The Purpose Lab Discovery Map

This map is your companion on the journey of finding purpose, meaning and your best life. It is not a tool, but a mirror: an invitation to recognize where you are living and what is next. 

These stages emerged from over 100 in-depth interviews with individuals who underwent profound transformations to create the life of their dreams. These stages are not abstract, they are lived.

Let this be your guide: a way to name what was once invisible, to trust what is happening and to orient yourself to the stage-specific wisdom that will carry you forward.

1. Disruption

The first stage of purpose is not clarity. It is collapse. And yet, in that collapse, a sacred invitation is hidden. Disruption is the threshold moment where the constructed self, the one built to survive, to please, to achieve, can no longer hold. Something breaks. And in that breaking, something deeper begins to breathe.

Disruption does not always arrive with thunder. Sometimes it comes as a slow, grinding sense of disillusionment: the work that once lit you up now feels hollow, the relationship that defined you begins to wither, or the goals you chased with fervor now leave you numb. Other times, it arrives like a lightning strike, grief, burnout, betrayal, illness, or a spiritual experience that shatters your worldview. Whether through pain or awe, something ruptures. And the person you thought you were begins to unravel.

This unraveling is terrifying. It can feel like failure. You may wonder, “What is wrong with me?” or “Why is this happening now?” The plans you made no longer make sense. You may feel ashamed, disoriented, or exhausted. But here’s the truth: what feels like falling apart is often falling into truth.

In the Purpose Lab interviews, this pattern was universal. Not one person found authentic purpose without first undergoing some form of disruption. Some lost careers, others lost loved ones. Some were cracked open by illness or injustice. Others were awakened by beauty, a child’s laughter, a dream, a flash of insight that left no room for their old life. Some felt the gradual feeling, "I don't want to do this anymore". But all of them shared one thing: they could not go back. The disruption revealed that the life they were living was not aligned with who they really were.

And here is the paradox: disruption feels like death, but it is actually the beginning of rebirth. The ego clings to its story, but the soul longs for truth. Disruption is how the soul interrupts the performance and demands a deeper story. That is why this stage, though destabilizing, is sacred. It is a rupture with the false, and an opening to the real.

At this stage, you might find yourself asking:

• Why don’t I care about what I used to?

• Is this all there is?

• What do I do now that everything I built is crumbling?

You might feel anxious, aimless, or alone. You might isolate, seek therapy, or try to “fix” your life quickly. But the deeper invitation is to stop and feel. To let the old fall. To not rush to rebuild. To stand in the ashes long enough to recognize what part of you still remains. That part, the raw, unpolished, unstrategized part is your beginning.

This is not the time for planning. It is the time for grieving, for noticing, for surrendering. If you are in this stage, know this: you are not broken. You are breaking open. 

Key Insight: Purpose begins not with building, but with breaking. The false self dies so the deeper self can begin to stir.

Emotions Common in This Stage:

• Disillusionment

• Grief

• Rage

• Emptiness

• Yearning

Thought Patterns to Watch For:

• “I’ve wasted my life.”

• “What’s the point?”

• “I should be further along by now.”

• “If I could just go back...”

What to Trust Instead:

• The crack is not the end. It’s the entrance.

• This unraveling is not regression. It’s a sign you are outgrowing the script you were given.

• The voice of doubt is loud right now, but it is not the only voice. Listen beneath it.

Examples from Interviews:

• Tanjila Islam (Interview 64) was thriving in a successful international trade career, yet felt increasingly drained and disconnected. As her old identity began to unravel, a series of synchronicities guided her to start SoulSearch.io, a platform for spiritual healing and community. 

• Paul Sheppard (Interview 72) hit rock bottom after multiple stints in rehab. Only when he fully surrendered did his purpose emerge. He now creates technology to support human awakening, seeing disruption as the sacred reset that saved his life.

• Richard Rudd (Interview 3) had a spontaneous three-day mystical experience in his late twenties that shifted his entire perception of reality. He described being immersed in cosmic intelligence and timelessness, a state that ignited his purpose. From that revelation, he created the Gene Keys, a spiritual system now used by thousands to find their deeper calling.

If This Is You:
Do not rush to reinvent. Sit in the space. Cry. Sleep more. Walk often. Let the ground fall out. It’s how you meet yourself without the masks. From here, the real journey can begin.

2. Deep Listening

The Descent Into Inner Truth

After the rupture comes silence. Not the silence of emptiness, but of space. This is the stage of listening, not to advice or strategy, but to the quiet voice within. The world may be urging you to get back to work, to pick a new path, to fix what was broken. But something in you resists. You sense, perhaps for the first time, that clarity will not come from effort. It will come from surrender.

Listening is not passive. It is a courageous form of presence. You begin to notice things you once ignored: recurring dreams, tingles in your body, an old memory resurfacing, a phrase that echoes for days, a tear that arrives for no reason. These are not interruptions. They are invitations. You begin to realize that what calls you is not loud, but deep.

This listening often feels irrational. You may doubt yourself constantly. You may want someone else to tell you what to do. But no outside voice can substitute for what you are here to learn: that truth speaks in whispers, and your soul remembers the sound.

Many people skip this stage. They rush to the next plan, the next job, the next distraction. But the ones who find true purpose are those who pause, who dare to descend, and who give dignity to the subtle signals within. This descent into the self is powerful. It is also disorienting.

Common Emotions in This Stage: 

• Uncertainty

• Grief

• Longing

• Peace

• Frustration. 

You may feel as if you are in-between lives, no longer who you were, but not yet who you're becoming. That is exactly right.

Common Thoughts:

• "I don't know what I want anymore."

• "Something is calling me, but I can't explain it."

• "I feel like I'm waiting for something, but I don’t know what."

Examples from the Interviews:

• Tim Kelley (Interview 79) heard a voice in a dream that simply said, “Your purpose is to help others find their path.” There were no visuals, just a whisper in the dark. That one sentence quietly redirected his life’s trajectory.

• Gopi Kallayil (Interview 22) described sitting in nature with a notebook, simply asking: “What is my purpose?” The answer never came through effort, only after long silence. In a Vipassana retreat, after several days of mental noise, a state of deep stillness arrived, and with it, a gentle flash of clarity about the life he was meant to live. 

• Laura Rose (Interview 11) recalled a childhood dream of a spirit inviting her to leave the comfort of a cottage and make a difference in the world. Years later, during a yoga session, she remembered the dream and began to listen deeply, through prayer, intuition, and synchronicities. That listening led her to a career in cultural exchange, a path she never would have chosen through logic alone.

This stage may feel uncertain. It is meant to. No map can show you what only your soul can recognize. You are learning to trust again. To sit in mystery. To believe that your inner voice matters, even if it doesn't yet make sense.

Listening is an act of devotion. It says, "I will stay with myself, even in the dark." And slowly, something begins to take form within you. Not a plan. A pull.

Key Insight: Purpose is not chosen. It is heard. Listening precedes all clarity. It is the womb of purpose.

3. Belief Shift

The Inner Coronation

What you hear in the stillness asks for a reply. This is the moment when listening becomes commitment. Something within you begins to gather strength, not through logic, but through resonance. A decision must be made, not dramatic, not broadcasted, but deep and irrevocable. This is the belief shift: the point where you choose to trust what you heard.

This decision often arises before you have any clarity about the next step. It is not a conclusion based on evidence. It is a devotion to something unseen. You might not know where it leads, but you know you cannot go back. This moment is not flashy. It does not come with fanfare. It is a quiet coronation of your inner authority, a yes to your own soul.

The people we interviewed described this shift as one of the hardest and most liberating turning points in their journey. It felt like giving up control over the outcome. It felt like betrayal of what others expected. But most of all, it felt like coming home. For the first time, they were no longer living by default. They were choosing to live from truth.

Common Emotions in This Stage:

• Vulnerability

• Hope

• Fear of judgment

• Tenderness

• Inner solidity

Common Thoughts:

• "This is real, even if no one else sees it."

• "I don't know how, but I know I must."

• "If I abandon this, I abandon myself."

What Shifts:

• You move from needing external permission to trusting internal resonance.

• You trade certainty for truth.

• You begin to sense that this path will cost you comfort, but it will grant you integrity.

Examples from the Interviews:

• Dr. Shamini Jain (Interview 2) was on the verge of a prestigious academic career when a mentor warned her to abandon her research on energy healing. She paused and asked herself: “Is my purpose to be safe, or to follow the truth of healing, even if it’s uncomfortable?” That moment became her irrevocable yes to a soul-aligned path.

• Keith Mitchell (Interview 73), after becoming paralyzed in the NFL, had to decide whether to rebuild his identity around old expectations or follow the inner stillness he found through breathwork. Choosing the latter, he committed to teaching mindfulness, despite not knowing where it would lead.

• Vincent Genna (Interview 70) spoke of an ongoing internal battle with “little Vinnie,” his self-doubting voice. He shared that the most transformative shift was simply choosing, again and again, to believe he was worthy. Each time he said yes to his truth, even without certainty, it deepened his commitment to serve others.

This is not about rebellion for its own sake. It is about fidelity to your own knowing. This choice does not come with guarantees. It is a leap into the dark. But something changes once you leap. The ground starts to form under your feet. Slowly, your sense of self realigns. You begin to walk differently, speak differently, even breathe differently. Not because you’ve figured it out, but because you have stopped betraying what you know.

This is also the stage where fear speaks the loudest. You may be tempted to bargain: "Maybe I can follow my truth and stay safe. Maybe I don’t need to change anything right now." But the deeper self knows. And the moment you give it authority, your life begins to bend toward coherence.

This is the internal coronation. No one else may witness it. But it is the foundation on which everything else will be built.

Key Insight: Before purpose expresses itself outwardly, it must establish itself inwardly. Your quiet yes changes everything.

4. Inspired Action

Making the Invisible Visible

the inner decision is made, when the soul has been enthroned in silence, something within begins to stir toward movement. The time for quiet listening transforms into a new threshold: expression. This is the stage when you begin to give form to what you’ve felt inside. It does not need to be perfect, eloquent, or successful. It only needs to be real.

Creative expression is not reserved for artists. It belongs to anyone willing to bring their truth into form. Whether you start a business, write a blog post, mentor a teenager, cook a meal with presence, or lead a difficult conversation - what matters is that your actions are aligned with the deeper truth you claimed. Expression is how purpose leaves the cave of your heart and enters the world.

This is often a vulnerable stage. Your first steps may feel awkward. You may wrestle with imposter syndrome, procrastination, or the fear of being misunderstood. Your inner critic may scream, “Who are you to do this?”. You may be tempted to wait until you feel confident or complete. But waiting for perfection is a way of abandoning the truth you’ve been entrusted with.

The people in our interviews who made it through this stage began small. One woman began painting again on weekends while still working her corporate job. A former tech entrepreneur started mentoring young creatives in his free time. Another woman shared a deeply personal story on social media that reached just a handful of people, but opened the door to her future platform.

These first acts were not dramatic. They were humble, often hidden, and fueled by courage rather than certainty. They did not begin with strategy. They began with sincerity.

Common Emotions in This Stage:

• Anxiety

• Excitement

• Tender hope

• Self-doubt

• Uncontainable impulse to act

Common Thoughts:

• "What if no one cares?"

• "I feel exposed."

• "This might not work... but I can’t not do it."

• "I’ve never done this before, but it feels like something I must try."

Creative expression forces a confrontation with fear. It is where the inner shift becomes embodied practice. You are no longer thinking about purpose. You are enacting it, even if imperfectly. And every step you take becomes part of your becoming.

Over time, expression builds momentum. You start to recognize your voice. Your posture changes. The ideas flow more easily. Courage becomes competence. But even when it feels clunky or invisible, your acts of expression nourish the ecosystem of your purpose. They are seeds.

And what matters most is not how many people witness them, but that they are offered honestly.

Examples from Interviews:

• Bethany Shelton (Interview 88) transformed her grief after losing her son into a healing practice for other parents. After creating a simple website, complete strangers began reaching out, drawn by her authenticity. She now offers meditations and spiritual support, trusting that her pain has become someone else’s key

• Germán Massimino (Interview 39) described discovering his passion for popping and clowning. It wasn’t strategic, just a combination that made him feel most alive. He slowly began experimenting, expressing, and eventually performing. Each show was a leap into visibility eventually ending up on Argentina’s Got Talent twice. 

• Steve Farrell (Interview 5) described leaving behind a successful Silicon Valley career to follow a quiet spiritual calling. For 18 months, he lived in the in-between, having let go of the old, but with no clear next step. He took small, faithful actions guided by what he called “the still small voice.” Eventually, this led to co-founding Humanities Team with Neale Donald Walsch.

What to Remember:

• Expression is the bridge between vision and impact.

• Purpose does not grow in silence. It grows when lived aloud.

• Every small act of aligned expression adds integrity to your life.

Key Insight: Purpose grows through inspired action. Even imperfect action nourishes the soul and calls your purpose into form. It also draws the growth, learning and people that can help you to your side.

5. Service

When Your Purpose Becomes Nourishment

changes when your truth touches another person. What once felt personal becomes porous. The boundary between your healing and theirs begins to dissolve. The story you wrote for yourself becomes a permission slip for others to rewrite their own. This is the shift from expression to service, and it marks a profound maturation of purpose.

In the early stages, your acts of expression may have felt risky, vulnerable, or unseen. But over time, the things you do in alignment with your truth begin to ripple outward. Someone tells you, "That helped me." Someone else says, "I thought I was alone." And then, slowly, you begin to realize: your purpose is not just for you.

Service does not mean sacrifice. It does not mean draining yourself for others. True service is generative. It is what happens when you are so rooted in your own becoming that your presence begins to nourish those around you. You are no longer offering advice, you are offering aliveness.

This stage is not defined by the size of your audience or the scale of your impact. It is defined by intimacy. Real purpose is not loud. It is contagious. It moves through your voice, your work, your gaze, your listening. People feel safer, truer, more courageous in your presence, not because you saved them, but because you revealed what it means to live awake.

Common Emotions in This Stage:

• Gratitude

• Humility

• Joy

• Responsibility

• Quiet amazement

Common Thoughts:

• "I didn’t expect this to matter to others the way it does."

• "My story isn’t just mine."

• "This is bigger than me."

Examples from Interviews:

• Melissa Bloom (Interview 40) began by quietly experimenting with eco-friendly materials for her art. What started as a personal alignment with nature became a studio in Montana that now inspires others to reconnect with sustainable creativity. Friends and clients began to see natural materials not just as ethical, but as beautiful. Her purpose became contagious.

• Sailas Okwairwoth (Interview 12) discovered his purpose through his own upbringing in a marginalized village in Uganda. Now, he mentors vulnerable young girls affected by early pregnancy, restoring dignity and life skills. His lived experience became the seed of hope for others throughout Uganda.

• Amikaeyla Gaston (Interview 34) After a near-death experience, Amikaeyla healed in a hospital bed with her voice.  She began traveling globally to bring music into spaces of trauma, from refugee camps to prisons. One song, sung with full heart, often created safety where there was none. Her voice became a sanctuary for others. 

At this stage, you are no longer expressing for validation. You are expressing as devotion. What flows from you flows into the world. And that world begins to change, not through heroics, but through resonance.

Service is not a goal. It is a side effect of living truly. It often begins invisibly. You may never know the full extent of your impact. But the effect is real. You become a tuning fork for others to remember what they forgot: that it is possible to live meaningfully, to act with integrity, to speak from the soul.

And in doing so, you become a steward of something sacred. You are no longer just the receiver of a gift. You are the transmitter. The channel. The one who keeps the fire alive.

Key Insight: Purpose is fulfilled through others. It becomes real when it nourishes lives beyond your own.

6. Embodiment

Purpose as a Way of Being

The final stage of the spiral is the most subtle and the most transformative. It is where purpose is no longer an idea, a decision, or even an act, it becomes a state of being. Embodiment is when your inner truth becomes so integrated that it animates everything you do, often without effort or intention. You don’t have to remind yourself to live with purpose. You are the living embodiment of that purpose.

This stage is not about perfection or arrival. It is not a finish line. It is a quiet, grounded, rhythmic way of inhabiting your life. It shows up in how you speak to your partner. How you hold space for a friend. How you move through your workday, even the mundane parts. It is presence. It is congruence. It is the full integration of inner and outer life.

Most people don’t even realize they’ve reached this stage. That’s because true embodiment isn’t flashy. It’s not performative. It doesn’t announce itself. It’s humble, peaceful, and deeply rooted. The inner war is largely over. You are no longer trying to prove, please, or perfect. You simply live as you are, and that is enough.

Common Emotions in This Stage:

• Peace

• Deep contentment

• Grounded confidence

• Spaciousness

• Subtle awe

Common Thoughts:

• “This is who I am now.”

• “I don’t have to force this.”

• “I trust my presence is enough.”

• “What I do flows from who I am.”

What Shifts:

• Life becomes more about rhythm than ambition.

• You become less reactive and more responsive.

• Your joy deepens because it is no longer dependent on outcomes.

• You feel connected to something larger, even in solitude.

Examples from Interviews:

• Emanuel Kuntzelman (Interview 1) A visionary and founder of the Holomovement and Purpose Earth, Emanuel integrates his purpose into daily life by staying attuned to the “flow of the whole.” For him, purpose is about serving humanity and evolving consciousness. Whether writing, speaking, or collaborating with others, he sees each act as part of a larger movement toward collective flourishing and planetary service. 

• Dr. James Hardt (Interview 53) Dr. Hardt lives his purpose through daily commitment to consciousness expansion. By helping others awaken to their brain’s potential and heal trauma, his work is both scientific and spiritual. He sees no boundary between his inner alignment and his professional output, his labs, lectures, and presence are all direct expressions of his dharma. 

• Melissa Tittl (Interview 24) Melissa lives her purpose by creating media that wakes people up to the bigger picture of existence. As a producer and filmmaker, she isn’t just telling stories, she’s using film as a tool to connect viewers with deep truths about humanity, emotion, and consciousness. Every project she touches is a step toward building the new zeitgeist she envisions.

Embodiment is often marked by ease, not because the path is easy, but because your resistance has softened. You trust your inner compass. You no longer need constant reassurance. You move from center. And in doing so, you become a quiet force of coherence in a fragmented world.

This is also the stage where service becomes invisible but most potent. Your presence itself becomes healing. You no longer need to teach, preach, or persuade. Who you are becomes the teaching. Your life becomes a resonance.

Key Insight: Purpose at maturity is exhaled. It is not chased. It is carried in the cadence of who you have become.

7. Evolution

Returning to the Spiral, Again and Again

The spiral continues. Life will offer new disruptions. New invitations to deepen. Embodiment is not a static state. It is a living ecology that adjusts and renews itself. But each time you return to this place, it feels richer, fuller, more true.

Though embodiment may feel like a destination, the deeper truth is this: purpose evolves. It is not fixed. It is alive. And as you change, grow, and meet new seasons of life, your purpose will transform too. You may find yourself called back into disruption, not because you did something wrong, but because your soul is ready for a deeper unfolding.

This is the seventh movement: the spiral's return. It honors the sacred truth that your purpose will never be static. Like nature, it cycles. It matures. It composts and re-blooms. And often, your new stage will arrive disguised as discomfort, restlessness, or even grief. The old no longer fits. A deeper layer is asking to emerge.

You may revisit the stages, disruption, listening, belief, action, service, embodiment, but from a wider vantage point, with more humility, more depth, and a greater capacity for love. You begin to understand that this process is not a path to somewhere else. It is a way of living. A rhythm. A sacred spiral of becoming.

Common Emotions in This Phase:

• Restlessness

• Excitement

• Grief over the old purpose

• Anticipation of what's next

• Reverence for growth

Common Thoughts:

• “I thought I was done, but something new is calling.”

• “I feel like I'm back at the beginning, only wiser.”

• “I need to make space for the next version of myself.”

Examples from Interviews:

• Lynne Twist (Interview 65) After decades working on world hunger and the preservation of the rain forests, Lynne described reaching a point where her existing purpose had matured. Something deeper was calling. Her work expanded from solving global issues to inspiring a consciousness shift around money, meaning, and soul-aligned leadership.

• Laura Peña (Interview 9) Laura began as a successful motion designer in New York, working with global brands. But after a revelatory dream while visiting the Dominican Republic, she left that career to launch She is the Universe, a project devoted to supporting teenage girls around the world. After years of traveling and interviewing young women, Laura entered a new spiral, less about creating media, more about cultivating deep support ecosystems for the next generation.

• Paula Walker (Interview 6) is a filmmaker whose journey illustrates the spiral nature of purpose. She began with a passion for dance and movement, but her path shifted into film direction, often through unexpected openings and guidance. Even after success, she describes moments of deep reassessment: believing she had "made it," only to be redirected by life events or inner callings. 

This is the paradox of purpose: the more deeply you live it, the more it transforms you, and calls you into the next spiral. You do not start over. You spiral upward. Each return carries new strength, new clarity, and new devotion.

Key Insight: Purpose is not a singular destination, it is a lifelong dance of becoming. You are meant to evolve.

Closing Invitation

Wherever you are in this spiral, honor it. Do not rush. Each stage carries its own medicine. Disruption births honesty. Listening births intimacy. Belief births devotion. Expression births courage. Service births connection. Embodiment births peace.

This is your map. But it is also your mirror. Let it reflect what is already stirring inside you. Let it remind you that purpose is not found, it is grown. From the soil of your real life.

Welcome to the spiral. You’re already inside it.

Join a Team. Find Your Purpose.

If you’re longing for clarity, connection, and the courage to live your truth, why walk this path alone? In a guided team of 8–12, you'll move through the spiral together—sharing breakthroughs, cutting through the noise, and finding clarity faster. In just 8 weeks, 90% of participants discover a deeper sense of purpose. This isn’t self-help. It’s soul-alignment, with a crew that gets it. Ready?

Research Team

Lead Research Team: Zenka Caro, Adham Chalabi
Research: Adam Cupell, Paul Sheppard, Renely Gumban, Sharon Clark
Research Advisors: Emanuel Kuntzelman, Laura Rose, Susan Belchamber, Laura Lamour, Jill Robinson
Purpose Lab Guides: Laura Pena, Adora Winquist, Dr. Kieran Kuykendall, Cristiana Rocha, Rachel Astarte, Zenka Caro Project
Donors: Holomovement, Sedona Quantum Consciousness
Full List of Interviewees: Youtube playlist - Emanuel Kuntzelman, Dr. Shamini Jain, Richard Rudd, Zenka Caro, Steve Farrell, Paula Walker, Stephen Henderson, Amanda Haas, Laura Peña, Kristin Koffmann, Laura Rose, Sailas Okwairwoth, Bruce Lipton, JJ and Desiree Hurtak, Alex Rovang, Alan Steinfeld, Cassandra Vieten, Susan Belchamber, Lauren L’Amour, MS, Amanda Huggins, Dr. Marty Casey, Gopi Kallayil, Lynne McTaggart, Melissa Tittl, Luke Coutinho, Paola Di Florio, Scott Jablow, Ben Bowler, Cynthia Clark, Juan Carlos Kaiten, Karuna aka Caroline Ashley, Julia Rotella, Chef Nick Marchesano, Amikaeyla Gaston, Barbara Trombley, Romina Caro, Rocky Trainer, Damien Browning, German Massimino, Melissa Bloom, Mark Anthony, Jeff Genung, Suzy Miller, Steven Ross, Jano Quantum and Mateo Arias, Gary Malkin, Scarlett Lewis, Damon Gameau, Adam Hall, Peter Rader, Dannette Wolpert Holman, Naré Mkrtchyan, Dr. Jim Hardt, Julius Chirimwami, Julie Krull, Jackie Gilbert, Paulette Pipe, Alexander and Rama, Sandie Sedgebeer, Orland Bishop, Marion Ross, Jennifer Freed, DJ Taz, Tanjilla Islam, Lynne Twist, Jenn and Steve, Robert Grant, William Arntz, Micheal Beckwith, Vincent Genna, Rachel Farabaugh, Paul Sheppard, Susan Shatzer, Keith Mitchell, Raine Eisler, Tim Kelley, Bethany Shelton, Anna Marie, Gaia Vince, Daniel Belchamber, Deirdre Hade, Raquel Spring, Diane Burk, Quinton Jenkins, Fernando Austin, Davinia Taylor, Jo Marchant