So often, we externalize our purpose as if it is some magic existing outside of ourselves, and if we could only grasp it, our lives would really begin. We think as soon as we figure it out, we'd get that dream job, or we could start our dream business, or we could change the world.

Trouble is, in all our trying to figure it out, we miss an important truth about purpose. Our purpose is not a magical solution existing outside ourselves; it is who we become when we align with our innate potential.

The full potential of your and my purpose already exists within each of us, just waiting to be discovered.

Yet, instead of living our purpose, we squander our lives wondering what our purpose is. We squander our energy doing things that drain us so that there's nothing left in us to do the very things we love. We squander our relationships, letting them slip away without honestly speaking our truth or caring for them like the precious gifts they are. We squander our time on tedium and routine without making time space for the things we really love to do.

And while we are wondering what to do with our lives, time - the currency of our lives - spills through our hands like sand.

To know what we want to do or become in life, we have to step back from the rut of blindly complying with society's expectations. Instead, we have to question why we are doing what we are doing now.

Society rewards us when we follow its messages and rules: we jump when its bells are rung, mindlessly agreeing to play the game for a paycheck, prestige or status.

While going around and around the game board of life, are you abdicating your deeper call for authenticity? Is the effort to fit into the mold undermining your values, purpose and power?

To find answers to these questions, it is imperative to remember who you are. You are not a flawed victim in need of someone to rescue you - you are an eternal soul with the ability to exercise the power of your free will and intent to facilitate the great flowering of your potential. That is your ultimate purpose in life!

The quest to find out what you are here to do, is ultimately a spiritual journey that requires courage. You must be brave enough to look at what you do not want to see. You must have the courage to admit what you desire, as well as what you fear. This journey into the core of your being also requires honesty - an honesty that can detach enough from desire and fear to acknowledge observable facts.

It further requires taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings and actions. Responsibility is "response-ability" - the ability to respond appropriately to what you see and experience. You must be brave enough to look at what it is you do not want to do; and then to use that insight to help you define what it is that you desire instead. This response to your experience of the world - your "response-ability" - thus shapes the emergence of your own purpose and joy.

When you commit to choose your inner truth in the face of what life presents to you, every experience offers opportunities to align with your purpose.

Moment by moment, your choices transform the fodder of denial, repression, defensiveness, tension, anxiety and negativity into states of courageous openness, honest awareness and joyful spontaneity. With each choice, you can align with your life purpose to more fully live it.

Your purpose is not found in what you do from nine to five, or your job title, or your status. Your purpose in life is to be - as authentically and joyfully as you can; to be as connected to your authentic Self, your unique talents and your passions as possible. It is ultimately found in aligning with and doing the things you love to do - the things that bring you joy. Whether or not you do these things for a living is irrelevant.

Your purpose lies in the living of your potential: To connect... to grow... to live... to laugh... to utilize your talents in whatever way you can... to touch the lives of your friends and family... to express yourself... to share your life... and to maximize your experience on this planet.

When you do this, there is no need to "figure out" what to do with your life. You are living your purpose in every moment that you choose to align with your inner truth. There is no figuring out what to do; there is only the living of your purpose from moment to moment.

As you pay attention to the things you love to do, you'll find them to be the keys to unlock your purpose. So instead of resisting your inner yearnings, choose to align with them!

Do you love to paint? PAINT! Do you long to dance? DANCE! Does communing with nature bring you joy? TAKE A WALK! Do you wish you had more friends? MAKE FRIENDS! Do you wish your life were different? CREATE A NEW LIFE!

Don't waste any more time waiting for your life to start. Your life is now!