By Dr Attia Anwar
“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”—-Washington Burnop
After working on your everyday habits, if you are in real pursuit of long-term happiness, you have to find a purpose in your life. Life without any purpose ultimately becomes meaningless and empty.
Having a life purpose means you have a big central aim that sets the direction of your life and makes your life activities valuable. Research indicates that having a purpose in life is good for your mental health. A lack of meaning or purpose in life leads to increased stress and depression.
To find your actual purpose, you have to work on yourself and find your passion. As far as purpose is concerned, it is the same as happiness in a way, that it is not a specific destination but a journey. The process of finding a purpose is also very satisfying. Working on yourself and self-reflection will help you to find your purpose and give back to humanity. If you do not have any clear direction at this moment, you can find your purpose. You can intentionally work towards finding that. Focusing on your strengths, which means things you are good at and roadblocks you have overcome, can help you find your ultimate goal or present goal. You can keep on changing your purpose throughout life, but you should always have something to look forward to. You can look for role models, the people who inspire you. And go in that direction. Alternatively, you can inspire other people and become a mentor. You will have immense satisfaction and happiness by guiding other people, especially when they achieve something.
Having a purpose in life is essential for your well-being. It gives meaning to your life and sets its direction. It provides resilience in the face of adversity and helps you grow personally. It is also good for meaningful social connections. Your purpose should be something that has meaning for you, you should enjoy that, and you should be good at that. And it should be a little challenging also, as I have described in the article, enjoy your job. When passion combines with real work, then masterpieces are created. Finding your purpose is not all about your job. It can be anything that gives meaning to your life and for which you should not retire throughout your life, and keep working for it as long as you can.
Purpose can be doing something for the community, writing, art, or simple gardening, with the idea of making things grow. If you already know what you are passionate about, you should do that regularly. If you do not find your passion, there are ways by which you can discover how to find your passion. You should work for that, and all the everyday habits that are described will help you find that. And once you reach that stage, your long-term well-being will be with you.
In some ancient traditions, it is believed that everyone who comes to this finite world has some purpose. That gave everybody a sense of being well. But sometimes it is very difficult to find what your actual passion is. To find out, you have to see what the meaningful things that you enjoy most are. What are the things that take you into flow? Flow is the experience when you are so involved in the activity that you lose the sense of time. You are present and immersed in the work you are doing, enjoying it completely. So, to find that work, it should have certain characteristics. It should be a little challenging. It should not be very easy. It should not be very difficult. It should align with your principles. Try to find out the things that make you happy and take you into the flow. Then think about what the common things in all of them are. That can be the purpose of your life, or in other words, that will be the work if you do, you will be happy, and you never want to retire from it.
Finding your flow in major things is sometimes difficult. You can find micro flow. Enjoy routine, mundane activities. Make yourself involved in them and do them from your heart. As in some books example of the lift operator is given. It may be a boring and mundane activity for most people. But some people connect to the passengers on a personal level, greet them from their heart, and do something. This activity puts them in flow. They start enjoying their job and become happy, and remain happy.
So purpose can be something very big, like dreaming to change the world or empowering all people for their wellbeing, or it can be simple acts of kindness for strangers, giving them a genuine smile and making their day a little better. But for living with ease, your life must have some purpose it may be big or small. It will keep you in a direction and make your life meaningful.
The things you enjoy do not include temporary things like drugs or a meaningless social life to find your purpose. They give you a temporary boost of happiness, and then you have a sense of emptiness. And they cannot be the purpose of your life. They are harmful to your long-term well-being. You cannot find your flow in these activities. Being in flow means you enjoy that activity and feel satisfied afterward. Sometimes you enjoy the activity after it is finished. That is a long-term purpose and happiness. You can be passionate about your growth and keep working on your improvement. That can make all the other things right. And you will live a purposeful life. The concept of living a purpose-driven life is a beacon of hope. It may not be the answer to all the challenges of life. But it provides a way to navigate the complexities of life. Living with purpose is not something fancy, it is a basic element of a flourishing life. And the power of purpose is that it improves our well-being, makes us at ease in this world, and helps us to be useful in this finite life.
The author, Dr. Attia Anwar, is a consultant family physician with a postgraduate degree from the Royal College of GPs UK. She is a strong advocate of health and well-being and wants patient participation in decision-making regarding health.
