Reason to Purpose

This month we have been considering how we find a greater sense of meaning and purpose, and how that can support our wellbeing.

We’ve looked at the importance of making sense of change through telling our story, the importance of letting go of the things that have been lost, and taking stock of the things we have gained.

This week we consider what we might do now… how we might reimagine and rediscover a fresh sense of purpose, a renewed reason to get up in the morning.

The French talk about having a ‘raison d’etre’ which literally means ‘reason to being’. The Japanese have a similar concept known as Ikigai.

Ikigai is a whole philosophy, but a key part of it holds four key parts as shown below, with the ‘sweet spot’ being in the middle.

Passions are the things that make you happiest when you have them, and the things you lament the most when you don’t. The books or magazines you read, and the kinds of films and TV programmes you’re drawn to may give you clues about what your passions are. They can be values, causes, strong interests. Often when you’re involved in doing something you’re passionate about, time runs away with itself and you feel the most energised.

Abilities are the things that come most naturally to you. They may be the tasks you consider easy, and don’t even realise that others don’t. You may have acquired the skill though hard work and determination, you may have had to develop the skill due to some adversity or they may be things you’ve always found yourself a ‘natural’ at.

Needs are things that are happening in our world or communities that need some action. The needs may be practical things that are needed within our world (we realised in the pandemic that some things were especially essential for us to keep going), some needs are less essential but people have decided there is a need. Maybe we are in the minority is seeing the need, or maybe we join many others in recognising it.

Wants are the needs that others also value, and are willing to invest time, money and resource into.

As we look back through the resources this month, I wonder if you can spend some time re-considering your passions, talents and re-evaluating the needs and wants of the world we now live in.

Giving our time and energy to things that are needed and wanted, and using our own special talents and passions to do it, might be a key part of having that sense of purpose which is helpful to our wellbeing.

We started the month considering Victor Frankl’s quote:

“He who has a ‘why’ to live for, can bear almost anything”

Inspirational speaker Simon Sinek says your ‘why’ is the purpose, cause or belief behind what you do and he says it’s essential that any organisation that wants to be successful communicates this ‘why’ to it’s members. I wonder whether it’s also true that for us to be ‘successful’, (or well, or flourish) we also have clarity on our ‘why’?

Your ‘why’ will be about your underlying motivations.

Your ‘why’ Your changed circumstances might mean these things have now changed since the beginning of the pandemic. They may remain the same.

Consider…

What and who is most important to me now?