How can you help your client find their sense of purpose?

Encourage your clients to explore their passions and hobbies. Often, purpose aligns with what truly excites and fulfills a person.

Help the client to remember and explore their dream[s]. Typically, this will unveil their passion, and lead to what is or was, most important to them. Often I will ask a client where they would like to see themselves in five years, which again will uncover passions, regrets and lost dreams. Important to let them determine that they CAN reclaim their dreams and then it becomes easy to guide them towards first steps. Once they realize that they haven't lost all.....it is about motivating them to begin.

Finding one’s big WHY is an extremely powerful motivational force to keep going even when the going gets tough. It helps one in identifying what it is one truly wants, act with intention and guide one’s way forward should one derail. Fast forwarding yourself to your ideal future self and reflecting on the values and actions which got you there is extremely helpful in developing your own personal vision statement upon which future goals and actions might be based.

Most associate purpose with 'whats'; what am I meant to do, what do I want to work to achieve, what do I want to acquire/leave behind. I believe the most direct conduit to purpose is by exploring our 'WHYS'. Why do we do what we do, why does it fulfill us, why does it hold meaning, etc. Cliche maybe, but finding your why is finding your purpose!

You must build rapport with the client first, and gain their trust. Depending on the client and their past/current situation, they might not feel like they have any talents and strengths. Acknowledge their strengths while communicating, but don’t ask too many questions in the beginning. You don’t want the client to feel like you are prodding or forcing them to think and feel something that they don’t believe at the current time. It is so important to be your authentic self.

Connect your clients with mentors or networking groups aligned with their interests and values. Engaging with individuals who have found purpose can inspire and guide your clients on their own journeys.

Make sure your body language and responses remain neutral when discussing beliefs and values. The second they feel like you don’t agree with them or recognize you have different beliefs, the client will not trust you.

I think for a client to have a sense of purpose, it's important to consider how they view themselves, address self esteem issues, self doubt and fears that they've had to deal with and as we are doing this at least get them to a point where they can identify positive and great things about themselves. Then support them to explore the possibilities that they see ahead.

And add spending time to listen to your client, build your relationship with them, get to know them and let them get to know you.

I sometimes ask, "What is something that makes you mad? So mad you would show up to a townhall to discuss, or drive immediately to a rally to join others in fighting the injustice". Often those topics are a place to explore. Emotions serve a purpose and if it makes you angry the strength in that anger is the passion in protecting that value you hold. You can explore passion driven activities around those topics. The Green Zone has a great skill called FUEL that talks about elevating red energy into green fuel. This skill is all about purpose driven action.

Guide your clients in crafting a concise and powerful personal purpose statement. This statement should encapsulate their core values, strengths, and overarching purpose in a single sentence.

Have the client write down lists of their values, goals, strengths, and purpose and meditate on their alignment. How do the pieces all work best together? Another idea is thinking about purpose from a perspective of higher power/consciousness. Meaning, how could the client contribute to the greater good or the planet itself? How could they benefit something outside of themselves? By focusing on topics outside of self there is a mind freedom away from worries.

Connecting personal goals with core values enhances motivation and purpose. When values align with goals, individuals experience a stronger commitment to their aspirations. For instance, valuing health can drive goals like regular exercise and a balanced diet, leading to a healthier and more purposeful life.

For clients who can get stuck focusing on the problem or the past, can use reframing to identify their wants and create goals. Rather than exploring what they do not want, such as "I don't want to feel anxious," you can guide the client in asking, "What do you want to feel instead?" "What do you want to stop doing that can make them feel anxious?" And, "What do you want to avoid doing." It helps make the goals reachable for the client and gives them control of their behaviors. I also find it helpful to visualize what they would be doing different to make that happen showing them that they can make the changes.

Emotions play a major role when someone is chasing and/or exploring their life's meaning. Impostor syndrome can set in when clients feel this is "too big" of a task that requires lots of faith and uncertainty. Goals help to reduce that anxiety by giving them a plan of action to cope ahead, remember their why and boost confidence to not give up before trying!

Help clients find their sense of purpose and make them feel empowered. By actively listening to their stories and aspirations, one can guide them towards introspective exercises that highlight their intrinsic motivations. Regularly check in with your client to discuss their progress. Offer feedback and adjust strategies as needed, ensuring they feel empowered every step of the way.

ALWAYS work in collaboration with the client. Ask them what they think would work best for them to keep track of their progress. The thought of charts and graphs could really turn someone off.

Certainly, I'd be happy to provide feedback. However, it would be more helpful if you specify what area or topic you'd like feedback on or any particular content you'd like me to review. Please provide more details, and I'll be able to offer more specific feedback.

Providing feedback and sharing in on the success and progress could be the first time in their life that they have been celebrated and encouraged. Often times, just verbalizing it can be powerful; however, being able to show them with feedback tools facilitates their own self-awareness and acceptance.

One thing that is valuable is to acknowledge and respect your client's choices and decisions even if you may not agree with them. Validating their autonomy show that you trust their judgement.

We are prepared to endure agony for the sake of love, creativity often emerges from pain and struggle, and we are willing to die and make the ultimate sacrifice for the ideals of freedom and liberty. Life is not necessarily here to make us happy, yet it does offer us a meaning. Meaning has to do with purpose, value, and importance and can defined as a sense of what makes life worth living. "The difficulty in life is in the choice." But once we make the choice, it not only renders one happy it also gives the individual the why to live for and the capability to rise above anything.

Enhancing autonomy in individuals involves empowering them to make independent decisions and take control of their lives. To achieve this, encourage self-reflection, foster a growth mindset, and provide opportunities for self-directed learning and problem-solving. Emphasize the importance of choice, responsibility, and building confidence in one's ability to shape their future.

When a client has endured a trauma, especially as a child, their is a lack of trust in themselves. They find confidence in other people and often other people that are also hurtful. Once they are aware of the hurt and truly accept that it happened, they can acknowledge that their is possibility of moving forward and reaching recovery. Allowing the client to be who they are and where they are, through empathy and validation, creates the space to make mistakes and build empowering them to see their choices and abilities.

Have your client close their eyes and imagine a situation where they felt strong and confident. Ask them to feel the emotions of that situation again. This could be a situation where they stood up for someone or themselves, achieved a goal, or helped someone. Remind them of their inner strength of soul that is always present when accessed and the feeling of gratitude. Your brain doesn't know the difference between past and present when you are in your mind's eye. Guided meditation on the center of a client's body, the third chakra, known as "the seat of self" can be cleansing for the origination of willpower. Imagine a glowing yellow orb above the navel. Power posing in the morning is another tool that can help to boost confidence.

When using MI, it is important to make sure to communicate in a way that encourages the client to use change talk. As we explore with a client, it can be easy to slip into saying the positive reasons for the change. However, when a client is ambivalent about the change — or their purpose in this article's case — if we say what is positive, the client may then state what is negative, which reinforces not changing — or not pursuing that purpose. We want to bring out the ambivalence so that the client affirms their desire to change. We can then move into action planning.

Jungian Oriented Psychotherapy helps people rediscover parts of themselves long banished to their Shadow. In the midst of Self discovery they find waiting quiet and bright a Purpose that only they can live.

Our purpose lies within our deeper self accessable through our intuition. We are way to often in our thinking mind not valuing, noticing or understanding what our gut feeling is telling us. Our gut however has roughly 100 million nerves, scientists call it also little brain. To help my client access their intuition and uncover their purpose - I encourage them to practice using all their senses - I help them to find their best ways to calm their mind - open ended questions start to uncover what brings inherent joy to them - affirmations and reflections help to find their strengths The best in motivational interviewing is that it helps to build and keep the trust in themselves and reveal patterns that get ready to be grown out of.

Its important to create a safe, non-judgmental space where clients can share openly without fear of criticism. This promotes self-disclosure and self-exploration.

Have a client draw an Ooloome, a sanskit word that means "twisted" on a piece of paper and remind them this is the journey of life, curved and unpredictable. Have them focus on forgiveness of others and self. Only through compassion can we find the door to let go and be happy.