I get really excited when I’m alerted to new research. I am, of course, waiting for that magical piece of clinical research telling me how to solve problems more efficiently. What’s your life purpose?
Unfortunately. I’ve just read some really interesting stuff about this subject. It’s been found to help with the following:
It’s about passion, something that makes life feel worthwhile. I often hear people talk about the feeling that ‘something is missing,’ but they can’t quite get in touch with what that is. Another common statement is ‘what’s the point?’
I’m not sure you can discuss this without having a discussion about values. The direction we drive our bus in is determined by what’s important to us. Our purpose and values define our direction in life.
As life gets ever more complex, our happiness tends to take a backseat as we struggle to keep our heads above water. And the more setbacks, knockbacks, falls, disappointments, failure and rejection we have to deal with, the more it wears us down.
But achieving happiness isn’t about dodging these bad experiences, no one can do that, it’s knowing what choices to make to deal with them, that will keep you buoyed up. Because the more you handle tough situations, the better equipped you become to know how to handle the next one.
So many of us strive towards living a happy life, without knowing what that actually means. We forget that in order to feel happy, we also have to feel myriad other feelings: sadness, loss, misery, struggle; because without one, the other doesn’t exist.
And there is nothing wrong with feeling any of these things. Our range of emotions are one of the great things that makes us human after all.
If your purpose/passion in life is to help others, one of your values may be about kindness.