The middle tier of life purpose: role and contribution

When you contemplate your life purpose, do you typically think of it in terms of: what professional path is meant for you, or, perhaps, how you’re supposed to serve the world in this life?

This is what probably most folks have in mind when they think about their purpose.

However, I see that as just ONE dimension of it. In the framework I like to use, this is the middle layer of our life purpose, or the role and contribution tier.

If you haven’t read the previous article, where I introduce this framework, it would be a good idea to review that now — it’s very short! — here’s the link.

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As the name suggests, this layer of our purpose indicates what role our soul wants to play in this incarnation, or how it wants to contribute in this life.

It's the lens through which our eternal soul gifts will filter through into this life. (We’ll talk in detail about that eternal nature in the next article!)

For many of us, this tier of purpose will (hopefully!) manifest as an aligned professional path that will use our gifts and allow us to play the role our soul chose, or contribute in a way the soul desires to. All dimensions of purpose are important when we choose a professional path, yet this middle tier is reflected most strongly in what we do for a living.

For some of us, it would be what we create outside of work that's really the point. Perhaps our job is very mundane, but in our free time, we write insightful posts online that inspire people and open their minds, or we create beautiful music or art that carry special frequencies that activate folks on a deep level. Or we may create communities and groups where people feel supported and grow together.

Yet some of us may feel like “we’re not contributing anything important” in this life and “have no special skills” — perhaps we’re a homemaker busy raising kids and wondering if we’ve somehow failed to find our purpose in life. We may not realize that what we’re doing is exactly the chosen purpose for this life: our role and contribution may be to raise a large family and support our loved ones as they go through challenges and serve their own important purposes in the world. Yes, sometimes our soul chooses to play a supporting role in life, and that is then our purpose!

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How specific is this tier of purpose when it comes to our professional path?

A lot of folks just want to be told what exactly they “should” do with their life. :) However, our purpose is rarely that precise. Yes, there are some rare individuals who are born to bring forth a specific invention or philosophy, but for most of us, there’s a lot of choice available.

Yes, we have certain inclinations and strengths, and we may be guided in a certain general direction, but typically we can choose among many ways to play the same role or make the same contribution. Just think of the infinite variety of ways to “be a healer”: you can do that as a yoga teacher, psychotherapist, Reiki practitioner, relationship coach, intuitive guide, motivational speaker, and the list goes on.

(I’ll be dedicating another article to the topic of predestination vs. free will choice, and how much flexibility we have when it comes to fulfilling our purpose).

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How would YOU know the role and contribution tier of your purpose?

Here are some ideas:

• You can start with Astrology: look at your birth chart, especially placements that indicate your strengths and how you show up in the world.

• Numerology can also help. I love Dan Millman’s way of defining different life paths.

• Some intuitives can access your soul's life plan. Once again, it may not be as specific as you would like. :)

• You can also look at the archetypes that are prominent for you in this life. There are quizzes you can take to find your top three archetypes — those often point at the roles we are to play.

• And don't forget to look at your family lineage: were you born into a line of healers, psychics, musicians, or maybe philanthropists? We choose to come into a specific family not only because of the lessons they will help us learn, but sometimes also because of the genetic traits or special knowledge in that lineage that will help us serve our purpose.

• If you have any outstanding physical abilities, like a singing voice or physical strength, those could have been given to you in order to play the role chosen for this life.

• Last but not least, your childhood interests often hold a clue. How many of us find ourselves later in life going back to something we loved as a kid, in a more refined way! As children we naturally gravitate towards our path (but can later be led astray by different influences and our parents’ opinions.)

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In the next article, we'll move from the human level to the soul level and talk about the foundational tier of life purpose, which is also super important when choosing our path in life. Stay tuned! :)