One of the keys to self-care is finding purpose, but what can we do to find more life meaning and purpose. The answers are both big and small…
In a post-pandemic world, the volume of people searching for a sense of purpose has skyrocketed. Studies have shown that having a sense of purpose in life can positively affect our well-being, with better health outcomes, improved mental health, and maintaining strong relationships, but if we are hunting for meaning and purpose in life, how do we go about this? The solutions lie in a number of different strategies:
Content List
Acquire Different Perspectives
Reflect on the Concept of Sacrifice
Reflect on Your Core Values
One of the keys to effective self-care is understanding what makes you you. Self-reflection involves asking many questions of ourselves, which can become a mammoth task, which is why the best place to begin is by understanding your core values and principles.
You should ask yourself what matters to you and identify attributes that resonate with who you are. These could be terms like compassion, creativity, ambition, or honesty. This is also known as life crafting, which involves reflecting on values, passions, and goals and can help you make concrete plans to work towards them.
Once you understand what aligns with who you are, you can then start to invest in activities that line up with these values, which gives you purpose. An excellent example is changing careers, especially when you are working in a job that does not fulfil you. When you explore your passions in life, whether it’s within a career setting or not, they can guide you toward a more meaningful existence because when you nurture your passions, you experience fulfilment and joy, and these emotions will help you make sense of the world and you can make a difference in your own way.
Set Meaningful Goals
To feel a sense of purpose in life, you have to progress. When we stagnate, we lose that forward momentum that gives us a sense of purpose. When somebody does not understand what life is about reflecting on core values and beliefs helps position that person so they can progress towards more meaningful goals.
We should ensure our goals align with our purpose but to achieve our goals, we must break them down into small actionable steps to make progress manageable. We are all guilty of chasing a dream thinking that we will instantly feel a sense of connectedness within ourselves, but progression is key to purpose.
We should define compelling goals but also use a specific strategy to break down long-term objectives into smaller achievable milestones, which is why the SMART goal strategy can not just keep us on track but help get those small wins. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. A big goal is always a composite of smaller ones, which is something we can lose track of when yearning for meaning.
Acquire Different Perspectives
Thomas Edison admired Leonardo da Vinci and used him as the barometer to measure his life skills and we can live a life that severely lacks inspiration, which is why if you feel like you have to understand what you are here for, it might very well be that you’ve not found someone who inspires you, or, in fact, they’ve been in your life all this time.
Comparing ourselves to others is ineffective because much like Thomas Edison, it sets the bar way too high, but when we connect with different perspectives, we can learn the art of defining our purpose. The great literary characters in history have an unshakable sense of purpose, so the more we read, the more we can empathise with those who are fighting a sense of injustice or are striving for something that was within them all along.
Studies have shown that people who read religious books like the Bible can have a greater sense of purpose than those who don’t. What is it about those people who attend church every Sunday that feel a greater sense of meaning in life? It’s because they already understand what they’re here for. Regardless of your position on religion, acquiring different perspectives could open your eyes, ears, and mind to an approach in life that can give you a better way to live. We can all search for aesthetics or money, however, finding meaning and purpose is not about the things we see on the surface; it’s having an unshakable faith in something that you believe in, whether it’s a higher power or not.
Reflect on the Concept of Sacrifice
Something we don’t always consider in relation to understanding our life purpose is sacrifice. The depth of life’s meaning is often proportional to the degree of sacrifice made, in other words, how much we value something is defined by our willingness to sacrifice for it.
When we undergo trials and tribulations to reach our goal, we look back and make peace with the fact that it was worth the hardship. Taking the time to reflect on the sacrifices we’ve made in various aspects of our lives, whether it’s personal growth, career, or community involvement, and connecting the sacrifices to our core values and beliefs can lead us toward a more purposeful life.
Sacrifice plays an essential role in everybody’s lives, and when we strive for a better approach to self-care, we must understand that sacrifice is not a bad thing because of its ability to provide a greater sense of understanding of oneself.
Learn the Art of Appreciation
Finding the joy in life is a fundamental aspect of self-help. We cannot see the wood for the trees when we are constantly pushing for a higher purpose. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, which is why understanding what you have right in front of you can help you find purpose. “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans,” and this expression is pivotal when we find ourselves overcome with the urgency to make an impact on the world.
To learn the art of appreciation, we should engage in activities that bring us joy, but we also need to gain clarity on our existence by embracing gratitude. Studies have shown gratitude has a significant impact on well-being and life satisfaction and plays a role in enhancing resilience and optimism, allowing individuals to acknowledge both positive and negative emotions without suppressing the negative state, leading to more balanced emotions and greater resilience in the face of challenges.
Acknowledging and appreciating the positive aspects of your life can lead to a deeper sense of fulfilment and meaning, which is why evaluating the relationships in your life can help you appreciate what you truly have, while sharing experiences and connecting with new people can contribute significantly to your sense of purpose and belonging.
Conclusion
Growth is a fundamental human need- we feel more fulfilled when we grow in the right direction. Progress is key to our sense of satisfaction in life, and when we overcome obstacles to find and understand our purpose, this is what makes us feel alive inside.
One of the fundamental aspects of self-care is feeling like you have a reason to exist, and finding more is not just about the next thing but about understanding why you are here and what you are built for. These approaches cover different facets of achieving a greater sense of life meaning, but while achieving purpose may sound complex, the reality is that a sense of meaning can be very simple when we stop chasing.
Summary
In a world where we are yearning for a sense of direction, how can we find our path? The quest for purpose has never been more crucial in a post-pandemic world. But how can we achieve what we are looking for and what we deserve?
It all begins with introspection and understanding who you are. Understanding the values that shape your identity, also known as your core values, can help you invest in activities which give you purpose.
We then need to set meaningful goals, but progress can be hindered by goals being too large, which is why we should break them down into actionable and achievable steps, such as the SMART strategy, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. We must remember that big goals are made up of smaller ones.
We must also seek inspiration, whether it’s through literature, religion, or meaningful conversations. We must learn to broaden our perspective. Having the skill of looking at the world through the eyes of others can help us to get out of our own stagnating mindset but to find more meaning, we must also remember how sacrifice feeds into our life goals. Appreciating the value of what we’re willing to give up for our aspirations will ensure we have a greater focus on the things that matter.
Finally, learning the art of appreciation involves finding the joy of the things we already have. Learning to be present is a key facet of mindfulness, and while there is a need to progress, when we appreciate the journey rather than the goal, this could be all we need to find purpose and meaning.