Brzycki: Limitless benefits to finding one’s purpose

A sense of purpose is an important and teachable attribute. Studies find that pursuing one’s purpose is associated with psychological well-being. Individuals with a sense of purpose report they are happier, more satisfied with their lives and more hopeful about the future. Knowing your purpose is also associated with physical health, including lower stress hormone levels, improved cardiovascular and metabolic markers, reduced pain, a regression in some cancers and longevity.

Everyone has a purpose, and there are numerous benefits of knowing your own.

Mental health, physical health, well-being, spiritual health, family wellness as a cultural anchor and societal wellness are all possible if we teach this one competency. Imagine what a beautiful way to give to one another, to those we love the most and want to empower, if we help them find their own purpose through every interaction, communication and gesture.

Purpose is one of the most effective interventions into drug and alcohol abuse, addictions and eating disorders, lifting you out of your current paradigm of reality, giving you access to a new, more enlightened one, with pathways to new possibilities. Purpose helps you to find your way out of being stuck in a life that does not work for you. Purpose helps you live the life you were meant to live instead of the one you thought you were supposed to live.

Effective psychotherapy, personal development workshops and programs, and counseling methods all use psychological frameworks that place “life purpose” as your “north star.” Living on purpose feels alive, clear and authentic, and those who are purposeful may experience “flow,” which is a state of total absorption in which time seems to disappear and a person can feel content and fulfilled.

Positive psychology-based scientific research is compelling. Our hope is that you realize the numerous benefits of discovering your own unique purpose, for yourself, those you love and for all of us who want a better world in the future.

Reflecting on your purpose enables you to think about your life and your place in it. To make meaning requires taking psychological concepts and advice from professionals and parents/caregivers and asking yourself, “How does this belief or idea relate to me and inform my purpose in life?”

Students beginning in middle school, into high-school and on to college years are attempting to put together their pathways to success and well-being, even as they have expanded needs and more mental and physical challenges and illnesses. With rising incidences of student anxiety and depression, teen suicides and even just “going through the motions” in day-to-day activities, young people today may appear fine in mental health screenings, but they want and need new empowerment approaches that help them flourish.

Our research and work show that when people of all ages and stages identify a higher purpose that is driving their thoughts, feelings and actions, it transforms their quality of life. Just as we identify our familial roots by learning our body’s DNA, a sense of purpose provides the “DNA of our consciousness.”

On a larger scale, purpose can inform a lifetime of relationships, community involvement, citizenship and spirituality.

Purpose is not necessarily what you do for a living, or your family history or your current circumstances; it transcends all of these and is the unique difference that you make and will make in the world being you, every day.

Your purpose often emerges when you: listen to your hopes and dreams for your life, feel what evokes your deepest emotions, identify traumas you’ve experienced that you want to help others avoid and notice issues in the world that concern you.

We hope and pray that parents/caregivers help their children discover their own unique purpose and dreams for their lives, and that teachers and counselors guide their students to know their purpose in life, stronger than external motivations and pressures. We hope the elderly find inner peace knowing that they have indeed manifested their purpose and lived a life filled with deep meaning.

We encourage you to consider your inner and spiritual calling to contribute to the human condition in a way that is unique to your life experiences and views of the greater good.