Happiness, meaning and a sense of purpose.

What does it mean to have a sense of purpose?
How much would a sense of purpose guide and affect your choices?

Having a sense of purpose gives you a reason to aim for something. It encourages you to move towards more fulfilling goals and in doing so enables you to experience longer lasting happiness.  Having a sense of purpose means having clear goals that fit into your wider life story, so that what you do holds meaning and direction.

Having meaning in your life gives you the ‘why’ you do what you do. Knowing that your life has meaning helps you face up to difficulties and overcome hardship. The meaning, ‘your story’, defines your role and makes you who you are and what you do matter.

‘Lack of meaning and purpose accounts for much of the rise in depression in America’

Victor Frankl

Victor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, remarks in his seminal book Man’s Search for Meaning that lack of meaning and boredom in people’s lives cause more mental health problems than

distress.

A sense of purpose doesn't have to be a grand world changing ideal, it is a way of holding who you are in harmony with what you do. Living a purposeful life has direction; you know the path you are on and equally importantly who you are. You are the path you walk: when your path is more important than the destination, life becomes vibrant and exciting; you know where you are headed and why. Your path is not so much about goals and work but the quality you bring to the process of living – your purpose, your unique contribution.

Where you feel most autonomy and freedom is a good place to find a sense of purpose to your life. Knowing what you value, and living to those values, gives the meaning and purpose to what you do.