Purpose Is Alignment

Purpose isn’t something I can hand you as a neat answer, and it’s not something you earn by performing well. Purpose shows up when your body finally feels safe enough to tell the truth. In the season one finale of Held & Becoming Into Your Power, I reflect on the healing journey we’ve walked together and then step into the question that comes after the hardest work: what does purpose really mean when you’re no longer living in survival mode?

I share my own turning point with creative writing and trauma healing, including how a retreat cracked open something I’d shut down since high school. My journaling shifted into poetry, and that became a nervous system language for feelings I couldn’t access any other way. You’ll hear poems that hold the themes of assimilation, perfectionism, and learning to present a version of yourself the world can accept, then the deeper release that happens when you return to your authentic self.

We talk about purpose as alignment, the quiet sense that your life belongs to you again. I also name the balance between soul responsibility and support, because healing asks for ownership but it never asks you to do it alone. We end with awe and a practical invitation to create a safe, sacred space where you can hear your own thoughts and let your next right step emerge.

If this resonates, listen through to the end, share it with someone who’s rebuilding, and please subscribe and leave a review so more people can find this space. What does alignment feel like in your body right now?

Transcript

Season Finale Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to Hell in Becoming Into Your Power. I am Michelle Gorman and this is episode nine purpose. Held in Becoming Into Your Power is a space where you can hold yourself in love, in accountability, in grace, in compassion. It's a space of becoming and a space of fully stepping into your power. Today is our last episode of season one, and I am so incredibly grateful that you chose to walk alongside me in this journey. Sharing these reflections and poems and the stories of what's underneath the poems, a tool that I used during the most active phase of my healing process, has just been so incredibly meaningful.

The Healing Journey So Far

SPEAKER_00 1:15

And over these nine episodes, we've really looked at quite the story. We began by meeting ourselves exactly where we are. We explored the nervous system and how the amygdala, shaped by our earliest attachment experiences, learns to protect us sometimes longer after the damage has passed or the danger is gone, if you will. We talked about the attachment theory, the invisible blueprint that shapes how we experience love, trust, and connection. We name the survival identities many of us developed, the overachiever, the perfectionist, the caretaker, not as flaws, but as adaptations. We explored trust, self-love, forgiveness, and the slow, courageous work of reclaiming our voice. And in the last episode, we talked about becoming the stage where the healing stops being something that we're working on and starts becoming something that we're living.

Redefining Purpose After Healing

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Today we arrive at the final stage of this season's journey. And for many of us, this is the question that naturally follows healing. Purpose. What does purpose really mean? Not purpose as a title, not something we chase, but purpose as something that reveals itself through healing.

How Writing Opened Back Up

SPEAKER_00 3:23

For most of my life, I believed I was a writer, but only in one way. In college and graduate school, I did very well with structured writing, technical writing, scientific papers, and I learned to believe, or so I thought, that I was a technical writer. But creative writing? No, I once failed a creative writing class in high school. And I decided at that time that I I guess I wasn't creative. And that belief stayed with me for much of my adult life. It wasn't until only recently when I began doing deeper healing work that something internally shifted in me. I attended a retreat that was led by my therapist. And during that retreat, she offered a session on creative writing. And the very next day, something drastically changed. My journaling, which was a tool that I was using for a long time at that point, I would journal almost every day. My journaling changed. Words became very rhythmic, almost childlike. And my words started flowing like poetry. These poems became the way that I processed everything that had lived inside of me. Because writing for me was a way to process feelings and thoughts that had been buried for years. My nervous system finally had found a language and a way to express what had been inside for so long. So I'd

North Star And Survival Identity

SPEAKER_00 5:41

like to read you North Star. This is a poem that is out of finding my journey. North Star Push it away, push it away is what I used to say about my life and circumstance before I embraced my beautiful face. So ashamed of not having enough, so ashamed of not having parents, so ashamed of all the rough, assimilated quickly, smiled and faked, faked a calmness unknown to me, faked a happiness clearly not jolly, faked a security not close to my reality. I was articulate and sharp, presented well, thanks to my perfectionism and fear developed by my trauma hell. Do well in school yep, check. Never question authority. Nope, never did. Work hard and don't make mistakes. Perfectionism is not fun. Make me proud. Gulp I just want to run. Assimilating was my survival, never exposed to the holy Bible. Assimilating is what I learned. A prodigy of Darwin is what I churned. Impressive, impressive for such a little kid, six years old and starving, taking care of self and kin. So far off the normal grid, no guidance, no teacher, no support, no preacher. How did I make it make it this far? Me I am my own North Star. For much of my life, survival meant assimilating. Learning how to adapt, learning how to perform very well, learning how to present a version of myself the world could accept. This is the nervous system at work, adapting, conforming, finding safety through assimilation. But healing

Purpose As Nervous System Alignment

SPEAKER_00 8:40

changes something. Healing brings you back to your true self, your true authentic self. And when you return to yourself, you begin to recognize what always was there. And somewhere along the way you begin to realize that purpose isn't something external. Purpose is alignment. It's the moment your life starts to feel like it belongs to you. When the nervous system is no longer in survival mode, when the attachment wounds begin to heal, when we begin to trust ourselves again, there is space for something new to emerge, something new to blossom, something that is uniquely and authentically ours. The next poem I'm reading is called Soul Responsibility Out of Finding My Journey. Soul Responsibility Strong belief we are responsible for our soul, the deeper part of us yearning for whole. Easy to get lost by distracting thoughts, easy to get lost by superficial knots. Skill must be learned to connect inside. Healers and therapists stand by our side. It is our duty to our maker, gifted this beautiful life, don't just be a taker. Something I believe deeply is this. We all have a responsibility to care for our soul. It is part of being a human. Healing past wounds, taking ownership of our own struggles, and really working through the old beliefs, the old patterns that have shaped us. But something important must also be said. And that is you are not alone. There are therapists, there are healers, there are communities. And sometimes there are simply other people walking the same path beside you. I'd

Embracing The Shift Into Living

SPEAKER_00 11:53

like to read a poem called Embrace Also from Finding My Journey. Embrace Found a White Feather Walking Today, seeing a good friend, the universe played. Bravery, hope, and new beginnings, it says, symbolized in this message today. New beginnings, new beginnings. I fully embraced this transformative shift from survival to living, a really big lift. Thank you, thank you for this time. Spirit's guiding, God's light shining. This is the way, the way for me. Welcome, soul's journey. I embrace thee. From survival to living, that line captures so much of what healing really is. When we are surviving, we are constantly protecting ourselves, adapting, pushing forward. We don't show up in our truest form, but when healing shifts, it's something magnificent. We begin to live, not just exist, we live with intention. And sometimes that is when our purpose begins to reveal itself. A few years ago I began writing poetry that is a reflection of where I was in my healing process. Those poems eventually became four books, and now I am taking another step, sharing my story with the world through this podcast. Purpose doesn't always arrive at once. Sometimes it unfolds slowly. Sometimes it shows up through things we love, through things that bring us peace, and through the ways we help others along the path. And

Awe And Finding Sacred Space

SPEAKER_00 14:48

my final poem is titled Awe. And this is from my book Finding My Connection. Awe. What matters is giving yourself the space to notice it, the space to cultivate it, the space to nurture it. Sometimes purpose begins in something very simple. Finding a space where you can hear your own thoughts, a space so safe, so sacred, so treasured. For me that space became writing. A notebook, a quiet moment, and letting the words come without any judgment. Maybe for you it's writing, maybe it's walking in nature, maybe it's sitting quietly and allowing yourself to notice what's then waiting to be heard. Whatever that space looks like for you, I encourage you to give yourself permission to find it, even if it feels very unfamiliar at first. Because sometimes the path forward begins with simply just listening, with your hand over your heart and your ears wide open. You might discover that the North Star you've been searching for has been with you all along.

Gratitude And Closing

SPEAKER_00 17:39

What a season. Thank you for listening to Held and Becoming a space for reflection, healing, and the courage to become who you truly, truly are. Until next time, so much, so much love.