What's Your Purpose?

"I’m gonna find my purpose…I gotta find me!" Princeton from Avenue Q

When I signed up for IIN, I thought of it would help my diet and health and possibly enable me to change my career. I signed up for my classes in July 2009-on my birthday actually. I saw it as a very nice (and generous) birthday present for myself. Looking back halfway through my program, I realized that it was very symbolic for me to sign up on my birthday. That day was the start of a whole new life-a rebirth of sorts. It was the start of a fundamental shift in living my life. The past 10 months have reinvigorated me. I have been able to find and redefine myself, to strive for what I believe to be my life's purpose, and to finally be excited and fully engrossed in developing my future. Since starting the program, I have worked harder than I have in a while, maybe even ever, but am happier than I have ever been. The greatest change has been a gradual shift in alignment of my personal beliefs and life to my career.
By shifting my focus to something I am truly passionate about, I feel vibrant, whole, and fully nourished-more than any amount of vegetables and fruits can do for me. I spoke of primary foods last month as a foundation of our health and happiness. To review, primary foods are our career, spirituality, relationships, and physical exercise.  When we are happy with those four elements, our lives are enriched.  As for our careers, it is really important to have a job that is fulfilling. We spend many hours in a day, week and most of our lives working. More often than not, we spend more time developing our 'careers' than our relationships, bodies and minds. Why would you spend so much time doing something that does not feed your soul? Back in the day, people defined themselves by their careers and took pride in it. Most notably is the last name Smith deriving from the occupation of blacksmiths. We have come very far from that alignment and our career has become one compartment of many in our lives. We no longer see the need for our careers to match our life's purpose.
Our career is a very sensitive subject mainly because it is the source of money, our income. It is not easy to walk away from an unfulfilling job if it pays nicely. And I am not telling you to do that. Ideally, we would all work jobs that we completely identify with and can live comfortably off of. Reality is we live in a world where money is a necessity and we can't just up and leave the source of it. However, we can always make small changes.  In the spirit of embracing primary foods, I would like for you to take a look at your career. How does it align to who you are today? How does it align to who you want to be? What are the missing pieces and how can you fill them? Can you change your career without sacrificing other components of your life that are important to you (e.g., standard of living, paying rent, feeding your puppy)?  Can you add something to you job that aligns with who you are (e.g., join the wellness committee, form a lunch group with other parents, start a company dodgeball team)?  Can you address who you want to be through your hobbies, spirituality, relationships or physical exercise? 
What have you done with your career to better align yourself with it?