What is Your Purpose in Life?

The Purposeful Life–According to Aristotle & Jefferson 
 January 26, 2013  

Aristotle The Purposeful Life “A virtue is a habit or quality that allows the bearer to succeed at his, her, or its purpose. The virtue of a knife, for example, is sharpness; among the virtues of a racehorse is speed. Thus to identify the virtues for human beings, one must have an account of what the human purpose is.”–Aristotle

The purpose of a knife is to cut. The purpose of a racehorse is to run. The purpose of a human, according to Aristotle, is to pursue happiness. By “happiness,” he meant not just joy, but wealth, health, friendship, and knowledge. Of the virtues that allow us to achieve happiness, Aristotle valued reason most.

When he wrote the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was influenced by Aristotle, but also by Enlightenment figures like Locke, Rousseau, and Kant, who saw that only the elite could attain Aristotle’s highest purpose. The Founders understood we must not only aim for our own happiness, but support others to pursue theirs.

As leaders, we must not just focus on ourselves, we must look at the greater good of our communities. We must exercise reason for ourselves and others. We must lead purposeful lives.

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What Is Your Purpose in Life?
Here are four truths that give your life meaning and purpose
Posted Jun 26, 2014

hat is the purpose of life? This question is as old as the human race itself. Some argue that our purpose is to find happiness. Others say our purpose is to love others, to become the best version of ourselves, or to follow God’s will. Still others say there is no purpose to life at all.

I believe that our lives do have a purpose, and that the clues are all around us in plain view. You can’t miss them. Our purpose is so deeply imbedded in our culture that we easily overlook it or take it for granted.
Put simply, your purpose in life is to live the life of a hero.

The hero’s journey is captured in all the great stories in literature, and in all the great movies we enjoy on the big screen. Hero stories endow our lives with meaning and reveal how a human life is meant to be lived.
Hero stories illuminate your true purpose in four ways:

1. You will go on a journey. At some point during your life, you will journey away from the comforts of your familiar world. In The Wizard of Oz, a tornado sends Dorothy to the land of Oz. In The Fault in Our Stars, cancer sends Hazel to Amsterdam. The hero’s journey can be real or metaphorical. Sometimes heroes choose the journey; sometimes the journey is chosen for them. Brace yourself, your life always includes some type of voyage, fraught with discomfort but crucial in revealing your life purpose.
2. You will grow from adversity. Overcoming obstacles and failures is a central part of your life journey. Children’s fairy tales prepare us for adversity by featuring heroes who grow from their setbacks. The three little pigs find a way to outsmart the big bad wolf. Bambi overcomes his mother’s death to grow into a great leader. “Where you stumble, there lies your treasure,” observed mythologist Joseph Campbell. Heroes use adversity to better themselves. When you are challenged by the darkest of life circumstances, know that your journey is fashioning you into a wiser, more resilient individual.
3. You will assemble a team of allies. You should never undertake your journey alone. Heroes find a way to attract sidekicks, friends, and mentors to help them overcome obstacles. Matt Langdon of the Hero Construction Company calls it “building a team around you.” Often the person who helps you is someone you least expect. Remember that the point of the journey is to transform you into a stronger, better person. Trusted allies will guide you through adversity and will assist you in becoming forever transformed by your journey.
4. You will give back to society. The hero’s journey is far more than mere personal transformation. Once you return from your journey, you will use your new-found gifts to make the world a better place. In 12 Years a Slave, the hero Solomon survives his ordeal as a slave and then works to end slavery. In The Odyssey, Odysseus endures his turbulent voyage home and then becomes a wise ruler of Ithaca.

Your life purpose is to use your own personal transformation to help transform society. Once mentored by another, you will now mentor others. Your selfless service to the world will forge your place in the human chain of love shown by people who came before you and by people who will follow you.

The hero’s journey is not just illustrated in fiction but in the real lives of the world’s greatest heroes, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  These three legends lived the four truths of heroism outlined above:

1. They all embarked on a journey that forever changed their lives
2. They suffered greatly at the hands of others
3. They benefited from a team of allies who made their triumphs possible
4. They all used their gifts to forever change the world.

​You may not be on the life trajectory of a Gandhi or a Mandela, but rest assured you are on a hero’s journey that has momentous implications for yourself and for the world. Perhaps you are in the process of overcoming cancer, a difficult childhood, a financial setback, or some major transgression. As you struggle, remember that regardless of the outcome, you are fulfilling your life’s purpose. Each human life is meant to be a heroic life.

References
Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2011). Heroes: What they do and why we need them. New York: Oxford University Press.
Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2013). Heroic leadership: An influence taxonomy of 100 exceptional individuals. New York: Routledge.
Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. New York: New World Library.
Franco, Z. E., Blau, K., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2011). Heroism: A conceptual analysis and differentiation between heroic action and altruism. Review of General Psychology, 15, 99-113.
Goethals, G. R., & Allison, S. T. (2012). Making heroes: The construction of courage, competence, and virtue. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. San Diego: Elsevier.
Smith, G., & Allison, S. T. (2014). Reel heroes, Volume 1. Agile Writer Press. ​

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​Meaning of life
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe meaning of life, or the answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life?", pertains to the significance of living or existence in general. Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "What is the purpose of existence?" There have been many proposed answers to these questions from many different cultural and ideological backgrounds. The search for life's meaning has produced much philosophical, scientific, theological, and metaphysical speculation throughout history. Different people and cultures believe different things for the answer to this question.
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The meaning of life as we perceive it is derived from philosophical and religious contemplation of, and scientific inquiries about existence, social ties, consciousness, and happiness. Many other issues are also involved, such as symbolic meaning, ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil, free will, the existence of one or multiple gods, conceptions of God, the soul, and the afterlife. Scientific contributions focus primarily on describing related empirical facts about the universe, exploring the context and parameters concerning the "how" of life. Science also studies and can provide recommendations for the pursuit of well-being and a related conception of morality. An alternative, humanistic approach poses the question, "What is the meaning of my life?"
Psychological significance and value in life

Researchers in positive psychology study empirical factors that lead to life satisfaction, full engagement in activities, making a fuller contribution by utilizing one's personal strengths, and meaning based on investing in something larger than the self. Large-data studies of flow experiences have consistently suggested that humans experience meaning and fulfillment when mastering challenging tasks and that the experience comes from the way tasks are approached and performed rather than the particular choice of task. For example, flow experiences can be obtained by prisoners in concentration camps with minimal facilities, and occur only slightly more often in billionaires. A classic example is of two workers on an apparently boring production line in a factory. One treats the work as a tedious chore while the other turns it into a game to see how fast she can make each unit and achieves flow in the process.

Neuroscience describes reward, pleasure, and motivation in terms of neurotransmitter activity, especially in the limbic system and the ventral tegmental area in particular. If one believes that the meaning of life is to maximize pleasure and to ease general life, then this allows normative predictions about how to act to achieve this. Likewise, some ethical naturalists advocate a science of morality—the empirical pursuit of flourishing for all conscious creatures.

Experimental philosophy and neuroethics research collects data about human ethical decisions in controlled scenarios such as trolley problems. It has shown that many types of ethical judgment are universal across cultures, suggesting that they may be innate, whilst others are culture-specific. The findings show actual human ethical reasoning to be at odds with most logical philosophical theories, for example consistently showing distinctions between action by cause and action by omission which would be absent from utility-based theories. Cognitive science has theorized about differences between conservative and liberal ethics and how they may be based on different metaphors from family life such as strong fathers vs nurturing mother models.

Neurotheology is a controversial field which tries to find neural correlates and mechanisms of religious experience. Some researchers have suggested that the human brain has innate mechanisms for such experiences and that living without using them for their evolved purposes may be a cause of imbalance. Studies have reported conflicting results on correlating happiness with religious belief and it is difficult to find unbiased meta-analyses.

Sociology examines value at a social level using theoretical constructs such as value theory, norms, anomie, etc. One value system suggested by social psychologists, broadly called Terror Management Theory, states that human meaning is derived from a fundamental fear of death, and values are selected when they allow us to escape the mental reminder of death.

Alongside this, there are a number of theories about the way in which humans evaluate the positive and negative aspects of their existence and thus the value and meaning they place on their lives. For example, depressive realism posits an exaggerated positivity in all except those experiencing depressive disorders who see life as it truly is, and David Benatar theorises that more weight is generally given to positive experiences, providing bias towards an over-optimistic view of life.

Emerging research shows that meaning in life predicts better physical health outcomes. Greater meaning has been associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, reduced risk of heart attack among individuals with coronary heart disease, reduced risk of stroke, and increased longevity in both American and Japanese samples. In 2014, the British National Health Service began recommending a five-step plan for mental well-being based on meaningful lives, whose steps are: (1) Connect with community and family; (2) Physical exercise; (3) Lifelong learning; (4) Giving to others; (5) Mindfulness of the world around you.

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For Community and Faith Leaders

Creating community connections for mental healthFaith and community leaders are often the first point of contact when individuals and families face mental health problems or traumatic events.  In fact, in times of crisis, many will turn to trusted leaders in their communities before they turn to mental health professionals.  When leaders know how to respond, they become significant assets to the overall health system.

Faith and community leaders can help educate individuals and families about mental health, increasing awareness of mental health issues and making it easier for people to seek help. Community connectedness and support, like that found in faith-based and other neighborhood organizations, are also important to the long-term recovery of people living with mental illnesses.
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Faith communities are also in a unique position to reach many of the millions of Americans who struggle with serious thoughts of suicide each year. Many people having thoughts of suicide feel hopeless, trapped, or are in such emotional pain or despair, that they struggle to face another day.  Suicidal thoughts are often accompanied by a spiritual crisis or deep questioning about the purpose of life.  If faith leaders are better able to recognize the signs of suicide and learn how to respond, they can serve as an expanded safety net for those most in need.

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​IKIGAI: The Answer To Your Nursing Career
The mind is a powerful place, and what you feed it will affect you in a powerful way
By  RNspeak
 
April 13, 2020 Modified date: October 8, 2020​Nursing as a profession can be quite overwhelming. Just look at what we do on a daily basis, we wake up, prepare for our shift, beat the traffic just like every employee does, arrive at the workplace and that’s where we differ from other regular employees. Why? Because our workplace spells STRESS.
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Before you enter your ward, if you’re working in the hospital, you are already under a stressful environment. We deal with stress every single day, the endorsements, the angry families, the toxic patients, and doctors, and co-staffs. Everything around is very stressful. The job itself is stressful; lack of supplies, low salaries for some, understaffed.

Table of Contents  

1 Breaking Point
2 The concept of the Venn Diagram of Purpose goes like this:
3 Do you love it?
4 Passion is Built, not Found
5 5 Pillars of IKIGAI
6 Starting Small
7 Releasing Yourself
8 Harmony and Sustainability
9 The Joy of Little Things
10 Being the Here and Now
11 End of the Bargain

​All these things can easily lead to burnout. And with the current situation that we are dealing with, it seems like our job as a nurse just got more difficult than it already is.

Breaking Point
​So, it is very understandable that at some point in your career, we ask ourselves, why we ever take this path. Why are we here, and why did we choose to do this? It’s normal to feel the pressure on your shoulders when it’s way too heavy for one to bear. It’s okay to get tired from the years of repeated pounding from your workdays and the long hours spent at work. What’s not okay is to give up. And there are a million ways that we can do to keep on going; oftentimes we conclude that we are just doing this to support our families because if we stop with this job, we wouldn’t be able to support them.
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Sometimes we feel that we don’t have any other options hence we get stuck to the thought of being a prisoner to our professions. I can tell that it’s not it. It’s the stress taking its toll. This will serve as a reminder and at the same time guidance that you are on the right path, not all people are destined to do what we do. But here we are. And this will tell you the answer to why you answered the calling of

​This is NOT IKIGAI. Most misinterpret it to be a diagram of it but it’s the Venn Diagram of Purpose. But the reason why it was misunderstood to be IKIGAI is that they share the same concept, it’s just that IKIGAI is more focused on “the little things” in life while the Venn Diagram is more career-oriented. Nevertheless, we’ll go through the Venn Diagram as well before we move on to the true IKIGAI. In the Venn Diagram of Purpose, it talks about 4 things:
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• What you love
• What the world needs
• What you are good at
• What you are paid for

The concept of the Venn Diagram of Purpose goes like this:
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• When you Love something and the world needs it, but you’re NOT paid for it, it is called “MISSION”;
• When you’re good at something and you love it, but you’re NOT paid for it, it is called “PASSION”;
• When you’re good at it and you’re also paid for it, that becomes your “PROFESSION”;
• When you’re paid for it and the world needs it, it is called “VOCATION”.

This may come as a surprise for the many but if we look closely at the Nursing profession, we will realize that Nursing fits all the criteria of the Venn Diagram. And it’s not usual for a career to fit all the elements of the Venn Diagram. If we analyze it, the world is in great need of nurses, that is very clear. Second, a person would not be allowed to practice Nursing if he/she isn’t good at it; in fact, we have a very rigorous process of schooling and nursing practice before one can be a licensed Nurse, not to mention the specializations needed in every specific field of nursing practice.

Nurses are paid for doing their jobs. Well, in some countries the wage is very competitive while in some, it is meager. Nevertheless, it fits the criteria.

Do you love it?
The world needs nurses, you have to be good at it before you can even practice it, you can be paid to do it, there’s just one more thing left, do you LOVE it? I think here’s where the problem lies. But before we dive deep into that topic, some nurses really love their profession. Some are even willing to die for this calling, if you are in doubt, let us remember Rouzan Al-Najjar, the Palestinian nurse who died for doing her job as a nurse.

Putting the Venn Diagram into perspective, how Rouzan viewed nursing during that day was not as a profession, but a mission. She was not paid during that time, she volunteered to help the needy. So YES, some people love nursing, that they would die answering their calling. How about you? Why do you think you choose Nursing? Or are you like the many nurses that didn’t choose this profession but it was a parental influence? Be it as it may, it all boils down to your purpose in this life. If you don’t love nursing, but you’re good at it (since you practice it) and you’re paid for it, look at it as a profession, in time you’ll find that it will become a passion, something that you’ll learn to love.

Passion is Built, not Found
According to Simon Sinek, passion is not something that you find around the corner when you do a turn in your life. It’s something that you do day in and day out. It’s something that you continuously spend your efforts on. It doesn’t just pop out of the blue, it is what you work hard for. And you may not realize it at first, but ultimately, you’ll mold into your craft until such time that you realize that this profession has become your passion.
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Your takeaway in this Venn Diagram of Purpose is this, get a pen and paper and write down your diagram. You already have the profession – Nursing. Now, fill the other gaps, what is it that you are passionate about? What would be your vocation? What would be your mission? Answering these will give you a better insight into your life’s purpose. It would clear your mind from the clouds of doubts that you keep on asking yourself why you choose this profession. It would make us realize that somehow, we made the right choice.

​Let’s now move on to the true form of IKIGAI. Neuroscientist Ken Mogi developed the 5 Pillars of Ikigai. In his book, “The Little Book of Ikigai” he wrote down these essential pillars of Ikigai:
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• Starting Small
• Releasing Yourself
• Harmony and Sustainability
• The Joy of Little Things
• Being the Here and Now

Ikigai’s basic concept is “reason to wake up in the morning” right? So, it talks about the things in our life that are ever so small but are important. Things that often go unnoticed because of our brain’s primal function to just focus on what’s wrong. . What we do not know is that these little things we do are the answer to living a purposeful and happy life. These things that go unnoticed are the answer to relieve us from the stressful events that happen in our daily lives.

Starting Small 
​Every journey starts with a single step. All milestones started with a simple action. Success is the result of little victories. We’ve all heard these things throughout our lives, but we do not know its true meaning because we put our focus more into the word journey instead of the single step, the milestones instead of simple action, and the success instead of the little victories. It’s in our nature as humans to go big on everything. And that particular mindset is always the reason why we never move forward into anything or we get stuck into a loophole if we do not accept that nothing big will ever happen if we do not start small.

Everything that is around us came from small things. Even your career started with a resume. Your profession itself started with a classroom and a clinical instructor teaching you The Fundamentals of Nursing (TFN). Everything comes from simple and small things. We often forget this, because of where we are today. As we reach higher status in life, we often overlook the little things that we need to do for us to be able to march forward in our lives.
​We always want to leap into the bigger things in life but it will not be possible without ever starting small again. Just because we are here now, wherever it is we are in our stages in life, doesn’t mean that we are not going to start small in the things that we want to do. Re-learn how to enjoy the little victories again, and you will appreciate life more. When was the last time you felt happy changing the IV fluids of your patients? If you can remember, back at nursing school, when we change the patient’s IV fluid, it was like winning the lottery right? Because we felt like we did something phenomenal. Cherish the small victories again and you’ll see how big an impact it would do to your life.

Releasing Yourself
Ever had the feeling that you are not yourself? We sometimes feel like it because we cave in to the pressure of society that we try to mold ourselves into fitting whatever description they want us to fit in. Eventually, we slowly lose our true identity and we start to hate ourselves for not being true to ourselves and there’s no one to blame but us. As confusing as it may sound, it is what it is. This is what happens when we seek validation from other people. But how can we expect them to be real when we tweaked ourselves into faking our identities to fit theirs? To make it look more simple, we need to start accepting ourselves for what we are.

Nonetheless, people will never stop judging other people and that’s part of human nature. Thus, if you are to be judged for whatever it is you do, why not choose to be judged by being who you are? That way, you’ll be able to be true to yourself. We don’t need to judge ourselves for what we are, there are already a lot of people doing that for us and we don’t need to add burdens in our shoulders. Let’s learn to accept our true selves and let go of the illusionary self that we invented to fit the ideals of others. That’s the way that we can release ourselves to the world and accepting what the world will throw at us.

Harmony and Sustainability
Harmony talks about how you are synced with your environment. If you are detached from your environment, you’ll find it very hard to get through your day. Humans are social animals, and we are also a part of an ecosystem. Hence, the thought “no man is an island”. Because it is innate for humans to interact with what’s within the environment. And within the environment are people and the society at large, living harmoniously with these variables is what will result in a sustainable life. We are aware of this on a physical level, in a way that we need to get something from the environment like air, water, and food to sustain life, yes, but on a psychological level, we overlook it most of the time. For us to stay healthy mentally, we need to have a harmonious relationship with the people around us and the society at large.

Sustainability, on the other hand, is not only a relationship between humans and nature but also our relationship with other people. We should be mindful of our actions and their effect on the people around us. These actions, big or small, will have an effect on all the things around us, the environment and the people that live with it. If we are more observant of these things, we will find that we are more than just a body that wakes up, works, and sleeps. We are much bigger than that. We play a vital role in this world. By simply realizing the effects of our actions, we can be more aware and responsible.

The Joy of Little Things
When we wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing we do? Brush our teeth, make breakfast, have coffee. These are the usual things that we do, right? When we do these things, it gives us dopamine to keep us going through the day. I believe that one of us has experienced waking up late and rushing through the workplace, and it felt very horrible because we didn’t have our kick of dopamine.
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Now, let’s rewind it. When we wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing we think of? Most of the answers will be nothing because our brain is still in the trance or there’s just nothing to think of in the morning because everything is automatic, it became a routine, wake up, coffee, breakfast, office. But the crucial part we are missing is the fact that you were never assured of waking up in the morning in the first place – and still, you did. But you didn’t think of that. And you never did think about, what if you never wake up again? No more coffee, no more breakfast, no more work. See, the joy of little things starts from the moment you wake up. Because no soul was assured of ever waking up the next day, but still we wake up; isn’t that something that we should be happy about and we should be thankful for? That there’s another day where we can make ourselves coffee or eat breakfast, and kiss our families?
​The joy of little things is what will save us from the hardships of life. When stress is wearing us down, let’s not forget that there is always something worth celebrating and worth smiling for. Even if it’s just waking up in the morning.

Being the Here and Now
Being the here and now in my understanding is making something for yourself that makes you happy, but no one understands, or even cares about. It is the weird concoction of spices that you mix with your chicken or the way you eat your bread or drink your coffee.

It is the things that you only know that makes you happy inside. And as the book of Ken Mogi says, it is more than enough to carry on with your life. Don’t ever let go of these things just because they’re weird or not normal. Who cares if it is not normal? As long as it makes you happy then do it. The moment that you start prioritizing your happiness instead of money, or whatever it is you prioritize, will be the moment that you will truly live your life. And as selfish as it may sound, you will find that the decision of being happy is the best decision you will make for yourself, your family, and your career.

End of the Bargain
In life we all have choices to make everyday. We decide on hundreds to even thousands of calls on a daily basis. And we do it again and again and again. It’s okay to feel tired at some point. It’s okay to be angry about the routines that you keep doing. But it all crumbles down to how you look into things. It’s all about perspective. The Venn Diagram and the IKIGAI, these are just tools to give you a sense of direction in where you want to steer your wheel in this life. At the end of the day, it’s still all up to you to decide whether you move towards positivity or keep dwelling with the negatives.

This article was written by MA. Daulog a registered nurse in the Philippines.
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” My goal is to engage nurses into pursuing the profession in whatever fields they may want to take. I want to enlighten nurses that this profession is a calling that not many are able to handle. This article serves as a guiding light to all those medical workers who feel the stress weighing down their shoulders. There is always a way. There is always an answer.”

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How to practice your Ikigai? 
Ketan Kotecha, OCT 06 2020, 

​Japanese secret of Ikigai is balancing the trend and passion both.

Allow your passion to become your purpose, and it will one day become your profession.”  Gabrielle Bernstein   Read More . . . .