purpose in life Archives - My Inner Shakti

You guys! I’m SO excited to share today’s post with you. If you’ve questioned your life purpose, thought about your mission, or wanted to change career paths, today’s post is for you.

This one is from Tejal V. Patel, a kids mindfulness expert/a mindful parenting coach/a mama meditation mentor/an Ayurveda + yoga specialist…and so much more! Tejal is such a beautiful person and soul. We’re never met face-to-face, but I just get such a great feeling when reading her posts, watching her videos, and chatting with her via IG DM! Her message is powerful and impactful, and it will change the way we parent, the way mamas feel about themselves, and the world. You heard it here first!

With that, let me hand it over to Tejal to walk us through her journey…

Wait you’re a divorce attorney who turned into a mindfulness advocate for moms and kids?

I’ve learned the follow-up question people ask me is a clear indicator of where they are on their spiritual journey…

Wait, what do you do?

Wowza, That’s soooo awesome!

Why the heck would you leave a career where you make alootttt of money?

OMG I wanna leave my career to pursue my passion too – tell me everything!

And the classic — what did your parents say when you left your career to pursue your “hobby”?

Hobby? What the… no, my friend, this is my life purpose.

My dharma. The reason I was put on this earth. And the way I’m currently being called to serve.

It’s why at 13 I didn’t tremble when I spoke in front of 200+ people.

It’s why when I meditated for the first time at the age of 6 I can still remember the message that came through to me.

It’s why a shy, super, sensitive and empathic child, who could feel spirits and had an intense intuition was given these gifts.

So I can walk this path of spiritual teacher… mindfulness coach and motivational speaker. And hopefully someday a published author (fingers crossed).

Most people are surprised when I say I didn’t get much resistance from my parents when I told them I was leaving my law career to become a kids yoga teacher.

Mainly because they had many signs and inclinations throughout my 29 years that I was an out-of-the-box, beat to my own dream, free-spirited soul.

Of course, it was not easy to gather the confidence to sit your parents down and tell the people who sacrificed their whole life, saved for so many years and paid an exorbitant amount of money on an education you’re going to renounce.

But I think it’s harder for people who don’t know me as well to understand why I decided to take the path less traveled. Like my in-laws. “Attorney” is an easy way to define what I did. It brings prestige with it. A lot of money. It gives people an image that I’m intelligent.

But a yoga, mindfulness and meditation educator? How do you even describe that?

And worst…what will people think?

In a society where the most widely accepted belief is that happiness, success and worthiness is determined by your grades, degree, how much you make and what others think, saying you are going to break the norm from the trifecta of the “safe” doctor, engineer or lawyer mode is hard for some to understand.

As a recovering perfectionist and people-pleaser, I’ve learned through experience that the things we feel insecure about, others will naturally match that energy and our uncertainty is reflected back to us in the form of people asking judgmental questions or confronting statements that mirror our fears.

Over time when I unapologetically owned my path and was confident about my choice, I noticed that fewer people would bring the “Why the heck would you do that”attitude and I was attracting more supporters, more people who were trying to fulfill their own life purpose and more clients who wanted to work with me.

As for the naysayers that do occasionally show up, I can authentically speak my truth, proudly own my journey and not feel concerned about their opinions of me.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions we have about our life purpose is that our job, our 9-5 or what we do most hours of the day, is our life purpose.

Yes we spend most of our waking hours at our jobs whether you go to work, work from home or motherhood is your full-time gig.

But here is the thing.

Our life purpose isn’t about what we do. It’s about who we want to BE in this life.

Work is only a small part of our life purpose.

Our life purpose is how we choose to show upin the world.

Ask yourself “How do you want others to feel in your presence?” And go BE that person.

For me, my life purpose is to be authentic and vulnerable. I want others to feel inspired, empowered and to feel their own inner light when I shine mine.

So it doesn’t matter if I’m coaching, speaking in front of crowd, at the gas station, doing an Instagram story or in the trenches of motherhood, I fulfill my life purpose when I embody those intentions.

Even if you don’t love your job, you can still fulfill your life purpose. Trust you are exactly where you need to be in this moment and you can always make the choice to spread light in any place you are.

So even before I left my career I started to BE the teacher I desired to be.

You see, I didn’t leave my law career overnight. It was gradual. It started with teaching kids yoga and mindfulness at the pre-schools we own a few days a week. Then to writing articles. Making Youtube Videos to publishing articles on bigger sites and eventually having a few go viral. That’s how organically my coaching career began.

That’s when I left my career.

But there was faith. Trust. There were no guarantees. It required surrender. It was a daily commitment to show up and be a blessing in the life of another. And an unwavering belief that we all have a mission, gift and purpose only we can bring into the world.

When you tap into the energy of who you want to be, the Universe realizes you mean business and will meet you where you are. New opportunities pop up and you are guided on a path to help more people.

Many people think life purpose and our mission is the same thing.

I believe our mission is a constantly evolving way of showing up in the greatest way possible to help us fulfill our larger life purpose.

And we don’t have one mission in our life. As we enter different phases in our life, our mission changes.

This “aha” moment came to me when I was watching the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel when a British retiree travels to India to live at a newly restored hotel, only to take charge and run it. Even in the last phase of her life, she found a new mission.

So don’t let age, resources, environment, location or money ever prevent you from believing you have a powerful mission in this world.

Look at Marianne Williamson who is a spiritual teacher who spent most of her career as an author and spiritual teacher who is now trying to run for president.

Or Oprah who went from news anchor to having her own talk show to doing spiritual shows like Super Soul Sunday.

In my decade of being an entrepreneur my mission has shifted countless times.

Starting as an attorney with my own law practice to creating my own kids yoga company to running large group coaching programs online to creating my own mindfulness curriculum I share with teachers and educators in schools and universities—my path is consistently changing and evolving.

My current mission?

Help moms build stress resilience and empower them to raise the first generation of mindful children and next generation of peace leaders.

But my most important mission at the moment…

Being a mom raising two emotionally balanced and mindful young boys, who help me hone my craft of being a present, patient and peaceful person everyday.

Above all leading by example.

So mama, let me leave you with this.

Never in a million years could my parents every have dreamed when I was a child that I would grow up to be a kids mindfulness teacher, a mindful parenting expert, and an Ayurveda and yoga teacher.

As we raise the next generation, let’s set the intention that we don’t ask our children to become who we dream of them to be. Let’s give them the freedom to discover their gifts, find their own life purpose and do work that we could have never dreamed of them doing.

If mindful parenting, building stress resilience, achieving mind-body balance through Ayurveda or finding inner peace through meditation is something that calls to your heart, join my #ModZenMama tribe and start your mindful mama journey with me at www.TejalVPatel.com. I’d be so honored to connect with you!

THANK YOU, TEJAL! Your post brought tears to my eyes. I love your philosophy and you! Thank you for all that you do. Can’t wait to see where the Universe takes you next.

I love reading and learning about philosophical (or what I would call deep) topics, so when a good friend sent me an article titled “The Most Important Question You Can Ask,” I was pretty excited. And seeing that the article was from the Harvard Business Review, I thought it was going to be about the workplace or leadership. But I was wrong. The most important question can’t be grouped into a broad category.

If you’ve ever asked yourself “Why am I here?,” then you are already well ahead of the game. Because, according to this author, that is probably the most important and highest level question you can pose to yourself.

So after reading the author’s reasoning and thinking about my own stance, I would have to agree. And trust me, it’s a hard question to ask because the answer is usually not obvious. Depending on the lens being used, the answer may be religious in nature or perhaps even more personal and specific.

The author believes that whether people realize it or not, the bottom line is that “we’re all here to add more value to the world than we’re using up.” And again, I would have to agree just because it makes sense. Over hundreds of thousands of years, human beings have been adhering to that principal, and that is why we are where we are. They ensured that there was enough to go around for future generations. [Side note: whether we are continuing to do the same is debatable in so many ways.]

Like the author, I feel like I’ve spent the past 28 years of my life accumulating value – degrees, money, relationships, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done volunteer work to give back some of my time, but for some reason, it just doesn’t seem like enough. The question I should be asking myself is, “Am I adding more value than I’m using up on a daily basis?” And honestly, although I’d love the answer to be a resounding “YES”, I’m fairly certain it’s not.

As I’ve stated before, I’ve been blessed with a secure upbringing, people who love, support, and encourage me always, a strong education, etc. So, when I think about these things that I’ve been given, I also think about something else the author mentions – the “law of reciprocity” – receiving and giving. So much has been given to me in a short period of time, and it’s my responsibility to think about what I’m going to give back. And although on a very high level, I think my mindset and heart are in the right place, my work is most definitely cut out for me when it comes to everyday giving. And I’m really talking about very simple things/actions.

For example, I could do a better job of stopping and letting cars cut in front of me instead of accelerating. Or I could let someone with five things in her cart checkout before me in the grocery store. Or I could bake a few extra goodies and share with my coworkers (they’re all big fans of baked oatmeal).

These are all very tiny gestures that I believe add up to something huge, especially when undertaken by the majority.

So, while I’m not quite sure about what my larger purpose in life is yet, I know that it has to do with giving more than I’m taking. And that is something I can start working on today.

As the author states, If we can all, “live out what we stand for, intentionally, in every moment,” the answer to the most important question and all that goes with it will become more and more apparent.

See…I told you I love deep topics!!!

Thoughts? Do you believe in the “add more value than you take” concept?

Mindful Meditation Mama – Tejal V. Patel

The Most Important Question

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