Purpose Lab

So, the biggest piece of advice that I would have for someone who's still unclear about what their purpose or passion is, is take a small next step. Ask yourself, one of the biggest questions I ask myself every single day is, what do I need to do today to help me get closer to what it is that I want to achieve, even if I don't know what that is? And it might be something incredibly small. It might be a big leap. So, it could be taking care of yourself. It could be going out in nature, getting inspiration or getting a nugget of an idea. It could be writing a poem or writing something that feels inspiring to you. It could be going and taking a course that's really going to ignite you in some new way. That small next step, interestingly, is the biggest action that you can take every day to get closer to your purpose. Because ultimately, if we knew, I think if a lot of us knew what we're actually here to do, it would make us so afraid and so scared to take the next step. So part of this process is just stepping into the unknown, being willing to take that next step and ask yourself, what do I need to do today to get me closer to the next thing that's going to help me feel more happiness, more fulfilled, more joy, and let yourself be guided by that one question every single day. Every single action that you take, big or small, in every single day, is guiding you closer to your purpose.

And then the universe came to me and said, you had to launch SoulSearch in Sedona with the energy and power of a real life spiritual community, but now you have to go to California for the spirit of expansion. And I said, but where in California? They said, 'You figure it out.' So I said, 'Okay.' So I packed everything up in my car and I left for California. I was going up and down the coast doing different spiritual events. I had just learned about metaphysical events. I had never even heard of such a thing. And so I was going to different ones all up and down the coast, from San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, and then up to Mount Shasta. And then I met my husband. As soon as I said yes and I started showing my friends the platform that I had built, and just seeing their reaction, seeing how excited they were, and seeing how they were like, 'Yes, we need this,' all of a sudden I got excited. The next week, I sold everything I owned in New York City. The next month, I moved to California.

I knew once I got started, I was like, 'Oh, this is it.' I knew this was it because I would sit down to write, start, and boom, boom, boom, it just happened. So I knew when I did it that this was it, and it ended up being 85% of it. So, what we did was we started playing it in Yelm, where the Rompa School was, and we knew people would show up for that. After about a month of it being sold out, we called the theater in Portland and said, 'Hey, why don't you show the film there?' Then we went to all the yoga stores, all the health food stores, and left flyers. We also did what I called seed screenings, getting influential people to see the film. Finally, it opened in Baghdad, and there was a line around the block. It was sold out Friday night, sold out Saturday night, sold out Sunday night. Part of my strategy was like a fire, you don't want to expand it too quickly. We let it bake there for a month, then moved it to the suburbs, and it kept growing. You start on something, and you just keep at it.

You can listen to how people woke up on their own hero's journey. It will guide you and inspire you to take that courageous step and say yes to you, because the whole point of the hero's journey is to say yes to more of you. This isn't egocentric. This is actually moving into a higher softness of who you are. It's moving into a higher expression of who you are, in the yes to life, in the yes to self, which means yes to other. Just be in the power of the present moment and let information come, and what the next step is. It might be making a cup of tea. It might be going to buy a Lamborghini. Whatever it may be, or calling a friend. It doesn't really matter. The point is this, you're loved. It's okay to be courageous and to take that step into the call to adventure. People are looking for meaning. There is a natural embodiment within that says, I feel there is something greater within. It is like, what is that call to adventure that is coming within. That is the first step for discovering your purpose, to hear the call to adventure within. When you hear the call to adventure within, life gets really interesting.

If 90% of people are available for a purpose that is a gift, that is a gift to choose a purpose, not to be given one, not to be assigned one by an institutional framework of reality. We now can find it by asking each other, 'What do you want to do with this extra energy of creativity?' When two or more agree that they have something to share in the wanderings of this, they bring into consciousness the future age, the age of humanity's gift to the world, to each other, that is not inherited. So here is the will. If we put our will into the world, 90% of human potential of doing something they love out of one's creativity will change this world radically. We're not going to be assigned a job. We're going into the world as creators. It's the first time.

I was always in that connecting, doing things together. My parents also very much taught us that, when we moved every two or three years, and when we came somewhere, we would ask, how does it work here? Because it was very different cultures, Arab culture, Chinese, Malayan, Indian. They would say, go out to a sports event or club or school, connect and do something, contribute, do something together, because that's the way you find out. So there was always this, when I come somewhere, okay here I am, how can I contribute? That's the way I can connect. I had to actually learn also to connect without doing something, but that has been the foundational way of coming together to create something, an event or something nice. It's all, in essence, coming back to the same ways of working: how can we deeply listen, take a first step, listen again, take another step, and listen again?

At my house, I had just finished moving in and I remember saying, I told my mother, 'Well, what was it that I did when I saw those children like that at my home?' I built a little stand. My stepfather helped me. He found some wood that had been given to him, and I built a little stand. I started teaching the children, and I saw the parents super excited. The kids would go, and they learned everything. In three months, I taught a child to read and write completely, from scratch. The parents were truly surprised when they saw the children, who were very young, already knowing all of that: the animals, fruits, colors, and all those subjects. The parents started calling me teacher, teacher, teacher, and I saw the impact it had on the community.

When I started writing books, I started with children's books, and I told myself, I'm not going to worry about how it's going to get published or the end result. I'm going to start with drawing the pictures. I started with the pictures and the story, then I found the printer, then the distributor, then I started selling it, and I just let each step unfold. Remove your mind from the complications. I baby stepped my way into this life that I have right now. I invited friends to paint with me. I made it fun. I made it comfortable. I held painting nights where I had others come, and we all got to tap into our creativity together. The only reason my life is so good at this point is because I took the risks that were necessary. I knew what was next. I didn't know how it was going to happen. I didn't have a timeline. I just knew I had to start with the first step, do this, paint, draw, get my certification in theta healing, learn these things that are asking me to grow and go beyond my own identity. One day they would make sense. I'm living that day now where everything makes sense.

If you start small and just think, where can I help? What can I do? It doesn't have to be an immediate mission straight away, but just those small little actions of focusing away from yourself, looking at where you can actually help someone else, give something to an interaction. I think the mission and the purpose will follow from there. To build social connections, you have to stop thinking about what you're going to get from a social interaction and start thinking about what you can give to that interaction.

Right when I left the corporate world, I was playing in different mantra bands at kirtan type gatherings and groups in Chicago. I remember the owner of Yoga Now, a studio, asked if I wanted to work at the front desk. There was an opening at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday. I was like, okay. I did that for two or three months. It lasted a short time, but I connected with that yoga community. There was an energy. All of these were little ways of growing energy in the world I find myself in now. Who would have thought I would work the front desk at a yoga studio? I always tell people to take one step toward their dream or passion. Educate yourself, study, become focused, become deeply engaged. Use your time intentionally. There is so much distraction now. I was doing that while in the corporate world because it interested me, and you have to take those actions. Those are the steps. It doesn't happen overnight, but the universe starts noticing. From a spiritual standpoint, the universe, your muse, or your authentic self starts realizing, 'This person is getting out of their mold and trying to find something.' Then it shows you opportunities. When you start stepping out of your comfort zone, new things are created for us to enter.

I said yes to learning from teachers, money gurus, and spiritual guidance. I studied the laws of attraction and how to manifest in life. Education is extremely important because it's something within your control. Confidence comes from education. The more competent you are in what you are offering or doing, the more confidence will come through your energy and whatever you are working toward. I started getting into master classes. I am still obsessed. Even now, I have a subscription to the MasterClass app. When I was learning music production, that is all I did, watching videos and completing an online school program. That is how I got good. It is very technical, not just creative. It is creative, but it is also about details and structure. That requires education and teachers. I surrounded myself with different teachers of all kinds. I sought teachers in spirituality, finance, love, human design, and more. You need teachers who are more experienced than you so you can learn, instead of trying to figure everything out alone. You can figure it out yourself, but it will take longer. Life is short.

I had seen this astrologer who gave me some really interesting readings. As a result of seeing her, I ended up making some pretty significant choices. One of them was quitting my job in advertising almost overnight. I was on a trajectory toward things like 30 under 30 and a CEO type pathway, and I just decided, no, I cannot do this anymore. I walked in the next day, gave my notice, and said, I am out. They asked if I was sure, and I said yes. That was what triggered the first leap into traveling. I remember thinking, that place I just stopped in was pretty nice. It was by the beach, outside the city, and I could probably chill there. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be.

I've got this big sense of adventure. I don't know what it is about me. I'm always seeking dopamine and I always want to know what's next. So that drives me and propels me to say, I'll give that a go and I'll feed it back to anyone who's interested. So, when I discovered this molecule, I thought, I've got to get it out there. I've got to powder it, and I've got to get it to anyone who will listen. And it's working.

So, be open and receptive. Find a good system, a good teacher, a good mentor, and then take steps. Start somewhere. Even if it's small steps, take steps because do you know what's going to encourage you to keep going? Results. So, you got to take steps. You got to start somewhere. I tell my students all the time, you're never going to get anywhere with astrology if you don't practice. Practice with your friends. Practice. Take steps. And when you see results, even if they're small, that's what's going to encourage you to keep going and take the next step. So, don't give up. So my advice is to start somewhere. You definitely have to start. You have to look for it. You have to have that receptivity. Once you open up and have the receptivity, I would say to look for support, look for someone that you trust.

I had seen this astrologer who gave me some really interesting readings. As a result of seeing her, I ended up making some pretty significant choices. One of them was quitting my job in advertising almost overnight. I was on a trajectory toward things like 30 under 30 and a CEO type pathway, and I just decided, no, I cannot do this anymore. I walked in the next day, gave my notice, and said, I am out. They asked if I was sure, and I said yes. That was what triggered the first leap into traveling. I remember thinking, that place I just stopped in was pretty nice. It was by the beach, outside the city, and I could probably chill there. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be.

Once you clear all the cobwebs, once you take away all of those structures that keep you off your purpose, once you are there, there is no stopping you. There is no stopping you. And so that freedom to just go, go, go. But once you are able to sit and listen to what is inside, and that hair on fire feeling comes of I have got to do this or I am going to explode, that is it. You go, and you tune out all of those distractions. It involves all of the things I have described, but ultimately there is a free will choice made to do what feels inevitable. When I think about living my purpose, it feels like there is not even a choice anymore. It feels like it is given to me. The purpose to help as a psychologist, by studying suicide, developing eating disorder interventions, or using AI to close the treatment gap in the mental health landscape, is born out of a hair on fire desire to do it.

Live like you do not know tomorrow is coming. Tomorrow is not promised. Take it today, be the best, feel the best, and act on your highest excitement. If you feel it, do it. Who cares? Just do it. Be it. Live it. Expand. I feel that we are here to help humanity have a different outcome. Do something different. Be something different. If you want to see the change, be the change. Since I have helped my first client, I know that I am the only one who would hold me back. It was the most exhilarating, fun, exciting process I have had in years. I cannot wait to do it again.

As I was coming through the ranks, I created my own little dance troupe called the Cassettes early on. We found ways to go into clubs and monetize because disco was big at the time, and many nightclubs were having disco dance competitions. I found a way to earn money legally, to get out of my house, to put money in the bank for adult success, and to elevate the fortunes of other people. I picked some of my favorite people because I was the choreographer, visionary, and the guy who went out to grab clients. I was able to create great associations with entrepreneurs and business owners. Very quickly, I formed my first business, Scandali Productions, because I always thought I was scandalous. I was bringing an aesthetic that wasn't prevalent in the market in ways that were very creative and impactful. Early on, I figured that I'm an entrepreneur because I did work in corporate for a couple of years on a part-time basis. I got a position at a department store and thought that I would be a regional or international buyer for the men's department there. When I kept hitting a wall with being promoted at that business, I said, well, I'm just not getting where I want to be. I went out into the market and created my own business and started to go to entrepreneurs as a B2B kind of construct, which got me much further, much quicker.

I had this dream to bring refugees and astronauts together in the same room, and I had absolutely no idea how to make that happen. I sat on the idea for a couple of months because I was not sure about the financial sustainability and the business model around these dinners. But I knew it had to happen. I knew in my heart that the refugee astronaut connection was revolutionary. It had to happen. We needed to see what happens in the room when these very unlikely groups of people come together. One day I woke up and realized I just have to go. I just need to do this. I am going to pay for it myself. Let's go. Within days, someone heard about it and wrote me a check to fully sponsor the entire dinner and send a chef to cook food for 40, 50 people. The same thing happened in the following dinner, and the following dinner. Once you go and there is momentum, the energy is there, people feel it, and they want to support. If you don't know your purpose now, then stop what you're doing. Just stop. Quit your job. Do whatever is absolutely outside of your comfort zone and go on a different path and you'll be okay. The universe rewards you when you take a leap forward. But if you stay in your stability, nothing's going to happen. You got to take risks. That's what it takes.

The main ingredient people have forgotten is that you don't get to purpose without effort. Whatever it is you're interested in, there's way too much emphasis on it should be delivered to you. My entire path is that I've worked hard for every single thing I've gotten. I've been given so many opportunities and grace, but not one thing came to me because I was sitting on the couch thinking, 'When am I going to find my purpose?' That never happened. I started writing and some people were making fun of me because I never got paid, but I wanted to have a voice. I was writing and writing and writing. Then that turned into an offer to publish my first book in astrology, which became a bestseller at 60 years old. Nothing that you care about has to be monetized initially. Just do it. I was just doing it and doing it and doing it. Then it turned into the first book, then the second book, and I got so many clients. I'm a go-getter, so I said to that person, 'Can I write for your magazine?' Let's give it a whirl.

I've learned as a commanding officer in the Navy and got a lot of great leadership training from the military the importance of walking the talk and taking my own medicine. I'm constantly in the process of honing, evaluating, and updating my purpose over time and trying to find bigger, more effective, more challenging, more impactful ways of living that purpose. To enact this, I founded something called the True Purpose Institute. I had been teaching workshops about purpose for years, very early on started training coaches and consultants to find other people's purpose. Then other people showed up who wanted to teach. We now have a bunch of people teaching this work all around the world, helping thousands and thousands of people find their purpose, and training thousands of coaches, consultants, and therapists to find others' purpose. We have teachers in South America and North America. We've had people teach in Israel, workshops in China and Japan, in Europe and the Netherlands in particular. People all over the place in the process of learning to find the purpose of organizations.

"I got involved in the Sedona Fire District governing board and ran for that. That was a little bit simpler. I worked into it, and then a few years later I ran for the city council. That was a challenge, but not as much as it was to be mayor. I never even looked or aspired to be mayor. I just wanted to give back in my way, try to help in some way. The more I did on the city council, the more I was able to do that. Somebody suggested I run for mayor, and I did. Now I'm just starting my second term, and I'm really excited. The passion hasn't dimmed at all. In fact, it's getting better and more powerful with me."

"I was one of the only undergrads in that class, and I was the most motivated. I did every assignment, made my puppet from beginning to end, and just loved it. That teacher told me to get internships and learn on the job. I applied to three or four studios. I didn't hear back from some, a few others said they already had their intern. I gave up for a second, and then I ran into that teacher. One of the biggest things for me was always putting my passions at the forefront of my life. Whatever is resonating at the moment, whatever you love, there really are no rules."

Purpose Earth is a global grant and mentorship program empowering leaders and their transformative solutions to our global challenges.

"What has brought me the most joy through all of my work with Purpose Earth, with Greenheart, cultural exchange, and now with the Holomovement is action. Theoretically, it's great to hear about what our potential is, but it's not until we actually set those thoughts, those intentions into action that we really recognize what can truly happen, what can take place. It's so much fun, it's so much fun to just push up your sleeves and recognize that we're part of a huge community of people that all want to take action."

"It's amazing to me that it never felt calculated. I just kept saying yes to the things that felt right to me, truly on a gut level. That thing that everybody thought was a bad idea for me was actually the best place to start. My parents were like, what are you doing? You're going to work in a retail store. But it turned out to be the most amazing training. I was running a $25 million store at age 22. By saying yes every time I was asked to do something for my externship, I ended up testing recipes for a cookbook for the owner of the cooking school, 200 recipes in six weeks. It was completely insane, but that led to her calling a really well-known food writer. Everything just kept going."

"For those that maybe they are curious about something, you can start there. Follow those curiosities, follow what you are interested in right now, and go try that, because that might lead you to the next thing, that will lead you to the next thing, that might lead you to your beautiful, beautiful purpose."

When we arrived in Uganda, that was after completing my secondary school, I decided to join English classes. And after joining English classes, I knew I was not doing it just for myself. I was doing it for my family because I knew in Uganda, if you can't speak English, you are dying. I did English courses. After doing this process, I started home teaching. Home teaching was a program that I started in 2013. It was to support those families that do not have time to go to schools. Then in 2016, that's when we started Best Future Center. What I've learned, if I cannot do something bigger, I can still do something small that is within my means, and support the people around me. If sometimes I dream to support a thousand people, and when I look at my means, I don't have that money, then I always try my best to start with two people that I can afford. And from two people I go to three people. From three people I go to four people. That's how I do it.

I did not want to join an existing movement. I was asked to, and it probably would have been an easier thing to do than creating my own, but I thought that did not work for my son and that has not worked for other kids. Our system is failing kids, so why do the same thing over and over expecting a different result. I am going to look to the root cause of the despair, of the pain and suffering that leads to not only the violence that murdered my son, but also substance abuse and mental illness and homelessness, all of these diseases of despair that actually can be reduced and prevented by the right kind of education early on.

I made up 21 card designs and took them around to alternative card stores in Detroit, which there were only about five, and they ordered them. That's how I started. I took out some paper and I had a pen, and I put my pen to the paper and I said, okay, where is this pen going? I just started doing and I tried not to think, and I also tried not to judge myself. If you want to be a runner but you just don't have the motivation, just get in your running clothes and step outside. Don't think about the rest of it, just move forward."

"I made up 21 card designs and took them around to alternative card stores in Detroit, which there were only about five, and they ordered them. That's how I started. I took out some paper and I had a pen, and I put my pen to the paper and I said, okay, where is this pen going? I just started doing and I tried not to think, and I also tried not to judge myself. If you want to be a runner but you just don't have the motivation, just get in your running clothes and step outside. Don't think about the rest of it, just move forward."

"It was my passion, my love for color, my love for beauty, that happens when that glitter is dynamic and just does something inside your brain. I think it's wonderful, makes you happy. I was all about taking it from a craft product to an art-level product medium for people to use, and I think I have accomplished that. A gentleman friend of mine, Alfred Topman in Detroit, I said to him, what should I do? He said, honey, do what you love. What should I invest in? He said, invest in yourself. That single statement was probably the most moving statement anybody had ever said to me: invest in yourself. Do what you love and invest in yourself."

"If I had to give any advice about what this process has taught me, the commonality between any person who has found their purpose is that they just start. So many of the projects I've worked on here are not the project I started. I learned how the project needed to look, feel, or translate based on the process of starting, creating an iteration, looking at that iteration, and being like, oh, that gives me this idea I never had before. Get your damn hands dirty. That's how you do dishes, get your hands wet."

"Like every other decision I make, I try to take a really large swatch of things. I try a bunch of stuff until I find the one thing I really like. In my heart, I know I really like cooking, so that's what I decided to chase and go after. Once I went after it, I think it's more important to find other people who are like-minded and can push you in the right direction."

"You have to just take one step forward. That is the hardest part. When an individual hasn't begun that journey of finding their purpose and passion, they are too scared to take that first step. That first step is simple. I am going to believe in me. I am rooting for me every day, every single day I am rooting for me. I wake up every day and think about what it is that I want to do, what helps with what I am doing, and how to move forward."

The Regenerators is a platform created by Regen Studios - an Australian based film and impact production company dedicated to producing and amplifying screen content that informs, inspires and activates audiences.

From #DamonGameau, the director of That Sugar Film, comes #2040film. An aspirational journey to discover what the future could look like if we simply embraced the best that exists today. This is the narrative the next generation needs to see, to aspire to, and to believe is possible. #2040

Damon Gameau exposes the impact of our 'sugar addiction' | Australian Story (2016)

For a long time, I thought I wanted to be an actor. I had done acting things, and every now and again I'd get a job that was really satisfying, but they were rare. I got to a point where I thought, why am I telling other people's stories? I have things to say. Why aren't I saying them? I saw how powerful films could be in creating change or altering a mood in a cinema, so I decided to make a film. I saw the benefits of that film and how it started to change people's lives. That forever changed me because I saw it as an incredible agent for change, a tool to make a profound impact in the world. I never looked back, knowing this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life because I found something I like doing and am good at, and I feel very grateful for that.

"The challenge is just to start, to take that first step. There is value in not knowing how it goes. There is value in not understanding exactly where it's going to lead. The way that the evolutionary, purposeful universe works is it loves mystery and not knowing. So just leave the house, get in the car, and drive. You never know where you're going to end up, but you've got to get out of your comfort zone. You've got to get out of that safe place where you feel you're in control, because you're not, and that's not taking you where you need to go."

"Steps to Recovery Homes started in 2013 with three credit cards, a lot of passion, heart, and hopes and dreams. I had no idea what I was doing. I got with a friend, and we met for two hours a week for four months and put the nonprofit together. They told us it would take like a year and a half to get a nonprofit. We got it in months. I was also going around to other businesses and knocking on doors to tell them what I was doing. I said, here's what I'm doing, I want you to get involved. I built an annual sponsorship program and went down to every business and asked them to sponsor us. I named the $100 level the Perseverance Level because I thought it really fit, just keep going."

"Then we set some goals. Let's dream big. What gets you excited? What feels really exciting to you? Then we go there, and the next step is we start to combine the two. It's very important to have a strategic plan to follow because in that movement toward your big excited goal is where the real work will occur. That's when you start to come up against yourself, and that's where the tools come in. My goal is always to empower them with their own special tools that they can use moving forward. I believe in setting yourself up for success, not waiting until you're up against the wall to then be scrambling."