Today’s Wisdom
Purpose is choosing what privately feels right over what publicly looks impressive.
Read time: 6 minutes.
This is your permission to pause and take a little time for yourself.
That can seem like the easier path: find someone whose life inspires you, then try to follow the steps that got them there. But that logic is backwards.
In fact, there’s a verse in the Bhagavad Gita, 18.47, that teaches: “It is better to do one’s own dharma, even though imperfectly, than to do another’s dharma, even though perfectly.”
Doing your own dharma (purpose, calling, or what you’re meant to do), is a pursuit.
Doing someone else's is a performance.
That’s the distinction I want to dig into today.
To pursue something means to move towards it, not necessarily knowing where it will lead, what it will look like, or whether you’ll be understood.
Performance is different. It usually begins with an idea of what the finished thing is supposed to look like, then learning the script required to become that version.
Performance can certainly be tempting, because life is full of these pre-written scripts that protect us from ever feeling misunderstood: the successful career, the beautiful home, the perfect marriage, the well-dressed children, the holidays taken to the right places.
None of those choices are necessarily dishonest.
The harder question is whether we would have chosen them without first being shown that they were desired by someone else. Sit with that for a moment. Read it again.
Pursuing your own dharma asks something different of you. It asks you to make choices before you know whether they will make sense to other people, or whether anyone will approve. Often, it means choosing a less impressive-looking life because, privately, it feels more like yours.
You will be misunderstood regardless, so you might as well do what you love.
So, ask yourself today: What would I do, and how would I do it, if I knew I was going to be misunderstood anyway?
Love,
Jay ❤️
If no one could judge you, what would you do differently?
I sat down with Sabrina Zohar on today’s episode of On Purpose, and I’m excited to announce that her debut book, Why Am I Like This? Break Your Relationship Patterns and Create The Life You Want is now available for pre-order!
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Why Am I Like This? will officially be on sale and in stores next Tuesday, October 13th, 2026.
Thank you for reading The Daily Wisdom™ 🙏🏽
Remember, I’m in your corner today, tomorrow, and anytime you need a little permission to believe that everything is going to work out.
