Navigating Your Soul Purpose

Have you ever thought about why we strive to achieve good health? I mean, here you are, on Banyan's awesome blog because they teach you how to take care of your body and mind! You might be seeking information on how to increase your energy, how to ease pain, or how to stay healthy. Overall, you're here because you want to feel good in your body, right? 

Have you ever wondered why feeling good in your body is important? Why does it matter if we choose a life of health, vitality, and vigor, or not? 

Here's where things get juicy...

It is said in Ayurveda that the reason for longevity is so we can live out our dharma, our life purpose.

If you've never before thought about your health in this way, awesome! In order to live your life purpose, you have to take care of your body so that it can perform the duties necessary. Let that sink in for a moment.

There's a Reason You Are Here

There's a reason you chose this life at this time. Your talents, your passions, the things that make your heart burst are all because you chose this life and you have a job(s) to do while you're here.

Dharma is your life purpose! Dharma can be big, lofty, and world-altering, or it can be simply making your daughter's lunch. Dharma comes in different sizes and durations as you encounter different moments of living out the things you are meant to do. 

Whether you are already living your dharma or have yet to discover it, just knowing that dharma is rooted inside each of us, can help you achieve your soul’s purpose.

How to Embody/Embrace Your Dharma

You can recognize dharma when you feel your soul light up. Or it could feel like a “must” and without doing that thing, you feel incomplete. Dharma may or may not be your day job. Your day job might just be a way of supporting your journey to dharma. 

It might feel difficult or like a struggle sometimes, but the root of your WHY (dharma) will be your prime motivator to move through the hard stuff.

What If You Don't Know Your Dharma

It's ok! Not everybody knows what their dharma is, so if that's the case, be a seeker. 

That means, try things. Test out different activities and learn from your experience. Sign up for an art class, read the book on building birdhouses, take the meditation retreat, do the yoga practice consistently, learn how to make good food. These are just examples, but if you begin to seek an array of things, you will open yourself up to possibility and the things that really make your soul soar.

Don't forget—dharma could also mean marrying your spouse, being a parent, being a sister, and volunteering at your school.

So even if you don't know your dharma, seek to feel good daily, and your world will radiate from the inside out. Your dharma will find you. 

4 Ways to Get Started

Ok, this is homework, but it’s good homework. We can all use a little guidance when we’re trying to figure things out. The following suggestions will help you get started on your path.

• What are some things that you are always drawn to or that light you up? These could be good clues to dharma or the path to discovering dharma. Do these things often.
• If it's been a while since you've felt passion or drive in your soul, what is one thing you can do this week to become a better seeker? A bit of adventure is always good.
• Is there something you have always been drawn to that you are choosing to ignore? Unearth it and give it some love.
• Take the Ayurvedic Profile™ quiz. Discover your essential awesome self through an Ayurvedic perspective, and let this knowledge of your special constitution act as a guide to your adventure.

Whether we know it or not, we are all on this path together, seeking and discovering, bumping into a wall and changing direction. Love yourself and your journey, be present, and let your dharma unfold.