Do you feel like you’re still trying to find your purpose? You’ve attended the events, read the books, and listened to the podcasts. You’ve truly come a long way, but something just isn’t clicking. Or maybe you’ve done something for a while that made you feel alive, but you feel a shift coming, and that freaks you out because the idea of finding a second thing that makes you feel this alive seems impossible!
Sister, you are not the only one who feels this way! Countless people never find their purpose in this life. And as for myself, I definitely found my purpose, but what I’m doing now is the second online business that made me feel absolutely alive. Yes, this journey of discovering your souls’ purpose can be challenging, but it’s possible!
The good news is that today, I have a magical guest and soul-sister of mine joining us to share with you her favorite strategy to discovering your life’s purpose: The Dharma archetypes. Sahara is a magical human known for making spiritual and Ayurvedic wisdom fun and relatable. She just released a book called Discover Your Dharma, so I’m really excited that she gets to be the one to explain Dharma to you. She’s also going to break down the nine Dharma archetypes so that you can identify the unique gifts you bring to the world, which ultimately point to your purpose in this life.
If you’re ready to do some introspective work and discover your purpose, keep reading!
Who Is Sahara Rose?
Deepak Chopra called Sahara Rose “a leading voice for the millennial generation into the new paradigm shift” by Deepak Chopra. She is the best-selling author of Eat Feel Fresh, Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda, A Yogic Path, and, as previously mentioned, Discover Your Dharma. She also hosts the Highest Self Podcast and founder of the Rose Gold Goddesses, a sacred sisterhood collective with over 2,000 members.
Sahara was led to all these things through her own search for a purpose. Growing up, she looked to Mother Teresa and Gandhi as examples of people who were living in joy and truth. This led Sahara to think that service required sacrifice. As a result, she looked at the world’s worst issues — human trafficking, child labor, child marriage — and decided to fix them.
She worked with many Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and was the president of her Amnesty International chapter. While working with NGOs, Sahara realized that working for non-profits was not in alignment with her gifts. It was at about this time, Sahara said, that her health took a drastic turn and she redirected her focus.
“I got on my own health journey, my body [shut] down, and [went] into perimenopause when I was 21 years old. My focus just became, ‘How can I heal myself so I can live and be okay?’ [That’s when I learned] about A Vedic, the world’s oldest health system, and the sister science of yoga based on the mind-body connection. Using Ayurvedic practices, [I was able to] heal myself. Then, naturally, I wanted to share that with the world.” – Sahara Rose
When Sahara decided to go all-in as a wellness educator, her parents were sure she was going to become a “starving artist.” But Sahara continued because she felt like it was the best way to live in alignment with what brought her joy and allowed her to serve others.
It wasn’t long before she discovered the concept of Dharma and realized that her health problems, lineage, and obstacles — every experience in her life — were preparing her to live out her purpose. Today, she’s daily dancing out her purpose of helping others discover their life’s purpose.
If you’ve been struggling to figure out what your soul’s purpose is, understanding the Dharma archetypes will help. (We will cover three in this blog post, but you can learn about the rest here!) Embracing your archetype gives you permission to lean into your unique gifts and personality so that you can effortlessly find your purpose. Are you ready? Let’s dive in!
What Is Dharma?
Have you ever felt super passionate about something, or a few things, but deep down, you knew that wasn’t your life’s purpose? That’s because living out your passion and your purpose are two different things. They’re often very similar, and sometimes your passion may allow you to live out your purpose, but they’re still different. Sahara explained how Dharma helps bridge this gap:
“Your Dharma is your soul’s purpose. It is a big reason why you are here. It is the unique frequency … which only you can carry — it is your energy. So it’s not so much what you do, but it’s how you do it. It’s your magic sauce.” – Sahara Rose
You can think of this as a company’s mission statement. My mission statement is to help people become a magnet for everything they want in life. However, I wear many different hats to make that possible, like being a business owner, social media manager, one-on-one coach, and friend to like-minded women. There’s one mission, but the mission is accomplished in lots of little ways.
Sahara said that the secret to Dharma is that it isn’t a one-time thing:
“Your Dharma is being true to who you are at any stage of your life. It’s a constant expression of who you are at any given moment, which shifts and evolves as you get closer in alignment with your truth. So I like to think of it more as remembering your Dharma [instead of] finding it because it’s not something that’s outside of yourself. It’s more like your Dharma is you — your naked human form.” – Sahara Rose
Understanding the energy with which I was created to show up to the world helps me own the things I’m good at and fully pursue the things I love. I second guess my purpose less and struggle with much less comparisonitis!
As you read through these archetypes, remember that they can look different from person to person because we all have a little bit of everything. However, we tend to have two or three that we operate from in a stronger capacity. Avoid the trap of comparing and disliking your gift. Instead, receive it and recognize it as it is — a gift!
The Teacher
The first archetype is the Teacher. When Sahara first explained this one, I thought I was a Teacher because that’s how I started my first business. I learned about the impact of health and fitness and wanted to share it with the world. It turns out, I have a Teacher in me, but I’m more of an Activist (you can learn about the Activist here). A Teacher is someone who learns through life by going through an experience and then wants to share what they learned.
Sahara’s health journey is a perfect example of this. She learned about and used A Vedic methodology and practices to heal herself. They improved her life so much she wanted to tell the world about them. So if, as a kid, you wanted to turn around and teach someone whenever you learned something, chances are you are a teacher.
Sahara also explained that each archetype has its own shadow side. The shadow side of a Teacher makes them come across as disconnected and preachy. This is also why Teacher archetypes may struggle with social media. They don’t want to dumb-down their content to fit into 15 seconds or a limited number of characters. As a result, it’s really important for teachers to remember two things:
#1. Intentionally find ways to connect with whoever you’re teaching. Go out of your way to connect with your audience, listeners, and viewers. Make sure you’re not coming from a place of, “This is good information, so I’m giving it to you.” Instead, come from a place of, “This information changed my life, and it can change yours, so I’m sharing it with you.”
#2. It’s not about you. It’s about the students you are teaching. This is where you need to check your ego. If you’re really all about serving others, you’ll share the information in whatever way will get it to your audience best. Sahara put it this way:
“[Truly] living your Dharma is being of service and realizing that it’s not about you. … [Because if] you’re still teaching on [a stage], and everyone’s on an iPad, who are you really teaching? Is it about sharing the knowledge or is it about you doing it the way that you want to do it?” – Sahara Rose
Teachers, you are so valuable. We need you to keep being curious and learning so that you can turn around and pass that knowledge on to us! We need your voice.
The Nurturer
The next archetype is the Nurturer. Their role is to care and connect. They dive deep with people and listen. Sahara explained a nurturer by highlighting how they are different from a teacher:
“The teacher is more giving you knowledge. The nurturer will ask you a question to bring out the knowledge that exists inside of you. So [nurturers] make excellent coaches, therapists, space-holders, nurses, etcetera. And they really like to be in a more one-on-one setting or small group. They’re touchy-feely. They don’t want to feel super disconnected behind all this technology or on this big stage.” – Sahara Rose
The shadow side of a nurturer is two-fold. First of all, they have trouble creating and holding boundaries. In the online entrepreneur space, a lack of boundaries often shows up as helping everyone and not charging enough for services. Secondly, nurturers often feel like they have to market the way everyone else is marketing — funnels, launches, and webinars. So, a Nurturer needs to remember two things:
#1. You are valuable. The more a Nurturer values themselves and their services, the more others will value them and their work, and the more impact their work will make!
#2. Do what you’re good at. Just because someone is doing something differently than you and succeeding doesn’t mean what you’re doing is wrong. The things you are good at and love doing are the things you are supposed to be doing. Sahara called them your superpowers:
“Oftentimes [Nurturers] look at other people in the coaching industry, and they’re like, ‘Am I doing something wrong? Like, I don’t want to do all these courses and masterminds and memberships and all of these things. I just want to coach people.’ And that’s what they’re good at. That’s what their superpower is. Even if they have millions and millions of followers, like Oprah, keep doing [what you’re good at]. That’s what you’re here to do.” – Sahara Rose
This can all be summarized as, “Don’t fall into comparisonitis.” When I finally ditched the stressful launch strategies that everyone was doing and decided to launch the way that felt good to me — basically, no launch — I had my biggest week in business. In all areas, I did better than I’ve ever done! I served more people. I made more money. I loved people. And the best part was, I felt amazing and proud of myself the whole time. I stopped comparing, aligned with my superpower, and abundance flowed to me effortlessly.
Sister, whatever archetype you are, if you stay true to your gifts, abundance will flow to you the same way it flowed to me. So find what’s in alignment for you, unsubscribe from comparisonitis, and let the magic happen!
The Visionary
Now we have the Visionary. They are like a bridge from where we are to a new way of thinking and living. They are big-picture, future-oriented, and very spiritual and idealistic. Sahara said her number one archetype was definitely a Visionary. The way she described their superpower — communication — was wonderful:
“It’s not so much what [a Visionary] says, but it’s how they say it. It’s the energy transfer in which they give. So they will help you see that the world is not the way you think, [and introduce you to a] higher perspective where all possibilities exist. So their charisma, their passion, the way that they can explain things, is really what they’re here to do.” – Sahara Rose
Sahara went on to clarify that Visionaries often teach, but instead of teaching a specific thing as a teacher would, Visionaries teach a whole new outlook on life, like Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr.
The shadow quality of a Visionary shows up when they’re trying to help people who aren’t ready. You’ll know someone isn’t ready to receive what you’re sharing because they will feel closed off. They’re not receptive because the Universe has more to teach them before they’re ready for your message. Don’t get frustrated if this happens to you. Instead, relax and shift the conversation.
Sahara said it’s really important for “Visionaries to know when are they being received and when they need to kind of sit back and let that person awaken to their own visionary.” Sahara also took the time to point out that you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be a visionary:
“The Visionary could just be a rabbi or a priest or someone like that. That’s a Visionary. They’re leading their community or a teacher in a classroom or even just the person in your company that’s inspiring people to show up for work or leading gratitude circles. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be an entrepreneur. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be in the public space, but [it means you’re] using those visionary qualities every day.” – Sahara Rose
Visionaries, regardless of the sphere in which you put your gifts to use, there will be times your message will not be received well. That doesn’t mean your message doesn’t carry power and value. Change is hard for anyone. The messages you carry require us to change the way we see the whole world. That will be hard to receive for most people. But share your message with the world anyway. It will be a refreshing anchor for those who are ready to think differently!
Why You Need to Know Your Gift to Help More People
Lovely soul, I told you there were nine Dharma Archetypes, and there are, but if I put them all into this post, it would have been over ten pages long. So, I encourage you to head over to my podcast and listen to the whole episode. It’s really important to know what gift you bring to the world because it frees you to spend all of your time serving as your highest self! Sahara put it this way:
“You’re actually able to help more people when you’re doing it from your own gifts. So for me, I realized that the best way I can change the world is to change the way that people think. … [So I focused] on my gift of education and communication, whereas for someone else, [they may focus on creating] a business solution, … [or] taking care of the kids of people who are going out and working for these causes. [Whatever it is] find the way that you can really show up — and sustainably too, not just for a season and dropping it.” – Sahara Rose
I want to echo what Sahara said, “Find the way you can really show up, and show up sustainably.” This is a long-term game, sisters. We have our whole lives to pour out healing vibes and magic into this world, so don’t do something that ends up burning you out in a year or two.
Here’s to finding your Dharma — your life’s purpose — and living it out daily for the long haul!
I am so grateful for Sahara sharing her wisdom with us today and giving people permission to live so many different experiences in this life. If you were inspired by Sahara today, be sure to purchase a copy of her book, Discovering Your Dharma. You can find out more ways to work with her and learn from her on her website. And as always, connect with her on Instagram (@iamsahararose).
If you enjoyed this message, could you do me a huge favor and take a screenshot of this? Share it on Instagram, tag Sahara (@iamsahararose) and me (@iamtaylorsimpson), and let us know what your biggest takeaway was. Both Sahara and I are passionate about getting messages like these to as many people as possible, and you sharing this content is one of the best ways to help and thank us!
I love you. I see you. As always, choose happiness because, well, why, the fuck not?
