When your work gives you that surge in your heart, that is your Higher Self saying, “Yes, this is your path!” If you are having problems finding joy in your life, if your work leaves you feeling bored or fills you with dread, then you are not fulfilling your life’s path. When you work for the Universe, you will always have exactly what you need.

Have you found yourself wondering what you are here to do in this lifetime?

There is a practice I learned when I was first studying Kabbalah that I have found helpful in finding my place on my path, in reorienting myself in my reality, so to speak. Bring yourself into a meditative trance, even a light one, and ask yourself these 5 questions:

1. Who am I?
2. What am I?
3. Where do I come from?
4. Where am I going?
5. What is my purpose?

Your answers will likely change from day to day, as your mind chooses to look at all the different aspects of those questions, and it will give you a clearer picture of what you’re about. This is going to form the foundation of your personal mission statement.

In addition, you will want to do some free form writing on what your core values might be. What brings up passion for you? What are the values that are deal breakers for you? We all have some issues that really define us, that are something worth fighting for, that really speak to who we are. Mine, as you may have noticed, are empowerment, community, and equality. Those are the things I am always working toward, that I choose to foster in the world, and that I would (and do) fight for.

Andy Andrews offers these questions as an alternative to the kabbalaistic ones above:

1. What is important? What/whom do you value? How is your life connected to those things?
2. Where do I want to go? You can answer this many different ways. Your answer may involve a spiritual, mental, or physical destination. It might describe your career arc.
3. What does “the best” look like for me? Describe your best possible result. This isn’t the time to be realistic. This is the time to dream.
4. How do I want to act? How do you want people to describe you? Think of a few words you would want to come to mind when people think about you.
5. What kind of legacy do I want to leave behind? Imagine you’re 100 years in the future. What does the impact you’ve left look like? How is your Butterfly Effect still touching lives?

This post is part of a series called Monday Message, based on that day’s reflection from 365 Days to Enlightenment (authorized versions are currently out of print, working on a new edition). Check back next Monday for another one! You can also sign up for the Daily Message on my mailing list if you’d like to receive a new reflection every day. I also often post them to Instagram and Twitter, if either of those is a medium you enjoy.