Goals vs. Soul Goals
Have you ever achieved a goal you set for yourself only to be left feeling empty or disappointed because it didn’t feel as good as you thought it would? I have, too many times. I’ve been at the top of one mountain only to see there was another bigger more impressive one off in the distance. I disregarded what I had done because my mind led me to believe it was never enough. Whenever I accomplished something I thought would leave me with a lingering feeling of accomplishment, it was fleeting. I had no rest climbing those career mountains, no peace. Just a mind that kept telling me “Go! Go! Don’t stop, don’t slow down.” So I was always moving and wasn’t even embracing any space I found myself in long enough to enjoy it. You will always find yourself going up and then back down until you make your goals align with the desires of your soul–“Soul Goals”. When you stop climbing without purpose, you won’t have temporary highs; you will only rise higher until you’re soaring in the sky.
Come on this rocky mountain metaphorical journey a little further with me. When you set goals that aren’t rooted in the desires of your soul, once at the top there’s only the downside of the mountain to descend until you reach the next mountain. Should someone climb the mountain you’re on, or pass you up along the way to your next goal, you might feel angry or get depressed if you can’t keep up or beat them to the next height. This isn’t your soul’s desire. Your soul doesn’t compete with others because the soul has nothing to prove, it lives in the infinite realm where your personal growth is what matters. Your soul isn’t attached to anything materialistic; anything one can achieve or be, only your mind bonds with those things. The greatest spiritual leaders of all time understood this truth and were led not by the fearful mind but by the loving soul.
If you find yourself constantly comparing yourself and feeling awful, you aren’t in alignment with your divine purpose. That purpose is like a fingerprint; it’s uniquely yours and to fulfill it is to give a gift to humanity as well as yourself. When you use your gifts in service, that love you’re giving will return to you in an endless circle. When you are achieving soul goals, you are never descending, just rising like walking up a never-ending staircase to other dimensions full of peace and joy.
Goals of the soul, in contrast to regular worldly ones often don’t exalt humans to high places where many people will see them. If world recognition is part of your goal, then you need to check those goals for ego. If you find yourself, like many with goals of money and fame, desiring those things for their sake alone and not because they can be used as powerful tools to help the world as well as yourself, then you are squarely in alignment with the ego.
No purpose is better than another, they are simply different like all the colors and shades in the universe. When you are following your purpose though, it will feel right. Your whole life will start to make a lot more sense. The Goals of the soul are meant to bring you closer to yourself and to fulfill you in extraordinary ways.
A life serving your soul will be full of things you enjoy. You will be using your greatest gifts. These gifts will naturally flow as an act of love you were put here to deliver. Soul Goals are here to bring you the real happiness you desire. No one can say exactly what’s right for you when setting these goals, as each of us has a different purpose but your soul will tell you in time.
Most people who have lived haven’t brought what they were here to give for a few reasons:
A) When they encounter their purpose over and over again, they don’t think it’s “BIG” enough. They worry that what they have to give won’t be grand enough or won’t bring them enough money and attention. This is your ego, it’s the mind (or ego) at odds with the heart (or soul).
B) You feel your gift isn’t enough in the eyes of someone close to you. We often try to live in a way that brings pride to our parents, grandparents, spouse… Instead, we must listen to the subtle voice inside to find what’s right for us. No one can decide what your purpose is and if you live your life in accordance to someone else’s dream for you, you will find yourself on a road that pulls you further from yourself. Becoming authentic means that you no longer hide.
C) People live in a state of cravings they try to fulfill. Sometimes people run from place to place in search of instant gratification. They may change partners, friends, and jobs constantly. They are looking for something that will make them feel better. The bursts of happiness that they will feel from anything new, will quickly become old and they won’t find the lasting happiness all beings desire.
D) We have confused the voice of the mind with the voice of the soul. The mind might say “do this job, the pay is the highest” or “graduate from here because you’ll be successful in the eyes of others”. If you are doing anything in life with the primary intention of being important to others, that goal probably doesn’t align with your soul’s purpose and when you reach that goal it will feel empty – it doesn’t matter who you are.
A simple visual way of explaining this: Have you seen people struggling to get by purchase an expensive bag or maybe some pricey shoes because their mind has convinced them their worth lies in the eyes of others. The ego tricks them into thinking expensive things raise their value but the truth is you need to value yourself. No one can value you enough to fill your inner voids. It will be like pouring water into a broken cup, fix the hole and you’ll be able to fill yourself up. Dressing well can help you convey confidence, but extravagance that goes far beyond what you can afford is ego. And if you’re a big spender reading this, trying to convince yourself that you buy these nice things only for you, then I have a challenge for you- If those expensive items in your closet are just for you, then I dare you not to wear them around other people anymore. If that dare is too challenging, it might be because your ego is wanting the world to help make you feel valuable.
If you are beginning to see the areas where you try to impress other people, make other people proud, or seek validation in the world then you might be ready for some big and exciting changes. Don’t for a second feel down, you aren’t alone in this. This is how most people operate and seeing this is the first step to taking back the energy you gave away and then moving toward the desires of your heart. Realizing why you’ve made these worldly goals is the first step we all must take before starting to create SOUL GOALS.
Do you see how doing anything to be something in the eyes of others doesn’t serve you? It only serves the ego, which tries to constantly separate you from others, sometimes to make you feel you’re better than others, other times making you feel inferior. When you see the scheming ego at work, it becomes much easier to shift away from it. Seeing the ego in yourself greatly diminishes it. Remember in school how when the loudest kid in the classroom would be asked if he had anything to say in front of the whole class, suddenly he would fumble all over his words? That’s exactly what our egos do. The moment you notice them and call them out in your mind with a thought as simple as “I know what you’re up to”, the ego shuts up and your soul has given an ego smackdown. The ego will flare up less often when you practice these smackdowns and will get firmly in check.
We all have seen this ego in others. When the ego in others is challenged, sometimes the person being called out isn’t aware of their ego and often will get even angrier. Sometimes the best thing to do in a situation where someone’s ego is puffing up is to just observe them calmly. The ego hates to be seen for what it is, and even people unaware of their soul or consciousness will still sense something off within them when the ego is leading them down the wrong path. So just watch, knowing you’ve been there too.
Sometimes you might even laugh at how in the past, you might have handled a situation with ego instead of your heart. Then you will see how far you’ve come, you’re growing.
Now that we’ve seen how regular goals can often be more tied to your ego than to you. My next blog will be dedicated to explaining and finding Soul Goals for yourself.