Find Your Purpose: What Is Your Dharma
The global pandemic had many negative effects on society. Out of the pandemic, however, came many positive things, including people recognizing the need to find their true purpose and follow their passions. Many people quit their jobs and began to pursue their passions and the things that brought them purpose and happiness. This concept of having a life’s purpose and passion is tied to the sanskrit concept of Dharma.
What is Dharma?
Dharma is the reason that you are here living in the world right now. It is the culmination of your gifts and talents that can improve and benefit the rest of humankind and the Earth. Sahara Rose, an Ayurveda Expert, says:
“Your dharma is not a career, or a project, or a certain role you play. It’s the unique vibration that your soul carries to everything that you do and every way that you are.”
"For instance, someone’s dharma can be to bring beauty to the world, and how they do it can look in many different ways, such as through being an artist, an interior designer, or a hairstylist.
If you’re not living your dharma, Sahara says you may experience feelings of being stuck—like you’re taking action, but not really moving forward. The future doesn’t excite you. You’re surviving rather than thriving. This, she says, can be accompanied by feelings of anxiety, depression, unworthiness, or just feeling off. When you are living your dharma, Sahara says, you experience feelings of satisfaction with the way you are expressing and sharing your unique gifts, and you know you’re touching the lives you are meant to touch.” - Jessica Estrada
How Do You Find Your Dharma?
Your dharma will be tied to your natural talents and is something that you do which feels like it is your essence oozing out purposefully. Essentially we do not need to look outward for our dharma but within ourselves. What comes naturally to you? Is it writing? Speaking? Baking? Painting? Singing? Designing? Leading? Teaching? Tutoring? Basically you need to identify the things that you are able to do quite easily and which remain passions for you when you do them.
For example, a friend who was a dental hygienist recently opened her own cookie business because she realized her passion for baking and running her own small business brings her great joy and satisfaction. It also opens the door for her to serve others, donate to charities, spend more time with her loved ones, and make a bigger difference in this world. She might be causing more cavities than she is preventing, but she is also improving more lives and injecting more joy into her world.
My own dharma was quite the journey. I am lucky that I have had many passions in my life and with those passions I had many opportunities to try on jobs tied to them. For the longest time I wanted to work in the great outdoors and had many jobs tied to working in national parks, with federal agencies, with troubled youth, worked as an emergency dispatcher, a wilderness EMT, spent three months camping in the wilderness with NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), and helping people appreciate many natural and recreational resources. With each job, something was lacking and I felt that I was not completely fulfilling my true purpose in this world. I had made a list of what jobs I thought would be ideal and awesome, and after running down my list by actually working those jobs, I kept finding that each job lacked something that I couldn’t always put my finger on.
That all changed when I came across massage therapy. When I actively turned my life 180 degrees and started massage therapy school in Utah, I instantly knew that I had found my passion and dharma. The more I learned and practiced massage and its many health oriented practices, the more I felt joy in my soul helping others. I quickly discovered my passion and skill at helping other people fix things in their physical bodies and brains. Watching people who had given up on being pain and tension free leave my office lighter and relieved of many of their ailments encouraged me to continue to learn more and become an even better therapist. These experiences helped me to realize my superpower and how I could be of more use to the world around me.
When you live your dharma your days will be energized by practicing it. Even when days are long and stressful, you will still be able to put your head on your pillow knowing that you had a great day and made a difference in the world around you. There are days when I have back-to-back appointments from the moment I wake up until I get home and hit my bed. Those days may wear me out physically and mentally, yet they fill my soul with purpose and joy.
Pay attention and reflect on the obstacles that you have faced in your life. As Sahara says “These obstacles you’ve overcome are your soul’s unique curriculum.” The experiences that we have faced show us what we are good at and helped us to develop the skills we need to live our dharma.
How Posture Massage Can Help You Discover Your Dharma
Posture Massage can help you to clear away the “junk” thoughts and help you to find yourself. We can help you process your old traumas and the negative things you may have been fed which prevent you from realizing your dreams and passions. We, as humans, can get a lot of negative feedback from our family and others in our lives, we also can keep ourselves stuck in patterns with our own negative self-talk. It is easy for us to stop taking chances and risks when we feel that others are unsupportive or do not believe in us. This can change! Many clients find that a lot of negative self-talk needs to get cleared first before they can find their dharma. Break free, get ready to grow, and follow your dharma! Consider working toward this goal in your next session with Posture Massage!
