to think people come into our lives coincidentally and that we have a choice whether to help them or not. We think, "If I don't help this person, I'll help someone else." In reality, every person that comes into our lives is not by coincidence but likely as the continuation of a relationship (deep or not) from a previous lifetime. This person doesn't need your help by coincidence – you may have a spiritual debt to them.
Everything that we experience and every person we meet is meant to help us on our journey to elevate our souls. Run to embrace the opportunity to help others because you never know how a soul is connected to you from a past incarnation. If you miss this opportunity to help them, it may not come back again in this lifetime.
3. Focus on expanding your capacity to love.
Most of us live in a low state of love, meaning that our potential for love is so much greater than the level we currently feel, even towards those closest to us. We tend to save our love and the best parts of ourselves for just a few people that are close to us. We don't often understand how important the work of expanding our capacity for love is. We get stuck if others have hurt us in the past, withholding our love and retracting versus expanding it.
We are meant to grow love in our lives – for ourselves, those closest to us, and for others as well. Our view of ourselves is supposed to become more expansive, understanding that we are all one. Ask yourself, "Am I stuck in the love I feel or am I actively growing my ability to love to encompass more people and to love more deeply?"
Our life's work is just that – something that takes a lifetime to complete. In fact, it often takes several lifetimes. It is not meant to be easy for us, but it is an important mission that can reveal tremendous Light and blessings in the world. In order to pursue your purpose, find and work on the areas that are challenging for you, grab opportunities for good deeds, and focus on expanding your ability to love.
