What is the Point of Purpose?
Posted on 16th November 2024 at 10:01
Hello, and welcome back to my monthly blog. Many people go through life devoid of purpose, what the French call your Rason deter, the Japanese call it your Ikigai. It is that something that gets you up in the morning. For many it is a hobby or interest for a small few it is their job, I am luck and mine is both.
I am passionate about nature, history and stories, the job I do allows me to combine all three together. In fact, throughout my life apart from the first two jobs I did I have never worked a day in my life, yet I have never been unemployed.
I have been able to turn passions into earnings and thus spend my days doing what I love and getting paid for it. My current purpose is to help people connect to nature and history, therefore, to see the value in both and look after them and appreciate them.
So, alright I can hear you saying why do I need to have purpose in my life? Here are some reasons why it is important; with purpose you are guiding in your life decisions, it will help you shape goals, give you direction, create meaning and influence your behaviour.
When you have purpose in your life it helps you form values and makes life meaning full. Each of us will have a unique purpose in life if we are lucky and this will help us enjoy a richer time.
Without purpose you just exist, and often your mental health is not as good as that of someone with purpose. You are lightly to be less resilient to problems and setbacks than when you have purpose.
In Japan children are brought up knowing about Ikigai, purpose, and its importance to their lives. They believe that with purpose you will live longer and enjoy your life more.
Certainly, they have more people well over 100 years of age than the rest of the western world put together, and in one particular village there are lots of people over 110 years of age who are still active in their community, tending their gardens and enjoying a rich life. They believe it is down to having Ikigai, purpose.
There is an old Japanese proverb; Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.
Now, Ikigai translates into; the happiness of always being busy. The Japanese have discovered that being idol is not good for your mental or physical health. We are creatures created to be active a lot of the time. Yet our modern lives have developed to be the opposite for most people.
We live in a world where automation has replaced the hard work, with the push of a button a machine can do what we humans did at one time. The invention of the tv has generated generations of inactive people watch what is often mindless rubbish.
Do not get me wrong there are some very good programmes, and these can help and enrich our lives, give us information and even motivate us to do things. However, it is all too easy for people to sit down, switch on and remain there till bedtime.
The result of all this inactivity is globally there are ever increasing cases of obesity due to inactivity and all the inherent health issues that come with this. The availability of fast food, and ready meals has led many people to eat food which is not healthy for them.
In Japan as in many other countries there is joy to be found in creating meals, especially if it is done with several people working together. Chatting as they work, looking forward to all those they will sit and eat with and the conversation that will accompany it.
Many in the western world eat their processed meal in front of the tv, this does not inspire conversation, companionship or interest in the food. All these things again contribute to the deteriorating health both physical and mental health.
I would like to recommend people look at their lifestyles, consider do they know what their purpose is, are they doing it? Is your life full and rich, how is your health and your wealth. When I speak of wealth I am not talking about money, wealth in this instance is the quality of life that can make living a joy and does not require lots of money to do so.
Simple the desire to take a bit of time look at yourself, your life, ask the questions I have just asked about how you live your life, and do you have purpose and see what answer you get. Then decide to start by finding your Ikigai, Rason deter or purpose, whatever you want to call it and start making the changes to live a rich, full, long, healthy life full of happiness.
Thanks for joining me this month, if you would like to change your life visit my website and check out my new online resource – 14 Steps to Natural Wellness, it includes Ikigai. Also, if you haven’t done so why not join me for my weekly Podcasts where my three passions come together.
Good bye for now.
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