The Life Purpose Podcast

Have you ever felt frustrated by that there are so many things that seem like they could be your purpose? Do you find yourself struggling with choosing where to focus your energy because it is so difficult to choose between these different purposes? The aim of this episode is to give you a perspective on purpose that can help you solve this problem.

Instead of viewing purpose as the work that you do in the world, which indeed could take a thousand different forms, I offer you a way of viewing purpose as something deeper and more fundamental, as something that pervades all of your life, regardless of your vocation. I offer you the purpose octagon.

The purpose octagon is a way of dividing purpose into eight facets: vision, values, powers, essence, give-away, task, message and delivery system. In this episode I clarify why getting to know the different facets of your purpose octagon is more fundamental than finding your vocation. I also explain how doing that makes it easier for you to identify a vocation that truly fits for you.

If this sounds interesting, I encourage you to listen. And if you like the episode, please share it with your friends!

Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified purpose guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com.

What is the relationship between nature connection and the process of discovering ones purpose?

In this episode I explore this question together with Tim Corcoran who is a purpose guide and a wilderness guide.

We discuss topics such as ecological awakening, soul initation and soul image. We also explore the methods that are used in nature-based purpose discovery, such as the soul quest, the soul wander and the soul sit. Tim shares stories from some of his own vision quests, and he also shares his soul image and the story of how he came to find it. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you will too!

More about Tim:

Tim is a co-founder of Twin Eagles Wilderness School. More recently he founded a purpose guiding organization called Purpose Mountain where he supports individuals in the process of nature-based purpose discovery. You can find out more about Tim here: purposemountain.com.

Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified purpose guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com.

Members area: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

Sarah lived in retreat for ten years. Towards the end of that time she heard a very distinct call to leave her life of silent meditation and to re-engage with the world. She resisted the call at first but eventually she followed it. Now she is here to share with us that story and the work that she proceeded to do, which she calls Selfistry.

At the center of our conversation is the question of how meditation and other contemplative practices can support us on the journey of purpose discovery. Some of the questions that we discuss are:

- How does connection with Source inform our understanding of what we are here to do?

- What does it mean to live in alignment with our calling?

- What is the way to find enjoyment in the parts of our lives that we do not generally find enjoyable?

If you’d like to hear about these and many other topics related to purpose, I encourage you to listen.

More about Sarah:

Sarah is the author of “Being Selfish: My Journey from Escort to Monk to Grandmother”. You can find out more about Sarah here: selfistry.com.

Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified purpose guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com.

Members area: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode I talk to Linus Lundkvist. As many of you know I work as a purpose guide. This means that I support people on their journey of discovering and embodying their purpose. I do this through a process that is called the purpose discovery program. Linus is one of the people who I have guided through the program and in this conversation he shares about his journey.

We will get to hear about what his life looked like at the outset of the program and why knowing his purpose at greater depth seemed urgent at the time. We will get to know about the details of his journey, such as the obstacles that came up in his way and how he overcame them. We will hear about his soulquest in the Scandinavian mountains where he spent several days fasting, deeply immersed in the question “what do I live for”. We will, of course, get to know the conclusion of his journey. Did he find his purpose and if so, what is it? If you want to find out, I encourage you to listen!

Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can book a free introductory session here: paulisaari.com/contact.

In this episode I talk to Mark Nepo. Mark is a poet, a teacher, and a New York Times bestselling author. In our conversation we approach purpose from a somewhat different angle – we talk about purpose as not so much a question of where we are going, but about who we are becoming on the way there.

We also talk about purpose in terms of the unexpected events that happen to us while we are aiming at our dreams, about how oftentimes what turns out to be our most important contributions or learnings are things that we could not have planned for or anticipated.

Mark is a wonderful storyteller and throughout our conversation he shares many beautiful stories that illuminate our inquiry. He also shares about his own purpose, about the way that he does his writing and about how these two are interrelated. I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you will too!

“Our dreams and our goals are meant as kindling for the fire of our aliveness. And whilst our dreams often don’t come true, sometimes by engaging them, WE come true.” – Mark Nepo

More about Mark:

As an author, Mark has published 22 books and recorded fifteen audio projects. One of his books, The Exquisite Risk, was listed by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005, calling it "one of the best books we've ever read on what it takes to live an authentic life." He has appeared on Oprah Winfreys Super Soul Sunday program several times.

Find out more at marknepo.com. If you are interested in the 3-session webinar in October - “More together than alone – the power and spirit of community”, you can go to live.marknepo.com.

Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact.

Members area: paulisaari.com/member-signup

In this episode we approach purpose from many different angles. We talk about absolute and relative purpose, our unique purpose and the purpose that we all share. We discuss the larger purposes beyond our individual purpose, such as the purpose of our community and the purpose of our planet. On the more practical side, we have a look at the possibility of not only connecting to soul but to actually being soul, and how to deal with the fears that may come up in relation to doing that.

Dustin DiPerna is a visionary leader, entrepreneur, and recognized expert in world religions. He has studied closely with Ken Wilber for more than a decade and he has practiced and studied Tibetan Buddhism in the lineages of Mahamudra and Dzogchen with Daniel P. Brown.

More information about Dustin:

He is author of three books - Streams of Wisdom, Evolution's Ally, and Earth is Eden. He has held positions with the Integral Institute, the Integral Spiritual Center and the World Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. You can find out more at dustindiperna.com.

Here is a link to the free online survey on character strengths that is mentioned in the second part of the conversation: viacharacter.org. That part of the conversation can be found at paulisaari.com/member-signup.

Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact.

Podcast extra materials: You can find extra materials for this episode and all the other episodes here: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode I talk to Sera Beak. We take a really deep dive into the world of soul, which is Seras expertise.

Sera is a mystic, a poet, and a Harvard trained scholar of comparative world religions. She has written three books: Red, Hot and Holy - A Heretics Love Story, Redvelations - A Souls Journey to Becoming Human, and The Red Book - A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark. Sera has been called a “Soul Whisperer” because she is able to intuitively sense souls and instinctually know how to reconnect a human with their Soul.

Our conversation was centered around the question of how to live in alignment with our soul, but we also touched on things such as the relationship between soul and sexuality and soul and non-duality, and, of course, soul and purpose.

Find out more about Sera here: serabeak.com.

Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact.

Podcast extra materials: You can find extra materials for this episode and all the other episodes here: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode we talk about awareness of our mortality as a key to uncovering our purpose. Rob McNamara was born with Asthma. He regularly woke up in the middle of the night unable to breathe during his childhood. Living this close to death forced him to get very clear about what really matters in life.

My guest is author and leadership coach Rob McNamara. Rob has taught adult development at Harvard University and he is a co-founder of the consulting firm Delta Developmental.

More information about Rob:

He has written two books: One on adult development, called The Elegant Self, and another one on the intersection between strength training and spiritual practice, called Strength to awaken. He practices zen with Diane Musho Hamilton and is an Integral Zen Dharma Holder.

Work with Pauli Saari:

Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact.

Podcast extra materials:

You can find extramaterials for this episode and all the other episodes here: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode I am joined by Finnish intuition researcher Asta Raami. We talk about intuition and how it relates to purpose.