Vocation Practices

How we define our life purpose, what we choose to dedicate our lives to, has a profound impact on the way we lead our lives. At a collective level, our quest for purpose and happiness in life shapes our civilisation, environment, and evolution. Happiness and wealth studies gathered from tens of thousands of people from more than 150 countries, conducted by leading professors such as Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman, Edward Diener, Ruut Veenhoven, and many others, state that money ceases to be a “giver or creator” of happiness after a certain income level is achieved. Beyond that, more money does not equate more happiness.

What these studies also made clear is that, regardless of the society we live in, what makes us happy is a meaningful life that comprises: loving and supportive relationships, the joy produced by the simple things, volunteering and helping others, keeping a physically and spiritually healthy life, pursuing one’s life purpose—which is often expressed as our vocation—, and taking pleasure in the process.

Interestingly, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines vocation as “a divine call to an individual or group to perform important duties or a particular function in life.” Profession is a paid occupation that involves extensive training and a formal qualification, whereas a vocation is an often-voluntary work that is carried out more for its altruistic benefits. A vocation fulfils a spiritual need for the worker and is often linked to their divine gifts or talents.

Vocations are for those who are really dedicated not just to work, but more so to serve people. In the words of best-selling author and influential spiritual leader Eckhart Tolle, “It comes as no surprise that those people who work without ego are extraordinarily successful at what they do. Anybody who is ONE with what he or she does is building the new earth.” Many may think that carrying out one’s vocation means leading a life of poverty. Tolle’s words reassure us that by following our vocation, our path is abundantly blessed.

Metaphysically speaking, our vocation is an all-important activity or service that our soul has come into the world to accomplish. If we search deeply within ourselves, expressing our purpose through our vocation is something that we need to do in order to feel complete and fulfilled. The more we fixate on the gratification of our bodily and ego needs, the more we feel something is incomplete or missing.

Our vocation may not be publicly adored and it may not have a pompous name or status. It may be about empowering our family, facilitating support groups (divorce, addiction, phobia, etc.), teaching or coaching children on subjects we are passionate about. For many, it could be contributing to a social, political, or environmental cause, or sheltering and healing injured animals. It could also be honing a particular life skill, developing a body of scientific work, creating and inventing a software application or machine that can alleviate or solve certain social or environmental needs. Still for some it might be entertaining or spreading a life-supportive message with their singing or acting talents, educating and empowering others with certain knowledge and skills, or creating beautiful gardens and plantations. The possibilities are endless.

When we uncover our vocation and act on it, we have a sense of doing something that feels right and motivates us to grow by mobilising our known and unknown capabilities, and it is emotionally rewarding. When we are in tune with our vocation, we seem to be at the right place, at the right time; synchronicities of meeting the right people, receiving the right resources, and being in the right situation happen more frequently.

Often, our vocation becomes clearer after we have worked on some of our major life challenges. Sorting out significant relationship issues, solving chronic financial debts, overcoming a crippling fear or limiting belief, rising above social resistance or cultural expectations, surrendering our need for control, may all be part of the “foundational work” that needs to be done before we can embark on our vocation.

In the context of our current world, exercising the practices we have mentioned so far greatly facilitates the discovery and expression of our vocation.

Below are some additional pieces of advice on realising your vocation.

• Listen to your heart: what do you love to do or be the most? Do not be swayed by the suggestions of others.
• Engage a career coach: answering and going through well-crafted questions and exercises greatly helps you gain more clarity and confidence about what steps need to be taken to uncover or reconfirm your vocation.
• Be highly explorative: often discovering your vocation requires you to jump in and try something out without knowing ahead how things are going to work out.
• Make time to develop yourself: take up personal development courses and read to expand your worldview; learn new ways to learn.
• If realising your vocation requires career change, designing a well-paced training plan to arm yourself with the necessary knowledge and skills is essential.
• Pay attention to synchronicities: when you are moving toward your vocation, wonderful coincidences will happen to give you the assurance that you are on the right path.
• Understand and embrace the fact that fulfilling your vocation may require taking risks and giving up some of the comforts in your current life. Thinking about ways to get support for taking such risks is greatly beneficial.

Visualise your desired vocation as vividly as you can. Be sure to include details such as the possible work activities, lifestyle, the people you are with, the environment you are in, and the time of the day (day time or night time). A multi-sensory representation would serve as a daily reference to sort out your priorities and help you to materialise your desired vocation.

If you happen to be an NLP practitioner and you live in Singapore or not far around, here is a training programme we recommend for you to discover your vocation / calling: Master NLP Practitioner Programme – a Hero’s Journey. The trainer of the course is the author of the book Choices of Now, so the training is designed so as to help participants create sustainable and ecological changes and to discover the answer to the questions: “Who am I? What is my purpose? Where are my limits?” (A prior NLP Practitioner Certification is required)