5 Steps To Determine Your Purpose
GUEST POST BY DR GREG SCHREEUWER.
A few years ago, while I was giving a talk to several patients at the chiropractic clinic I was working in, I decided to ask the attendees a question. This question underpins a very large part of my philosophy and how I coach the people I work with. I asked them what they used to do, for fun, when they were kids? At first, I received a few blank stares and people looking at one another for inspiration, but then each person spoke up and shared their childhood delights.
After they answered this question, I then asked them another question – do they still do what they used to love as children, today? Obviously in a different form. All of them answered with a resounding NO! I expected they would all respond this way, because they were all in the clinic at the time with various health complaints. All health complaints, whether genetic in origin or not, stem from early childhood – right at the very beginning of our evolution as individuals.
As time wore on and I focused more on using applied kinesiology to uncover these hidden habits of behaviour, I became increasingly fascinated with discovering who we are, who we could be and why most of us, aren’t doing what we wanted to do with our lives. This led me to the following 5 simple steps that I started to use to help my clients uncover their hidden potential.
5 Simple Steps That Could Uncover Who You Really Are Inside
Step 1:
Take a moment to think about being a kid. If you can’t remember yourself as child, go speak to someone who can. Otherwise take a moment to go somewhere quiet, where you can close your eyes, be still and take yourself back. What were the sorts of activities, actions, games or toys did you play with? What did you play with or spend time doing, majority of the time? Write down a list of whatever those were so you can clearly see them in front of you. It doesn’t matter how many of these you write down. It could be one or more.
Step 2:
Now that you’ve written down your childhood loves, ask yourself why you liked playing the games you played or why you loved playing with certain toys or dolls or why you loved taking part in certain activities? List a few reasons for each of the previous actions, activities or games. It might be tough to remember, but this is worth taking some time to uncover.
Step 3:
So, by now you’ve written do all the cool, wacky and wonderful stuff you loved to do and the reasons you loved to do all of them. What I’d like you to do is go through each one of those reasons you wrote down and look for a common theme or thread that could connect all those games, actions or activities to each other. There may be some that seem different but are actually similar. You may have just explained them in another way. Some examples could be: ‘I loved building things’ or ‘I loved creating things’ or ‘I loved fixing or solving problems’ or ‘I loved making my dolls socialize or connect’ or ‘I loved playing house’.
Step 4:
Once you’ve uncovered the theme or themes, go and rate them on a scale from 1-10. 1 is the underlying theme that showed up the most and 10 is the theme that showed up the least. This process is another way of helping you identify what it is that you value. Most of us have forgotten what that is and I’ve found that the best way to identify this value is to go back into childhood and discover what it was then. The core value hasn’t changed. It’s still the same, but you may express it in a different form today.
Consider this idea. Water, steam and ice are all made up of the same properties, H2O, except in a slightly different form. Your core value may have been, once upon a time, taking toys apart and putting them back together. That was mine. Today, it is still the same. The only difference is, now I help my clients break apart their patterns of behaviour, so they can learn how to put themselves back together.
Step 5:
In this final step, I’d like you to take your number 1 underlying theme or thread and ask yourself the following question: ‘Where do I do this every day of my life, in what area of my life and who sees me do it?’ How do you use this in your day-to-day activities or where do you feel most confident displaying this underlying theme or thread in your life? Your life will always demonstrate to you the parts of you that you’ve forgotten about, overlooked or disowned, in order for you to remember what those are and embrace them so you can go and fulfill your purpose in this world.
Our childhood could be our greatest cure, solution or answer for our current crises. Spend the valuable time you have now, tracing back to who you were in those earlier years, so you can invigorate that once again. It is those memories, those playful moments and fun times that actually hold a wealth of knowledge, that might uncover what you could be doing in your life, the dreams you may have for your future and that of the world around you. True change comes from owning who we are and opening a door to allow the world to come in and share in our inspiration.
Author bio: Dr. Greg Schreeuwer practiced as a chiropractor in Sydney, Australia for 4.5 years. He is now non-practicing. During that time, he received training in several areas of complementary healthcare including Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Principles, Reiki, N.A.E.T. (Nambudripads’ Allergy Elimination Technique), N.E.T. (Neuro Emotional Technique), N.C.R. (Neurocranial Restructuring) and he has attended Dr. John F. Demartini’s “Breakthrough Experience Programs”. He has also has a special interest in metaphysics and quantum mechanics. He has always been fascinated by the inner workings of almost everything that exists in the universe and constantly strives to uncover these underlying mechanisms. He loves helping people uncover their path, and his personal challenges have been incredible blessings, opening his mind to the possibilities and endless opportunities that exist within people and within the world. His dream is to help every person on the planet reveal their divine purpose by showing how their dis-ease is not a limitation but a lesson that could liberate, inspire and empower them.
Positive affirmation for the day: I am living in alignment with my true purpose.
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so true! i love this, great insights! thank you xoxo
This is such an interesting post.
I have been thinking about a similar thing recently.
I will be doing this exercise for sure 
Very True !! Funny, i was just talking about this to a friend the other day How as children, we are closer to our spiritual self, we are more open and free. At 33 i have just started a new venture, it came about so quickly and almost out of the blue it came all so natural and it feels so right and comforting, i know i am where i want to be but it wasn’t till only a few weeks ago that i realized, what i am doing, is very much like how i was (and what i was ‘in to’) when i was a young girl I almost feel like i have gone full circle, as the past 15 years the jobs i have done have been very random and complete opposite of what i am doing now. Thank You for this post xxx
Wow, this is so true. I remember constantly playing ‘schools’ when I was young, where I would role-play and be the teacher and all my toys were the students, all sitting in front of me with their little eyes staring at me as I taught! My blackboard was my closet with butcher paper stuck on it. I would play the same game down at the creek, but with rocks and other objects my ‘students’ as I taught; sharing all I was learning myself at such a young age!. I disliked many random jobs I pursued since completing school. A nagging in my mind told me I would love to teach, to go back to school and pursue it. I am currently in my second year of teaching at University, and loving it! Yet I have never thought to link my childhood joy with this decision all these years later… Interesting stuff, thank you for this post! xo
Mastin Kipps from The Daily Love ran an online course a few months ago on finding your purpose and he got us to do something similar, we had to think of our earliest happy memory and work through why it made us happy. But I have to admit it’s still hard to figure out purpose this way. Maybe people confuse purpose with career and sometimes they intertwine but they don’t always have to. Maybe we put too much pressure on ourself to find our purpose and we should just live each day with joy.
I think it’s important to always look at the world through child like eyes, see the simplicity and the fun in every moment. Take time to be silly and laugh at nothing! On the weekend I did cartwheels with my 11 year old niece and it was so much fun. I am 33 but will always have fun like an 11 year old!
Your purpose is defined by your innate desire to provide something to the world that you’re exceptional at. You always have been and you currently still are. The question is, do you even remember what that is? Is it only hard because you’re not spending the time investing in yourself and uncovering something you’re unaware of? It is wonderful to live each day with joy and youthfulness. I’m an advocate for that. Career and purpose do intertwine – not sometimes, in every case. As adults, we tend to play devils advocate too much and live in fear, instead of humbling ourselves and going deeper. We’re not just here for joy. We’re here because, innately, we want to affect the world. We want to connect with others. We want to create change.
When I was a kid I wanted to understand how things worked and I wouldn’t stop until I found answers to the questions I have. I spent most of my childhood finding ways to get my toy cars from point A to point B in less time, building lego buildings that would accommodate them, taking my toys to pieces so I could figure out how they worked, memorising streets name and landmarks so I could trace a route in my head that would get me where I wanted in the shortest amount of time. As a chiropractor, I helped my patients discover solutions to long standing and sometimes, seemingly unachievable problems. I created a technique that helped my patients achieve results in 45 minutes, as opposed to 2 weeks or longer, all the while uncovering who they are so they could solve their own challenges in life.
My childhood had and continues to have the answers to all my challenges today. In kinesiology, when we aim to help clients or patients resolve their challenges, we always go back to the original event – most of which occur between conception and 13 years old.
These steps, as simple and as silly as they seem, could assist you to transcend the one sided state of joy and reach a centred state of gratitude, inspiration, fulfilment and more. As you can tell, I have certainty in what I teach and what I’ve learnt. There is definitely more to who we are, as I’m sure you would agree. The fact that you embrace your childlike wonder is a testament to the fact that there’s more you probably would like to explore.
Love this post, it’s exactly what I need in my life right now. I have just sent a text off to my Mum asking her what activities and toys I liked to do or play with when I was little!
Thank you!
This is one beautiful post, Greg!! “Our childhood could be our greatest cure, solution or answer for our current crises.” So true – I’ve been doing this unconsciously the past few weeks, tuning into my Inner Child whenever I feel overwhelmed or when I want to understand feelings I cannot explain from where I am right now.
Peace and love
Unfortunately this has just confused me more!
Escapism through reading and chance boardgames sums up my childhood.
Lovely theory but I am not sure it applies to everyone.
It applies to everyone. What books did you read, what board games were you ‘obsessed’ with as a kid? Everything you’ve ever done, since you were a child, has your core value embedded within it. If you only take a superficial look, you’ll miss the gem that’s underneath the surface. Find the common thread amongst all the things you loved to do. It’s there. When you don’t invest in yourself, you will find it challenging to receive what you want.
It took me 30 years to uncover this truth, as a consequence of my own thirst to understand who I am. I’m giving you a piece of what I uncovered. This is not a theory, despite what it may seem. Most of us don’t take the time to investigate into who we are. Your history has more answers than you realise but if you choose not to consider what’s there, you may miss out on whatever it is you’re destined to do.
One last thing – if you truly loved reading when you were younger, then that wasn’t escapism. You must have valued those books and stories very much in order to take yourself away from lower priority tasks. The same goes for your boardgames. We escape our lower values for values of higher priority.
So true and well put Greg. I am a Kinesiologist and I am passionate about helping clients find their InnerSelf Harmony. I’m going to use this technique Thanks for sharing. X
Interesting article Greg. (Thanks Jess) I need to read it again a few times and really think about what you’re saying. Kind regards, Lyall
Ohh, I love this post and where you’re coming from Greg. It’s so funny, when I first read the part about looking at what you loved doing as a kid, I thought, well, I loved doing what everyone loved doing… making things!
Where in fact, that’s not true. So often I think we overlook our strengths, talents and deepest loves because they seem trivial and too easy, believing ‘anyone can do that’.
Today I had a coaching call with my students about growing organic veggies, and I couldn’t believe how easy and fun it was to provide them with value. I get to ‘make things’ all the time with my work as an artist and organic gardening teacher. It’s super fun and makes getting out of bed a joy.
Here’s to you, helping ‘every person on the planet reveal their divine purpose by showing how their dis-ease is not a limitation but a lesson that could liberate, inspire and empower them.’
This is something I have been grappling with internally for a while. I am not happy in my administrative job at a University and haven’t been for a few years. It doesn’t feel like what I should be doing. But one thing I have always loved as a kid is hiking and traveling. I also loved writing stories and reading about others travels. I just don’t know how to make that into a living. I see the obvious travel writing but I think a million other people are grappling for that type of job now! How do you know when your connecting the “right” dots for what your supposed to be doing (and paying ones bills)?
The most of all I loved solitude, being alone and day dreaming. I loved nature. I still find hard to surround myself with people and family, because I am a loner. Don’t get me wrong I have friends (hard work) and kids (hard work) and husband (soul mate and easy work). I am OK-ish with my job because I can do it as ‘artistic organised mess’ – but you wouldn’t guess: I work for government, manage people and I am seen as highly organised person (but I am messy). I moved to NZ more than 20 years ago and fell in love with beauty and emptiness of the country. Now I am in Melbourne and it is OK (bit of crazy city life + great nature).