Finding purpose in life is one of those things that most people want, but it can seem challenging to attain. If you haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about your own purpose, you might have some preconceived ideas about the purpose of life. These ideas often come from our family and the communities we grow up in. For example, the purpose of our life is to get married and have kids. Or, maybe it’s earning a certain amount of money or achieving a certain position in society. But these types of achievements often don’t bring the kind of fulfillment that comes with finding your personal sense of purpose. A personal sense of purpose is less of a specific end goal and more of an ongoing impact on the world, large or small. 

Purpose is your why.

This personal sense of purpose guides and sustains you. Day to day and through the years. Even when you have setbacks and the world turns upside down, purpose gives you stability and a sense of direction. That’s why finding purpose is essential for living a happy, healthy life.

While asking what your purpose is can seem like a lofty question, it’s one worth asking. And trying to answer. Finding your purpose can unlock greater satisfaction and success in all areas of your life. 

So let’s dive into the big questions: what is purpose in life, why it matters, and 12 tips to finding your purpose.

What is the purpose of life?

Your purpose in life is as unique to you as your fingerprint. We all have a particular set of talents, experiences, skill sets, and interests that light us up. Purpose is related to these, but it is your reason for being. It is why you get out of bed in the morning, even when the day is dreary, you’re tired, and you know the tasks and challenges ahead are going to be hard or even boring. Purpose is the long game, not the short-term goal. You never get to the end of it. However, even a strong sense of purpose can wear you down. That’s why, ideally, your purpose blends with what interests you and brings you joy.

In Japan, this idea is known as ikigai, and it’s the concept of following your joy. Ikigai has grown popular in the West as a way to help people find their dream careers and career paths. The concept is finding the overlap between what you love and the world needs, with what you are good at and the world will compensate you for. You craft your sense of purpose from your passion as well as practical considerations. If you’re lucky, you might have found your ikigai through your work. For example, a doctor hopefully believes their purpose is to help sick people or to ease suffering. 

This ikigai diagram helps to visualize this concept by showing these four main overlapping qualities:

The center point on the diagram where all four circles overlap is your ikigai. Apart from living a longer and happier life, knowing your ikigai can help you: 

• Design your ideal work lifestyle; 
• Create strong social connections at work; 
• Create a healthy work-life balance;  
• Pursue your career dreams; 
• Enjoy your work. 

When you know your ikigai and understand its meaning, you’re aligned with the work you’ve longed to do and the work the world needs you to do.

For others, finding meaning in our work and connecting it to our personal sense of purpose isn’t so easy. Between work, family responsibilities, and social expectations, we often abandon the idealistic version of ourselves that yearns to find a sense of meaning and purpose in life.  We believe we have to make this tradeoff — that meaning and purpose can’t exist with pragmatic considerations. But that isn’t helpful. You need a sense of purpose to sustain you over time. And even when life feels like a series of compromises, you can still discover and connect to your purpose by exploring what brings you joy and dedicating more time to it. 

Why is finding purpose important?

Finding your purpose in life might sound like a nice-to-have, but it’s more important than you may think. Living a meaningful life contributes to better physical health and mental fitness.It also reduces the risk of chronic disease. Multiple studies have even found that it can help you live longer. 

Having a sense of purpose comes from feeling connected to others. Using your gifts in the service of others can help you find your true purpose, while isolation and loneliness can cause you to have an existential crisis.

You will probably find that your purpose changes throughout your life. Continuous growth and progress can help you stay connected to your purpose.

How to find purpose/ikigai in life: 

If you’re asking yourself, “What is my purpose?” you’re not alone. One study showed that just ¼ of American adults say they have a clear sense of purpose. If you’re part of the other 75%, follow these tips to get started on finding purpose and meaning in life. 

1. Develop a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset is linked to having a sense of purpose. Constantly growing and becoming a better version of yourself helps you identify your purpose and commit to pursuing it.  A growth mindset also allows you to:

• Embrace challenges as opportunities 
• Persevere in spite of failure 
• Accept feedback and constructive criticism

2. Create a personal vision statement. A personal vision statement can help you manage stress and find balance in your life. It also serves as a roadmap that will guide you toward your purpose by identifying your core values and establishing what’s important to you. A purpose statement makes it easier for you to make decisions aligned to your values and helps you stay motivated as you work toward your personal goals.

3. Give back. Giving back can enhance your sense of meaning and purpose in life. This means that when you help others, you also help yourself. Look for ways to be of service. You might want to volunteer in your local community or donate your money or skills to a cause that resonates with you. Or try spreading a little happiness by performing random acts of kindness.

4. Practice gratitude. One study found that focusing on gratitude in addition to acts of altruism strengthened the participants’ sense of purpose. It also found that cultivating gratitude can make you more generous and lead to acts of kindness, which we now know contributes to finding a sense of purpose. Practicing gratitude can feel a bit awkward at first. We get so used to our negative thoughts that switching them for positive ones can feel unnatural. To get started, try writing three to five things you feel grateful for first thing in the morning or at night before you go to sleep. 

5. Turn your pain into purpose. We all face struggles in life. Overcoming these challenges shapes who we become and gives us our unique strengths and perspectives. Many people ask for help when struggling to overcome a major life change. Some later find their purpose in helping others facing similar struggles to those they have overcome. Some choose a career working directly with people, such as a life coach or social worker. Others find ways to touch the lives of others through the arts, such as writing, painting, or music. Some become motivational speakers. How you transform your pain into purpose is up to you.

6. Explore your passions. Your passions and interests are a good indicator of the area in which your life purpose might lie. But they can be hard to identify. They’re so ingrained in our ways of thinking that we can become blind to them. If you’re not sure what your passions are, ask the people who know you best. Likely, you’re already pursuing them in some way without even realizing it. Perhaps you’re an unofficial mentor to young people in your community. If so, that could be your passion. Another way to find your passion is to think about what you’re good at. Someone who’s great at helping others solve their problems might want to consider a career as a coach. You might prefer to keep your passion as a hobby, or you might decide to turn it into a side hustle or full-time source of income. 

7. Be part of a community. Purpose is about feeling connected to others, so being an active member of a community can contribute to a greater sense of purpose in life. When you find your purpose, you’ll discover that there are many others out there who share your passions, interests, and values. Joining or creating a community allows you to find that sense of connection with others as you work together toward a common goal.

8. Spend time with people who inspire you. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If you spend time with people who are positive and purpose-driven, they are likely to inspire you to have the same mindset. You may even discover your purpose through them. Look beyond your colleagues and family members and ask yourself who you choose to spend your time with. Evaluate those relationships and make sure you are surrounding yourself with aspirational, positive people who lift you up.

9. Read. One of the best ways to expand your mental horizons is through reading fiction. Nonfiction books are useful for acquiring knowledge on certain subjects. But research suggests that reading fiction may have more benefits. Reading fiction improves your empathy and critical and creative thinking. This is because when you put yourself in the shoes of a character, you imagine how you would react in that situation. Reading also connects you to other people across time, place, and cultures. This helps you cultivate the sense of connectedness that generates a sense of purpose in life.

10. Join a cause. We all have a cause that we feel passionately about. Perhaps you have strong feelings about social justice, animal welfare, or the environment. Fighting for a cause ties together several of the tips mentioned above, including:

• Giving back 
• Forming part of a community 
• Doing something you’re passionate about
• Surrounding yourself with people who inspire you

Whatever it is, getting involved with a cause will help you find more purpose in your life. 

11. Practice self-acceptance. Accepting your limitations can help you be kinder to yourself when things go wrong. We all make mistakes, but instead of beating yourself up for your failures, try to see each setback as an opportunity to grow. Self-compassion can help you become more self-aware and self-accepting. When you accept all of yourself, you’re more likely to give the best of yourself in every situation. This might be at work, with your family, or while doing the things you love. This can lead to a greater sense of connection to others and everything you do, giving more meaning to your life. 

12. Take time for self-care. Self-care comes in many forms, and your version of self-care is unique to you. Perhaps you like walking in the forest, practicing some deep breathing, or journaling out your difficult emotions. But why is self-care important? Because when our brains are relaxed, they are at their most creative. You cannot achieve or serve others when you are battling against yourself. Have you ever noticed that some of your best ideas come when you’re in the shower? That’s because our minds are more open and receptive to the flow of ideas than they are when we try to force ourselves to think.  Creative thinking comes naturally when our minds are in a state of relaxation. And it can lead you closer to finding your purpose. 

Finding purpose in life doesn’t have to be hard

Behind every successful person is clarity of purpose. And unless you find yours, you’ll continue to cruise through life on autopilot. You may find yourself knocked off-course and lost, uncertain how to move forward or which direction is forward. Or, life may be smooth but one day you may look back and wish you had used your time differently. Identifying, acknowledging, and honoring your purpose is the foundation of a well-rounded life. It requires some courage because it opens up questions and ideas that might not be comfortable. Yet it’s worth it. Purpose provides you with an inner compass that guides every decision and leads you to the experiences that will light up your soul. 

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A Collection of Reflections

Create a Ripple of Kindness

Kindness can break down barriers, change a person’s entire mood, and create an everlasting bond. It’s one of the most important ways you can show someone you care, that their existence matters to you.

“What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and love, and joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world.”  ~ Barack Obama

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”  ~ Princess Diana

“Remember, there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” ~ Scott Adams

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” ~ Desmond Tutu

How and where will you create a ripple of kindness today?

A Shopping List

After shopping for groceries for most of our lives, many of us have a system down pat. But the range of brands and variety of choices is constantly evolving, and the sheer amount of options can easily throw us off. Having a list keeps you focused and productive when shopping. Without one, it’s easy to forget essential items or overspend on things you forgot you already had.

The shopping list can also be applied to how we approach our overall wellness. First there are a few things that help us make a good list:

• categorize
• take inventory
• prioritize
• check off items as you acquire them
• So, let’s start with the categories of our wellness list:
• emotional
• relational/social
• spiritual
• physical
• vocational/occupational
• intellectual
• environmental
• financial

Next, ask yourself the following, “how can I restore, restock, or rebuild what I might be running out of?”

I’d love to know how you prioritize your list.

Comfort & Growth

Today I was reminded that self care goes beyond just providing relaxation or feeling good. Sometimes self care is found in the uncomfortable moments of our daily lives.

It’s a Virtuous Cycle > our discomfort leads us to seek a solution which may require new knowledge > new knowledge leads to personal growth and change > leading us to a new way of doing and being.

Whether you’re growing a business, taking on a new role, learning a new skill, making a change or taking a chance in any area of your life, embracing what is uncomfortable is a prerequisite for learning what you need to learn so you can grow into who you’re capable of becoming.

Where in your life might this perspective be useful and applied?

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The Alaka’i Bookshelf 

Two new books were added to my stack this month.

My Life with Sea Turtles by Christine Figgener. It is a great blend of personal story and science in which the author calls upon every generation to protect and invest in our relationship to the environment and especially with sea turtles. I am loving this one! 

The second is The Awakened Brain – The New Science of Spirituality and our Quest for an Inspired Life by Lisa Miller, PhD. This book combines science and spirituality with evidence to help us answer the question, “What makes life worth living?”

What have you been reading lately?

And, as always, if you’re looking for another book to add to your reading list, don’t forget Under a Full Moon and a Guiding Star. 

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10 Secrets to Loving Your Life

Did you know that our aging process begins in our 20’s?! So now is the time (whatever age you are) to start paying attention to aging in wellness! And if you are ready to take that next step, let Alaka’i Associates be your guide!

https://lanialmanza.lifevantage.com/…/10-secrets-to…  

This month the Subscriber Giveaway includes 3 self care gifts to help you on your wellness journey. And there will be not 1, but 3, lucky winners!

You can also contact me to schedule a free one-on-one Discovery Call to make a plan for your wellness.

#LiveAlohaLiveWell