The Life Purpose Podcast

“How do I know if I am called to explore my purpose? How can I discern the wisdom of my soul from the rationalizations of my mind?” If these are questions you are asking yourself, this episode might be for you. Star Wars is a great modern myth through which we can understand how the soul calls out to us. Accompany us as we explore the story of Luke Skywalker, as he heeds the call and learns the ways of the mysterious Force. Niharika Sanyal and I explore several insights into the journey of soul initiation and the challenges therein. We also discuss some key takeaways for seekers who are at the brink of their own adventure. Find out more about Pauli at paulisaari.com. Find out more about Niharika at instagram.com/niharika.sanyal/. Paulis youtube channel: youtube.com/channel/UCLN3TYewnco8NH61gX0f8lg. Free purpose discovery webinar video: paulisaari.com/webinar. Free purpose discovery meditation: paulisaari.com/free-meditation.

Our great myths often deal with the hero's journey. The Lord of the Rings is a great example of such a myth. In this episode I take a look at how this story is connected to the topic of life purpose, and I do this together with a fellow purpose guide, Niharika Sanyal. I really enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! Find out more about Niharika at instagram.com/niharika.sanyal/. Find out more about Pauli at paulisaari.com. Paulis youtube channel: youtube.com/channel/UCLN3TYewnco8NH61gX0f8lg. Free purpose discovery webinar video: paulisaari.com/webinar.

I was recently featured on Mellissa Seamans podcast, the Channel Your Genius podcast, and I’d like to share that interview here as well. In the episode we talk about how to translate our grand visions into something much more realistic, something that we actually can achieve in one lifetime. We also talk about what purpose is and what it isn't, about mythopoetic identity and about obstacles to purpose discovery and how to overcome them. Finally, we also discuss the process of connecting to ones soul in order to discover ones purpose. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! Find out more about Mellissa at channelyourgenius.com. Listen to more episodes of the Channel Your Genius podcast at channelyourgenius.com. About Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free purpose discovery meditation: paulisaari.com/free-meditation.

In the latest episode of The Life Purpose Podcast I talk to Stuart Davis. Stuart is a writer, director, actor, comedian, podcaster and songwriter. He has recorded more than 15 albums, and made TV shows like Sex, God and Rock’n’roll and The Stuart Davis show. In our conversation we talk about purpose in the context of being a creative artist. In the first part of the conversation we talk about the fundamental creativity of the universe, about how our calling usually tends to lead us outside of our comfort zone, and about the somewhat surprising direction where his purpose has taken him recently. In this part of the conversation we talk about mythopoetic identity, how to actively connect to the imaginal realm, and about how to find ones purpose. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! Find out more about Stuart at stuartdavis.com and at theliminalmuse.com. You can find Stuarts podcast, Aliens and Artists, at aliensandartists.com. If you want to check out The Experiencer Group, go to experiencergrouplab.com. About Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free online workshop about purpose discovery: paulisaari.com/webinar.

In this episode I talk to Stuart Davis. Stuart is a writer, director, actor, comedian, podcaster and songwriter. He has recorded more than 15 albums, and made TV shows like Sex, God and Rock’n’roll and The Stuart Davis show. In our conversation we talk about purpose in the context of being a creative artist. Among other things, we talk about the fundamental creativity of the universe, about how our calling usually tends to lead us outside of our comfort zone, and about the somewhat surprising direction where his purpose has taken him recently. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! Find out more about Stuart at stuartdavis.com and at theliminalmuse.com. You can find Stuarts podcast, Aliens and Artists, at aliensandartists.com. If you want to check out The Experiencer Group, go to experiencergrouplab.com. About Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free online workshop about purpose discovery: paulisaari.com/webinar.

In this episode you’ll get to hear the second part of my conversation with Tomas Björkman. If you didn’t already listen to the first part I recommend doing that first. In our conversation we look at purpose from the perspective of adult development. In the first part Tomas outlined three stages of purpose: unconscious purpose, conscious inherited purpose and chosen purpose, as well as three levels of chosen purpose: rational purpose, soul purpose and universal purpose. We discussed these stages from many different angles, and Tomas shared about how his sense of purpose has changed throughout his life and how that relates to the stages. In this part of the conversation we look at the questions of why purpose is important, what we can do in order to create a more purpose-infused society and what a world infused with purpose might look like. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! About Tomas Björkman: Tomas is a social entrepreneur, an applied philosopher and an author of three books: The Market myth, The Nordic Secret and, most recently, The World We Create: From God To Market. Tomas had a very successful career as a serial entrepreneur in banking, real estate, media and IT, and he is the founder of Investment Banking Partners AB. At a certain point he made the decision to sell his financial business and to take some time off to reflect on what he wanted to focus on during the second half of his life, and more specifically, what he wanted to do in order to make a difference in the world. He proceeded to co-found the Ekskäret foundation in Stockholm, with the aim to facilitate the co-creation of a more conscious and sustainable society. Find out more about him and his work at tomas-bjorkman.com About Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free online workshop about purpose discovery: paulisaari.com/webinar.

In this episode I talk to Tomas Björkman: a social entrepreneur, an applied philosopher and an author. In our conversation we look at purpose from the perspective of adult development. Tomas outlines three stages of purpose: unconscious purpose, conscious inherited purpose and chosen purpose, as well as three levels of chosen purpose: rational purpose, soul purpose and universal purpose. We discuss these stages from many different angles, and Tomas shares about how his sense of purpose has changed throughout his life and how that relates to the stages. In the second part of the conversation, which will be published in a week or two, we look at the questions of why purpose is important, what we can do in order to create a more purpose-infused society and what a world infused with purpose might look like. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! More about Tomas: Tomas is the author of three books: The Market myth, The Nordic Secret and, most recently, The World We Create: From God To Market. Tomas had a very successful career as a serial entrepreneur in banking, real estate, media and IT, and he is the founder of Investment Banking Partners AB. At a certain point he made the decision to sell his financial business and to take some time off to reflect on what he wanted to focus on during the second half of his life, and more specifically, what he wanted to do in order to make a difference in the world. He proceeded to co-found the Ekskäret foundation in Stockholm, with the aim to facilitate the co-creation of a more conscious and sustainable society. Find out more about him and his work at tomas-bjorkman.com About Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free online workshop about purpose discovery: paulisaari.com/webinar.

In this episode I talk to Tad Hargrave from Marketing for Hippies. Tad does beautiful work with helping life coaches, healers, holistic practitioners and other kinds of conscious entrepreneurs find ways of marketing that feel good to them and that actually help them bring in more clients at the same time. He doesn’t work specifically with purpose, but I ‘ve heard him say things at many occasions that I felt were very closely related to the topics that we’re exploring in this podcast, so I thought that it might be a good idea to have a conversation with him. And I am glad that I did, there are lots of gems in this episode. Among other things we talk about how there is a certain providence that comes into play when we follow the call despite not knowing where it will lead us. Tad shares about his own experiences of following the call and about how things often seem to fall in place in mysterious ways when he does that. We also talk about how our deepest wounds often are a doorway to our truest niche, and about a close encounter with death that was instrumental in helping Tad move towards a deeper trust in life. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! Find out more about Tad at marketingforhippies.com. About Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free online workshop about purpose discovery: paulisaari.com/webinar.

In this episode you’ll get to hear the second part of my conversation with Bill Plotkin. If you didn’t already listen to the first part I recommend doing that first. In this part we explore the last two stages of the descent to soul, metamorphosis and enactment. We also have a look at the concept of sacred wounds, as well as the question of how to determine whether an experience was a true soul encounter. More about Bill: Bill has founded the Animas Valley Institute and he has guided thousands of women and men on the journey of soul initiation. He is the author of Soulcraft, Nature and the human soul, Wild Mind, and, most recently, The Journey Of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide For Visionaries, Evolutionaries And Revolutionaries. You can find out more about him and Animas Valley Institute at animas.org. Who is Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free online workshop about purpose discovery: paulisaari.com/webinar.

In this episode I talk to depth psychologist and wilderness guide Bill Plotkin. We take a deep dive into the journey of soul initiation. We explore the five stages of descent to soul, and we also have a look at the practices that can help a person move more swiftly towards a soul encounter. A soul encounter, in Bills use of the term, essentially means the same as finding ones soul purpose. We also discuss the practices that support the process of integrating and embodying ones purpose into ones everyday life. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I hope that you will too! More about Bill: Bill has founded the Animas Valley Institute and he has guided thousands of women and men on the journey of soul initiation. He is the author of Soulcraft, Nature and the human soul, Wild Mind, and, most recently, The Journey Of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide For Visionaries, Evolutionaries And Revolutionaries. You can find out more about him and Animas Valley Institute at animas.org. More about Pauli: Pauli Saari is a purpose guide, and as such he helps you, an experienced spiritual seeker who is turning your attention from the inner work to the outer work, to get to a place where you are fully engaged in contributing towards a better world in a way that feels deeply meaningful to you. Find out more at paulisaari.com. Free online workshop about purpose discovery: paulisaari.com/webinar.

Have you ever felt frustrated by that there are so many things that seem like they could be your purpose? Do you find yourself struggling with choosing where to focus your energy because it is so difficult to choose between these different purposes? The aim of this episode is to give you a perspective on purpose that can help you solve this problem. Instead of viewing purpose as the work that you do in the world, which indeed could take a thousand different forms, I offer you a way of viewing purpose as something deeper and more fundamental, as something that pervades all of your life, regardless of your vocation. I offer you the purpose octagon. The purpose octagon is a way of dividing purpose into eight facets: vision, values, powers, essence, give-away, task, message and delivery system. In this episode I clarify why getting to know the different facets of your purpose octagon is more fundamental than finding your vocation. I also explain how doing that makes it easier for you to identify a vocation that truly fits for you. If this sounds interesting, I encourage you to listen. And if you like the episode, please share it with your friends! Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified purpose guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com.

What is the relationship between nature connection and the process of discovering ones purpose? In this episode I explore this question together with Tim Corcoran who is a purpose guide and a wilderness guide. We discuss topics such as ecological awakening, soul initation and soul image. We also explore the methods that are used in nature-based purpose discovery, such as the soul quest, the soul wander and the soul sit. Tim shares stories from some of his own vision quests, and he also shares his soul image and the story of how he came to find it. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you will too! More about Tim: Tim is a co-founder of Twin Eagles Wilderness School. More recently he founded a purpose guiding organization called Purpose Mountain where he supports individuals in the process of nature-based purpose discovery. You can find out more about Tim here: purposemountain.com. Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified purpose guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com. Members area: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

Sarah lived in retreat for ten years. Towards the end of that time she heard a very distinct call to leave her life of silent meditation and to re-engage with the world. She resisted the call at first but eventually she followed it. Now she is here to share with us that story and the work that she proceeded to do, which she calls Selfistry. At the center of our conversation is the question of how meditation and other contemplative practices can support us on the journey of purpose discovery. Some of the questions that we discuss are: - How does connection with Source inform our understanding of what we are here to do? - What does it mean to live in alignment with our calling? - What is the way to find enjoyment in the parts of our lives that we do not generally find enjoyable? If you’d like to hear about these and many other topics related to purpose, I encourage you to listen. More about Sarah: Sarah is the author of “Being Selfish: My Journey from Escort to Monk to Grandmother”. You can find out more about Sarah here: selfistry.com. Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified purpose guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com. Members area: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode I talk to Linus Lundkvist. As many of you know I work as a purpose guide. This means that I support people on their journey of discovering and embodying their purpose. I do this through a process that is called the purpose discovery program. Linus is one of the people who I have guided through the program and in this conversation he shares about his journey. We will get to hear about what his life looked like at the outset of the program and why knowing his purpose at greater depth seemed urgent at the time. We will get to know about the details of his journey, such as the obstacles that came up in his way and how he overcame them. We will hear about his soulquest in the Scandinavian mountains where he spent several days fasting, deeply immersed in the question “what do I live for”. We will, of course, get to know the conclusion of his journey. Did he find his purpose and if so, what is it? If you want to find out, I encourage you to listen! Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can book a free introductory session here: paulisaari.com/contact.

In this episode I talk to Mark Nepo. Mark is a poet, a teacher, and a New York Times bestselling author. In our conversation we approach purpose from a somewhat different angle – we talk about purpose as not so much a question of where we are going, but about who we are becoming on the way there. We also talk about purpose in terms of the unexpected events that happen to us while we are aiming at our dreams, about how oftentimes what turns out to be our most important contributions or learnings are things that we could not have planned for or anticipated. Mark is a wonderful storyteller and throughout our conversation he shares many beautiful stories that illuminate our inquiry. He also shares about his own purpose, about the way that he does his writing and about how these two are interrelated. I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope that you will too! “Our dreams and our goals are meant as kindling for the fire of our aliveness. And whilst our dreams often don’t come true, sometimes by engaging them, WE come true.” – Mark Nepo More about Mark: As an author, Mark has published 22 books and recorded fifteen audio projects. One of his books, The Exquisite Risk, was listed by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005, calling it "one of the best books we've ever read on what it takes to live an authentic life." He has appeared on Oprah Winfreys Super Soul Sunday program several times. Find out more at marknepo.com. If you are interested in the 3-session webinar in October - “More together than alone – the power and spirit of community”, you can go to live.marknepo.com. Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact. Members area: paulisaari.com/member-signup

In this episode we approach purpose from many different angles. We talk about absolute and relative purpose, our unique purpose and the purpose that we all share. We discuss the larger purposes beyond our individual purpose, such as the purpose of our community and the purpose of our planet. On the more practical side, we have a look at the possibility of not only connecting to soul but to actually being soul, and how to deal with the fears that may come up in relation to doing that. Dustin DiPerna is a visionary leader, entrepreneur, and recognized expert in world religions. He has studied closely with Ken Wilber for more than a decade and he has practiced and studied Tibetan Buddhism in the lineages of Mahamudra and Dzogchen with Daniel P. Brown. More information about Dustin: He is author of three books - Streams of Wisdom, Evolution's Ally, and Earth is Eden. He has held positions with the Integral Institute, the Integral Spiritual Center and the World Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. You can find out more at dustindiperna.com. Here is a link to the free online survey on character strengths that is mentioned in the second part of the conversation: viacharacter.org. That part of the conversation can be found at paulisaari.com/member-signup. Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact. Podcast extra materials: You can find extra materials for this episode and all the other episodes here: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode I talk to Sera Beak. We take a really deep dive into the world of soul, which is Seras expertise. Sera is a mystic, a poet, and a Harvard trained scholar of comparative world religions. She has written three books: Red, Hot and Holy - A Heretics Love Story, Redvelations - A Souls Journey to Becoming Human, and The Red Book - A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark. Sera has been called a “Soul Whisperer” because she is able to intuitively sense souls and instinctually know how to reconnect a human with their Soul. Our conversation was centered around the question of how to live in alignment with our soul, but we also touched on things such as the relationship between soul and sexuality and soul and non-duality, and, of course, soul and purpose. Find out more about Sera here: serabeak.com. Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact. Podcast extra materials: You can find extra materials for this episode and all the other episodes here: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode we talk about awareness of our mortality as a key to uncovering our purpose. Rob McNamara was born with Asthma. He regularly woke up in the middle of the night unable to breathe during his childhood. Living this close to death forced him to get very clear about what really matters in life. My guest is author and leadership coach Rob McNamara. Rob has taught adult development at Harvard University and he is a co-founder of the consulting firm Delta Developmental. More information about Rob: He has written two books: One on adult development, called The Elegant Self, and another one on the intersection between strength training and spiritual practice, called Strength to awaken. He practices zen with Diane Musho Hamilton and is an Integral Zen Dharma Holder. Work with Pauli Saari: Pauli Saari is a certified Purpose Guide. If you are interested in working with him you can contact him here: paulisaari.com/contact. Podcast extra materials: You can find extramaterials for this episode and all the other episodes here: paulisaari.com/member-signup.

In this episode I am joined by Finnish intuition researcher Asta Raami. We talk about intuition and how it relates to purpose.