You may have heard about the growing desire in our society to live more purposefully, but it’s often easier said than done. Life doesn’t come with ready-made meaning, and we are not born with a pre-packaged purpose. If we want our life to be meaningful, we have to make it so.
Perhaps the biggest and most important first step toward a life with meaning is an alteration of your basic thought processes. When reflecting on your day, instead of simply thinking of everything you accomplished, think about what you learned, who you helped and if you loved what you were doing. These three attributes should form the basis of why you do anything. When you seek out opportunities to learn something, help someone or love something, you’ll begin to make more conscious decisions and see your long-term goals take shape.
Always learning
When was the last time you did something for the first time?
Many memorable figures in history weren’t experts in just one area but instead dabbled in many disciplines. Take Michelangelo, for example. The visionary behind the Sistine Chapel ceiling was not just a painter. As the embodiment of a “Renaissance man,” he explored science, writing, inventing and architecture, avoiding any kind of excessive specialization. The Italian phrase ancora imparo is often attributed to him, translating to “still I am learning.”
If you’re not one to hit the books and dive head-first into new subjects, reflect on this simple point: Every person you meet knows more about a given subject than you do. Therefore, we can learn from everyone. Ask friends about their hobbies or children about the world around them. View yourself as a collector, taking pages from others’ books to expand the breadth and depth of your own.
One reason people don’t continue seeking out learning opportunities is because they’re afraid of failure. We often view failure as the end of any journey, but it doesn’t have to be. Each time you fall short of success, you learn more about yourself and your abilities. Refusing to give up will help you find resilience and shift to a different path that will further expand your skill set. As Nelson Mandela once said, “I never lose, I either win or learn.”
Always helping others
Broadening your horizons has the potential to provide benefits outside of yourself. Take skills you’ve developed and put them to good use by supporting those around you.
It’s all about perspective. By looking at the challenges others experience, you can fold that point of view into your own. Lending a helping hand recenters us, serving as a reminder that most people struggle, and it’s okay if we do, too.
Serving others fulfills some of our most basic needs. However, selfless giving in the absence of self-preservation can become overwhelming. It’s important to be “otherish,” something author Adam Grant defines as being willing to give more than you receive while keeping your own interests in sight. After all, you can’t help others if you’re not in the proper condition to do so.
Always loving what you’re doing
At times, you may experience an overwhelming sense that you should be further along in life or that you’ll never reach your destination. Dissatisfaction is human nature. Your ego convinces you that happiness will be found once you pursue the next big thing. But the key to feeling fulfilled is not just finding satisfaction in the way your life unfolds. It’s in loving where you are and what you’re doing. This requires perceiving life in the greater scheme of things. If you label every experience as good or bad, you may miss out on the fundamental lessons sewn into your journey.
This idea is epitomized in the Danish concept hygge. Pronounced “hoo-ga,” hygge encompasses a feeling of cozy contentment through enjoying the simple things in life. If you’ve ever enjoyed a good book on a rainy Sunday or a cup of hot cocoa on a snow day, you’ve experienced hygge. It’s about creating comfort in familiarity and making the most of what you have.
While optimism is often a choice, there are circumstances where no amount of smiling and willing yourself to love your situation will suffice. In these instances, don’t be afraid to change what you can control. Seeking new opportunities could be the transformation you need to start wholeheartedly loving your place in the world.
Living purposefully doesn’t warrant massive changes in your day-to-day life. It’s usually a simple shift in perspective. This subtle difference can manage the effects stress has on your body by minimizing stressors before they hit. Striving toward a life of always learning, always serving and always loving will enable you to rest easier, reflect more and find greater meaning in the little things.
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