When someone describes years of struggling to find their purpose — trying things, experiencing pain — Joe reframes the entire orientation. Instead of going out to search, he asks: what would it feel like to assume purpose is coming toward you, and your only job is to receive it?
The shift is immediate and overwhelming — tears, laughter, sweaty palms all at once. The body already knows what receiving feels like; the mind is the one that walls it off. “It’s difficult to believe it’s true” is the wall. “How do I receive?” is another wall. The person has already received twice in the session without knowing how.
“All that looking that you’re doing to find your thing — that is a wall that prevents it from coming in.”
The grief underneath is significant: purpose has been available the whole time. The energy spent struggling wasn’t bringing you closer — it was the very thing keeping purpose away. The somatic exercise makes this visceral: feel the body-state of “searching for purpose,” then feel its exact opposite. The body knows the difference even when the mind can’t articulate it.
Related Concepts
- Searching for purpose avoids it
- Searching for purpose assumes you lack it
- Receiving requires vulnerability
- Pleasure requires receiving not effort
- Asking ‘how do I do this’ is itself the wall