How I Found My Life Purpose in Costa Rica

I want to share  the story of how I found my life purpose in Costa Rica. As I write this post I’m celebrating my 8th Anniversary of living in this lush paradise, and the founding of Agape Costa Rica.  (It’s hard to imagine because it feels like a time warp. 8 years feels more like 3 or 4). In August of 2011, I abandoned Los Angeles in exchange for a brand new life living in the jungle surrounded by nature and wildlife. What felt like an accident was Spirit’s grand divine design!

I was a single mom in my mid-fifties when the last of my three children left for college. Alone for the first time in 20 years, I began to revisit a nagging question: 'What is my purpose in life?'Click To Tweet

Keep in mind, your purpose in life will never change. But how you manifest your purpose, and the road you take to get there will change.  Your purpose is constantly evolving. Your purpose at 20 can be quite different when you are 50.  Each chapter of your life is entwined with a part of another that is unfolding. Everything you do is co-dependent on what you are becoming, and how your soul is evolving. Regardless of the path you take, you will always end up exactly where you are supposed to be.

If cats can have 9 lives, why can’t we?  I’ve lived many different lives in this incarnation….

When I was 18, I moved to Florence, Italy as a college exchange student. I went for 9 months but stayed 11 years. I became an international tour guide escorting groups throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. That was a great life.

In my 30’s, I returned to the USA and became a costume designer for motion pictures.  Back then, MTV was exploding. I worked with famous bands, such as Kiss, and Aerosmith.  I designed costumes for the hit music video Love in An Elevator, and many more. It was a great life.

But eventually I suffered burn-out.  Getting up at 4:00 am and spending hours everyday fighting freeway traffic was exhausting. I didn’t care for the “Hollywood egos” either. Specializing in television advertising, I’d worked on thousands upon thousands of commercials for fast food giants, banks, and pharmaceutical companies. I did Burger King, McDonalds, Wells Fargo, Chase Bank, and so many pharmaceutical commercials I’d memorized the warning disclosures.

Then, one day I just woke up!

I realized that by working on television commercials, I was actually contributing to the wealth of industries I didn’t support.  I couldn’t stand these companies. This had became a moral issue.  I could no longer allow myself to contribute to corporations I felt were abusing not only our planet but also our health and well-being.  In a very dark moment I became aware that I was actually contributing to the wealth of the corporations who were responsible for the global economic crisis. I had to stop. So I did.

In the meantime, I’d made a manifestation board and it was taped on my bathroom mirror. It represented a new vision and direction for my life.  The manifestation board had only three words written:

Travel, Photograph, Write

At 55 years old I chose to walk away from my lucrative career in film. It was like diving off the proverbial diving board into what I hoped would be safe warm waters. I had no idea what was ahead; the future was an empty canvas.  But I chose to use my money to invest in a dream. I went back to college to pursue another degree – this time in journalism. As if by magic, I found immediate employment as a writer and photographer with local newspapers and magazines. I loved my new life.

My new career as a photojournalist was rewarding and work was plentiful.  But I was still pondering the meaning, and purpose of life. Something didn’t feel quite right – I call it a Spiritual Itch.  I didn’t realize it then, but Spirit was and always had been, hard at work.  By Spirit’s grand divine design, I was being uprooted and moved.

A Crisis in Life Often Proceeds the Awakening to Your Life Purpose

Do you remember the global economic crash of 2009? I sure do. It turned my world upside down.  It was a financial hurricane. I owned a beautiful 3,500 sq ft. home in a wonderful community in Southern California.  I had planned a perfect scenario: Sell my home when my children left for college, downsize and pocket the profits for retirement. But the mortgage crisis hit, and over the next few years the value of my property sank by more than 50%.  My mortgage payment skyrocketed from $1400 per month to $6600 per month.   Of course I couldn’t maintain that astronomical bill so eventually I lost the house. Thank God my children had already left for college or the circumstances would have been much worse.

In an effort to find peace following the financial storm, my daughter Sarah recommended a trip to Montezuma, Costa Rica. She said I’d love it and would probably want to retire there. I’d never been, so why not?  I packed a small backpack with 5 changes of clothes, and headed out for a two week excursion to Costa Rica.

On a rainy night approaching sunset the local bus dropped me off in downtown Montezuma, located on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. The streets were deserted except for a few people who looked suspicious. I didn’t feel comfortable. Just then, from down the block, I noticed a dog, running. It was charging in my direction and I could see it was a pit bull mix.  I didn’t like pit bulls one bit. They terrified me. Oh boy, not good.

But this dog greeted me like a long lost friend. He seemed to know me, and love me. It was really weird. From that moment in time, the dog I named Bert never left my side. He adopted me, and that was that. He followed me the first night to the local hotel, and slept beside the door. I didn’t know him then, so I left him outside.  He was just an old street dog. I thought he’d be gone in the morning, but no. There he was wagging his tail when I opened the door. His story is magical and I still have to document it. No one will believe the supernatural events that I experienced with Bert.  Till this day he remains my king of kings among all my canine pets.

Listen Carefully, Your Spirit Guide Has An Important Message

On my first day in Costa Rica I took a walk to visit a waterfall. Of course Bert came too. It took several hours to climb through the jungle to reach the falls. It was a like a dream – spiritually astounding. On my walk back to the hotel I heard a voice. Now, I know this voice very well. It’s a man, and he has been my guardian angel since I was a baby. He is my Master Guardian Angel. I don’t know why I don’t have a name for him. He’s never told me. But I know him well and I know his voice perfectly.

In total, I have heard seven specific messages from my master guide. On this occasion it went like this:  I’m walking along the road back to Montezuma with Bert by my side. I think to myself, “I wonder how long I’ll hang out in Montezuma?”

At this exact moment, not missing a beat, my guide says, “You are not leaving here! You are to stay here and do the work!”

“Huh? Say what? Who said that? Oh it was You!” I recognized the voice. It had been many years since I had heard him speak. But it was clear as a bell.

Consider the voice to be exactly like someone standing next to you talking softly but firmly. His voice is always delivered into my right ear. I had no idea what that message meant.  Stay here, in this tired, lonesome village? Heck no. What work? What is this silliness?  There was no denying it.

Although I had no idea whatsoever what that message meant, I heard it crystal clear. I will never forget that voice: strong, direct, and with full intention.  He was basically delivering an order.

I could write forever about all the magic that unfolded afterwards. But let me make this story as concise as possible.

I stayed in Montezuma for six years. I found a beautiful home overlooking the ocean and I discovered my passion working full time as a psychic medium.

Eventually I moved to the lovely beach side town of Tamarindo. I founded Agape Costa Rica, and I provide spiritual readings, workshops, and healing for clients from around the world. Spirit led me on the path that is my true divine spiritual purpose.

But up until I landed in Costa Rica, everything that led up to this destiny was still on my path. It was just an earlier chapter leading up to this perfect one.  Everything was divinely connected.

You see, I’d heard my master guide’s voice before when I was a little girl. I was five.  My friend Nancy and I were walking to kindergarten together.  She was telling me how sad she was after getting into a fight with another of our friends, named Janice. In that conversation Spirit was guiding me on how to make Nancy feel better.

It felt completely natural and normal, but I knew everything that Nancy and Janice were feeling. I could see them, and feel them as if I were them. It was a miraculous feeling, I still recall it with crystal clear vision.

Now I realize I was giving Nancy a psychic reading. I just didn’t know it then; I was only five.  At that exact moment, my Main Spirit Guide said directly into my ear, with that familiar voice: “This is what you are supposed to do.”

That was all he said.  But I didn’t know what “this” was. I didn’t know then, just like I didn’t know in Montezuma, but I sure know now. I’ve always been doing my purpose in life – even when I didn’t know I was doing it.  And so have You! The only difference is that it took me 58 years to finally identify what “this” meant. Now I know.

You Will Find Your Life Purpose Without Even Trying

The best and easiest way to discover your life purpose is to get to know yourself  – really well! What do you like to do? Your purpose is connected to what you do well. What comes easily to you? How do you experience joy? What skills do you take for granted? In life, what makes you thrive? What makes you smile, and feel fulfilled? Make a list of all those things. That’s how you’ll know.

It’s easy.  What you’re good at, what comes easy as pie, is your purpose! It’s that simple. Don’t be confused into thinking that how you earn your living is connected to your life purpose. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. I spent many years doing my purpose and didn’t get paid for it.

What is my purpose? I’m here to help people feel better. To counsel. My purpose is to help people connect to Spirit. To help people find their inner peace and self-love.  I am here to help people heal from sadness and physical malaise.

But I’ve been doing this as long as I can remember. When I was five and walking to kindergarten with Nancy, I was in my divine purpose, but I didn’t know it. Who cares? God has a plan. The plan is foolproof, and perfect by design. Your life purpose will happen whether you like it or not. Your divine life purpose is directly connected to your skill set, the things that come naturally to you. This is your purpose: You are here to express the gifts you were born with. It’s that simple.

As Above, So Below. The Sun Always Rises.

The life chapter that brought me to Costa Rica was definitely my “dark night of the soul.” Yet, I’m eternally grateful for that life (disaster) chapter. I realized later, when all the pieces of the puzzle finally fit together, that every part of the journey was divine. Even the darkness. Every experience was always in perfect alignment for me to discover my true life purpose. I was always on the right path, even when I thought I was on the wrong path. I came to understand that you don’t need to look for your life purpose.  Your divine life purpose will discover You, and the timing will be perfect according to Your Soul’s Journey!

Like fruit ripening on a tree, your life purpose is the fruit you bare in your journey in Earth School. You will produce your own magical fruit regardless of your free will. All the pieces to your life puzzle will emerge. Don’t worry, you can’t mess it up. You can’t make a wrong decision or choose the wrong path in life. That’s impossible. You are divinely coded and nothing can change that. You are literally destined to realize, and live completely, according to a great plan. It is the story you wrote in your soul contract before you incarnated into this lifetime.

Agape is derived from Greek and means Unconditional Love. Agape truly expresses the feelings of profound gratitude and love I feel for Costa Rica. The land and its people helped me understand my life purpose. It only took me half a century, (no,more).  So, if you are still struggling on your path, don’t worry.  I guarantee you have plenty of time.  In fact, you have your entire lifetime.