Working Towards Our Purpose

Welcome Back to episode 51 of Working towards our purpose.

Thank you for being here. And I got a interesting

episode for you today, I think something I'm excited about. But before we

do that, we'll do our standard check in with

ourselves. How are you feeling? Um, I'm feeling

pretty good today. Um, I think

one thing kind of came to mind is I was, like, checking in with myself.

Um, I did an episode last

week. I think it was on, like, mentorship, and, like, what would it

be like to ask, you know, for a mentor or, like, to have

to have, like, that sort of relationship with somebody? And it was interesting

that, like, directly after I was done recording that

episode, I looked at my phone and somebody who I

kind of looked to as a mentor or an inspiration

had reached out to me for coffee. And.

And, yeah, I thought that that was really interesting because I had no idea that

was gonna happen. We haven't talked in a while, and.

Yeah, just. Just sort of a. A sign of, like,

you know, intentions. The intentions that you put out there can come

back to you. So. So that was really cool. We haven't had that yet, but

looking forward to that. So. So, yeah,

getting in today's. Getting into today's episode,

I want to talk about purpose.

And. And I know that's like a. A

theme of this podcast. Obviously it's in the title, but

also, I think I don't really

directly talk about it. Maybe I do, but

I feel like I don't. And I feel like sometimes I avoid it a bit

and kind of just assume that, like, I know what it is and

maybe you, the listener knows what it is.

But I started this week writing my TEDx

speech, which I still don't know if I've been picked yet,

but I, uh. They only give you, like, a month between

getting picked and having to perform it, so I do need to

basically have it done before I know if I'm gonna do it or not. Um,

so I've been kind of putting it off and.

Yeah, just really been kind of blocked in

writing it because it kind of has it like, you know, it

really drives down to the point of, like, what are you trying to say? And.

And kind of wrestling with that and wrestling with, like,

self worth and wrestling with the cause, wrestling with the idea

of purpose, because the speech itself is gonna be on purpose

and. Yeah, just trying to, like, figure out what it is and stuff. So

anyways, I sat down this week and went to a coffee shop and I

sat for two hours and just, like, wrote. And

I was really Trying to figure out, like, what is

purpose, I guess, and like, what does purpose mean to me? And like, how did

I get here? And, you know, why am I even thinking about

it? And so it kind of brought me back through the

different stages in my life and from high school

to going to college for engineering, being in

corporate America for six years, leaving corporate America,

starting a business, kind of giving up on the business, doing all these in

between jobs, this podcast. And

I think the first time that, like, I started

feeling like, purpose or like, like an inner

voice in my head, because I guess when I describe purpose, I'm thinking

or what the word purpose means to me is sort of

a voice in my head that's like asking me to

reach for something. It means an inner want or desire to do

something. Not really sure where it comes from, but

I guess you could look at it a multitude of different ways. But for me

personally, if I were to try to describe it, and this is the hard part,

is it's sort of like a longing for something more.

I think I always became bored

with work, with school,

especially high school, maybe not so much engineering school, but

yeah, in my job, like when I graduated after a

couple months, six months, a year, I would just be like, is this it? Is

this all that's expected of me? I just have to do this thing and then

go home every day and that's enough. Like, I feel like I want to do

more. I feel like I want to contribute more. I feel like there's

something more for me. And at first I

thought it was the job. And

my first job, I sort of tried to

look for, like, other places in the company, and then I never ended up doing

that. And then I ended up switching companies and it was kind of just more

of the same thing. And that was kind of the proof that I needed that,

like, this job wasn't going to do it for me. This job wasn't going to

answer that question. So that's when I was like,

okay, maybe it's entrepreneurship. Maybe I need to go create

a job for myself that feels good to me and isn't

something that I want to do. So I did that.

I did. You know, I had a side job for a while, while I was

doing the corporate thing for a while and saving. And then I was able to

finally leave corporate and kind of go out on my own.

And then it didn't really work out the way that I wanted it to, so

I had to start getting side jobs. And then it just

became this kind of like, experiment and this Big learning

time period. That. Which I felt like I never gave myself. And

all of a sudden, now I'm in, like, my late 20s doing all of these

weird, I guess, maybe not weird. Weird's a bad word.

Jobs that you wouldn't expect somebody at, I guess, my age

to be doing. But again, that's a societal construct. So,

like, that, you know, I don't believe in that anymore. But,

um. But yeah. Anyways, trying to

figure out, like, what it was that, like, excited me

and, like, the moment that I left corporate was a big shift for me. And

I think a year after I left corporate, because we were kind of still in

the pandemic, I started networking and I started meeting people

who were doing things that they believed in. They

had businesses, they were coaching, you know, had coaching

businesses. They were just, you know, had a.

Had a normal job and then also did this business. They were doing all sorts

of things. And I just. I just was really inspired artists. There was a lot

of artists I met. I was really inspired by all these people.

And it was like a window into a new world for me

because I really only had the perspective of

somebody who went to college and then got a job and then just did that

their whole lives for the most part. There's obviously

some outliers, but for the most part, that was, like, the

example that I had of how to live your life, and I

found out that it didn't work for me. And

I think once I started meeting and having

conversations, real conversations with these people that I looked

up to, I wanted to learn

from them. And that was the sort of antithesis for this

podcast was, okay, let me interview these people that I

like look to as, you know, kind of maybe having something figured

out. And. And, yeah, I saw

it as, like, I can learn from them and

kind of try to find my own thing along the way and also, like,

shine light on these people that I think have, like, good qualities.

And. And yeah, so that was the podcast for a while.

And, you know, the name for the podcast, Working

Towards a Purpose was like, a very intentional name for

me. Um, I. I really wanted it to

sort of describe, like, this feeling that I

was getting at of, like, talking to an older version of myself,

somebody who, like, feels that pull for something more, but

maybe isn't, like, able to

follow it for some reason and. And to just

give inspiration, an example of, like, people who are doing different things, people who are

living outside the norm of the, you know,

go get a corporate job, 9 to 5 sort of lifestyle.

So, yeah,

anyways, Getting a little off track, I think, but.

But that's okay. So, yeah, that's where this podcast

started. And I think the word purpose, like,

kind of never totally resonated with me. It was

kind of just like the best word that I had to try to

describe what I was feeling. But it's hard

to describe, like, an entire feeling with one word. And

also, sometimes I think about how people interpret the word purpose. I

have an interpretation of what purpose means to me, but purpose can mean something

totally different to somebody else. And

I think the more that I kind of dive

into what is purpose for me, I

think I'm expanding my definition of it. And,

yeah, I think the point that I'm trying to get to this whole sort

of storyline is that I had just

finished this book called the Great Work of youf Life by Stephen

Cope. And if you're on YouTube, you can. You can see the COVID here. I

will leave a link in the show notes so you can get to it.

The book is. It was great. It

was really inspirational. It put a lot of words

to, like, what I'm trying to describe as purpose,

and it articulated it in a way that, like, really

helped me understand what the author was trying to

say. And he used different people,

influential people in his life, to sort of describe,

you know, his. What he was trying to say through people's lives. So it

was very tangible. It was very, like, you can understand what he was

saying. It wasn't, like, super theoretical. But all of the lessons from

this book come from another book, which

is an ancient Hindu text. I believe

it's called the Bhagavad Gita. And I

had actually rented that from the library before I

finished this book. And I opened that book, and that's super

kind of dense. It's translated from Sanskrit. It's a very old

text. And I sort of

got stalled kind of getting through that. And then I picked this book

back up and I realized, oh, this is like a

modern sort of translation of that book. And

that just got me kind of really excited to finish this book and then get

back to the Bhagavad Gita. And

the reason I bring all this up is because in that

book, the Bhagavad Gita, there is a word called Dharma, which

maybe you've heard of it before. For me, I know that

if you watch Lost, you know, the Dharma Initiative was like,

some sort of thing. I actually don't really remember. I watched Lost when I

was, like. When it was, like, live on tv when I was kind of A

kid. But I remember there being the Dharma Initiative, and I remember,

like, it being, like, some sort of weird thing, so maybe I'll have to go

back and watch that. But anyways, I never really, like, knew what

Dharma meant. And Dharma is, like, a very complex word.

But to put some words to it, your

purpose could be interpreted as Dharma, like a duty.

Rightful actions is some other things that I've read about it.

Basically, in this book, it kind of describes it as, like, the one thing that

you're in this life for, the thing that you're working

towards, the thing that is your special gift that,

you know, know only you can do. There's a lot of sort of definitions of

it, but I really resonated with the word

Dharma. And I continue to explore, like, what it means and the definition of

it. And.

Yeah, so in reading this book, I kind of just felt

really validated and,

like, seen for this

feeling of purpose that I have. And, you know,

sometimes it can. I can feel like,

you know, some days when I'm. When I'm in a good mood and I'm high

energy, I'm like, yes, I'm very sure of this. I have. You know, I have

a purpose. I'm figuring out what it is. And then in lower days, when you

have lower energy and, you know, I'm not feeling as great,

I can be like, what? You know, I can't think to myself, like, well, what

am I doing? Is this all made up? Should I just go get a normal

job like everyone else? And, you know, I kind of struggle

with it and wrestle with it sometimes. So to read this book,

which is based on an ancient text that is basically

kind of describing the feelings that I have is just, like, it was really

exciting for me to read it. And I, like, didn't really know what I

wanted this episode to be about. But I know that I wanted to talk about

this because. Because for me, it was my

own validation of, like, you're not

crazy. Like, this. This book is kind of describing these

feelings that you have. So to close

this episode, I wanted to do two things. One, I want to

actually read a paragraph from this book, the Great Work of youf Life

by Stephen Cope. And because it was kind

of like a perfect paragraph into saying, like.

Like, I guess why Dharma is important. Why your Dharma is important.

And then I want to ask a question. So I guess I'll read it first.

And the paragraph goes like this. We can.

Hold on. Let me. Okay, we can.

And this is, like, just. Just

noting real quick. This is like One of my biggest fears, to read out loud

in public, I think that's a lot of people's fears. So it kind of feels

like that right now. So bear with me. We can. All

right, so it goes like this. We can. We cannot really be

saved from pain, from loss, from failure, from

dissatisfaction. We cannot be saved from grasping or.

From grasping and aversion.

Aversion. Yet Dharma clearly does save us in

many wonderful ways. Dharma saves us not by

ending, but rather by redeeming our suffering. It

gives meaning to our suffering. It enables us

to bear our suffering, and more important, it enables

our suffering to bear fruit for the world.

And, yeah, I don't know, when I read that, I just, like,

kind of had goosebumps, and I was like, wow, that really

speaks to me. Um, so, yeah, I don't know.

It's. I felt like I had to. I had to, like, talk about

that today, and just finished this book this morning,

and. Yeah, so. So that brings me to. To the question.

And the question is, are you

any. Anyone out. Out there listening to this podcast right now? Like,

do you resonate with that? Do you also have sort

of a feeling that I'm trying to describe of, you

know, trying to reach for something more, not knowing what it is. Sort of

an inner voice that, you know, is calling you to

do something? Do you experience that? Do you. Is

that something that you're familiar with? There's something that's happened

in your life? I think I really would love to get

anyone's feedback on that, like, leave a comment if you're. If you're watching on

YouTube or I think you might be able to do

comments in Spotify now. I feel like I saw that.

If you can't, then. Then maybe go to YouTube and leave a comment.

But. But yeah, I just really, really

interested to see, like, how many people who are listening to this

podcast feel that way, because I've never really, like, directly

approached the subject. I've kind of just, like, talked

indirectly around it. And, um. Yeah, just

let me know if this. This episode. This episode resonates. Share

it with somebody if. If you feel called to. And,

yeah, I think. I think that's all I got for today. Um,

and yeah, I. I will see you on an episode real

soon. Thank you for listening. I appreciate.

Don't.