Authentic Awakening: How to Find Your True Soul Purpose Without Quitting Your Job

An honest conversation with Kara Goodwin on spiritual awakening, plant medicine, and why your cubicle might still be sacred space

Introduction: What If You Didn’t Have to Burn It All Down?

Let’s be honest. The phrase “living your purpose” has become a spiritual buzzword. Somewhere between the Instagram influencers selling moon water and your neighbor launching a Reiki business out of her garage, the concept got tangled in pressure, perfectionism, and Pinterest quotes.

But what if authentic awakening didn’t mean quitting your job, leaving your family, or moving to Sedona to become a crystal priestess?

In a refreshingly grounded and wildly insightful conversation, The Skeptic Metaphysicians sat down with Kara Goodwin; meditation guide, energy healer, host of the Soul Elevation Podcast, and author of Your Authentic Awakening, to ask the big question:

Do you have to blow up your life to find your purpose?

Spoiler alert: Nope. And Kara has the stories, scars, and spiritual downloads to prove it.

Kara’s Awakening: When Everything Fell Apart

Like many people on the path, Kara didn’t start her spiritual journey wearing robes and chanting mantras. Her awakening came crashing in through the backdoor of tragedy.

Within just seven months, Kara was hit with a wave of life-altering events: deaths of close loved ones, medical emergencies, and personal crises that stripped away the surface-level comforts of modern life.

“I just couldn’t recognize my life anymore,” she shares. “It felt like I was whipping around in the wind, waiting for the next blow.”

Instead of numbing out, she leaned in. And what she found wasn’t a call to run away, but a cosmic invitation to finally wake up.

What Does It Really Mean to “Live Your Purpose”?

One of the biggest myths Kara debunks is the idea that living your soul’s purpose means completely changing careers, or becoming a spiritual influencer overnight.

“People often confuse their purpose with their career,” she says. “But our purpose isn’t necessarily how we make money.”

She’s seen it all: postal workers who deliver both physical mail and spiritual messages, accountants with a gift for energy work, stay-at-home parents acting as anchors for soul evolution.

Your soul’s purpose might not be to leave your life. It might be to infuse it with light.

A Foot in Both Worlds: Staying Put Can Be Spiritual Too

So many awakening individuals feel torn between the 3D world and their expanding awareness. But Kara offers a different model, one where spiritual awakening doesn’t mean retreating from reality.

“If everyone who awakened left their jobs and went off-grid, who would help raise the vibration within society?”

It’s a radical reframe: What if your office is your ashram? What if your family dinners, staff meetings, and commutes are all sacred training grounds?

Spirituality doesn’t have to be separate from life. It can be woven through it.

The Trap of Spiritual Dogma, Even in “Non-Dogmatic” Communities

Kara candidly opens up about her own detour into a spiritual organization that initially seemed free from the constraints of religion.

“They said it was a path without dogma. But every step deeper in, the more dogma I found.”

The group encouraged followers to only engage with teachings from their long-deceased guru, ignoring newer ideas like the Enneagram, Reiki, or extraterrestrial contact.

This experience taught Kara a crucial lesson: Authenticity means honoring your own soul signature, not fitting into someone else’s blueprint.

You don’t have to wear a robe, chant in Sanskrit, or believe in only one lineage to be spiritual. You just have to be you, fully, courageously, messily you.

The Signs of a Spiritual Awakening (They’re Not Always Glorious)

How do you know you’re having a spiritual awakening? According to Kara, it’s not always about blissful meditations or floating in a sea of light.

Sometimes it’s:

• Your life falling apart

• Feeling like you’re the only awakened person in your family

• Sudden interest in energy, synchronicities, or “woo” topics

• A sense that reality no longer feels quite real

• Questioning everything you’ve been taught

In other words? If you feel like you’re going a little nuts, congratulations; you might just be waking up.

The Subtle Danger of Escaping Too Soon

Kara issues a loving but firm warning: Don’t assume spiritual growth means leaving everything behind.

“Some people run off to a cave or abandon their families thinking they’ve found their truth. But that may just be another form of bypassing.”

True spiritual evolution doesn’t require you to destroy your life, it asks you to live it more fully, with open eyes and an open heart.

Plant Medicine: Tool or Trend?

The conversation took a fascinating turn into the realm of psychedelics and plant medicine; ayahuasca, mushrooms, bufo, and more.

Kara is no stranger to these tools. She’s had transformative experiences with mushrooms and CBD that opened psychic doors and enhanced her perception. But she’s also cautious.

“You’re incredibly vulnerable during these experiences,” she notes. “And not everyone serving these medicines has pure intentions.”

Her advice? Don’t jump in because it’s trendy. Do your research. Listen to your intuition. And always approach with reverence.

Tripping Without the Trip: The Power of Intent and Frequency

One particularly mind-blowing moment in the episode came when Kara shared a story about having a full-on psychedelic experience… without taking anything.

“I had mushroom chocolate in my bedside drawer. I didn’t eat it. But I still had a psychedelic vision in the hypnagogic state. Just from it being in my energetic field.”

Her takeaway? These tools aren’t magic pills. They simply attune us to frequencies that are already available to us.

Your power is within you. The plants might open the door, but you’re the one who walks through it.

What Authentic Awakening Really Looks Like

Kara defines authentic awakening not as some externally validated journey, but an internal alignment with your soul’s truth.

“We each have a unique soul frequency. Your path might include angels, ETs, sacred geometry, or none of that. It’s about what lights you up.”

This might mean meditating daily, or dancing in your kitchen. Reading ancient texts, or hugging trees. Hosting a podcast, or raising kids.

Authentic awakening isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s tailor-made by your soul, for your soul.

Kara’s Spirit Guides and Dreamwork: What Happens When You Listen

Kara also revealed how her spirit team communicates with her, including through vivid, symbolic dreams.

In one, she was trying to find her passport but only had expired ones. She also found handfuls of red gummies (CBD edibles) and chose to throw them away.

“I felt it was a message that I no longer needed external tools, I was ready to access these states on my own.”

She stopped taking CBD and soon found herself able to reach visionary states through meditation alone.

That’s evolution. That’s integration. That’s trusting your own inner GPS over every external map.

Curveball Wisdom: If Authenticity Had a Smell…

In classic Skeptic Metaphysicians style, Will and Karen tossed in a few curveball questions at the end, including the instant classic:

“If authenticity had a smell, what would it be?”

Kara’s answer?

“Woodsy. Like cedar. Like tree bark. Grounded, ancient, alive.”

And honestly? We felt that.

So… Are You Living Your Purpose?

This episode didn’t offer a five-step formula or a downloadable soul contract.

Instead, it offered something better: permission.

• Permission to stay where you are and still be spiritual

• Permission to question your teachers, even the enlightened ones

• Permission to be curious without committing to a label

• Permission to follow your inner compass, even when it spins wildly

• Permission to awaken in your own weird, wonderful, uniquely you way

Whether you’re meditating in a monastery or crunching numbers in a cubicle, your soul doesn’t care about your job title.

It cares about your alignment.

Final Thoughts: Trust the Spark

As Kara beautifully put it:

“When you take the cues of what lights that spark within you, you express your true soul.”

Your awakening doesn’t need to be flashy. It just needs to be honest.

So if you’re questioning your path… you’re on it.

If you’re feeling lost… you’re being rerouted.

If you’re wondering if you’re already living your purpose… ask yourself this:

Are you living authentically?

If not, this episode might just be the nudge you didn’t know you needed.

Listen to the Episode

🎧 Authentic Awakening: How to Find Your True Soul Purpose Without Quitting Your Job

Featuring Kara Goodwin — now streaming on The Skeptic Metaphysicians

Watch the full TV episode version on NewRealityTV.com

Connect with Kara Goodwin

• 🌐 Website: karagoodwin.com

• 🎙️ Podcast: Soul Elevation

• 📸 Instagram: @karagoodwinmeditation

• 📘 Book: Your Authentic Awakening – Available everywhere books are sold

Related Episodes You’ll Love

• “More Wisdom from the Angelic Collective Judah – Anjie Hipple”

• “Manifesting in the 5D – Jill M. Jackson”

• “Step-by-Step Instructions to Change Your Reality – Kris Ashley”

• “Quantum Alchemy for Expanding Consciousness – Rosalia Quintana”

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