​Feel Meaning & Purpose +7 years

Feel Meaning & Purpose +7 years

Ask yourself what you feel is the purpose and meaning of your life. What is your reason for getting up in the morning? The questions are always more important than the answers, said explorer Ernest Shackleton.

In Blue Zones like Okinawa, it’s called ikigai (the reason to get up in the morning); in Costa Rica, it’s called Plan de Vida; and in Loma Linda, California, it’s called Purpose.

Answer the core question: Why? Why do I get up in the morning? Purpose drives meaning. With a reason, a goal in life, motivation will make things happen. William Barclay said, “There are two great days in a man’s life - the day we are born and discover why.” What do you live for?

Positive effects: Dr. Koichiro Shiba at Boston University studied 13,159 adults over eight years. The results showed that Purpose was more strongly associated with longevity in women than men. The researchers found that women who felt they had a purpose reduced their risk of all-cause mortality by 34%. The men’s risk was reduced by 20%.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091743522003590#!

A Japanese study found that Japanese people with ikigai (compared to those who did not) had a 31% lower risk of disability and a 36% lower risk of dementia. Japanese with ikigai experience fewer symptoms of hopelessness and depression and feel happier and more satisfied with life.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/...

People with a sense of purpose had a fifteen percent lower risk of dying in a study from Carleton University in Canada - than those who said they lived more or less without purpose. It’s always possible to find your purpose because researchers found the same protection in your 20s, 50s, and 70s.

Purpose in Life as a Predictor of Mortality Across Adulthood Patrick L. Hill and Nicholas A. TurianoView all authors and affiliations Volume 25, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614531799

Doctor Robert Butler received the Pulitzer Prize, was the first director of the National Institute on Aging, and founded the International Longevity Center at Columbia University. A study by Robert Butler examined the relationship between having a sense of purpose and longevity.

The 11-year study followed healthy people from age 65 to 92 and found that people with a clear goal or purpose lived longer, lived better, and were sharper than those without. A strong sense of purpose increases life expectancy by seven years.
https://info.bluezonesproject.com/origins https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC61250... Buettner D. The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society; 2008. [Google Scholar] 4. Buettner D. The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society; 2015. [Google Scholar] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC29051...

How does purpose in life help keep you healthy? The likelihood increases that you protect your health through an annual medical examination or using a bicycle helmet. You value your life more highly and are, therefore, more afraid of it.

Feeling that life has a purpose affects both emotional and physical health and reduces inflammation, which leads to a lower risk of dementia, arthritis, and stroke.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/will-a-purpose...

Richard Leider gives tips on how to find your purpose in The Power of Purpose. Gifts + Passions + Values = Purpose. Devote your time to things you are good at, passionate about, and believe in, and you will gain a sense of purpose in the world. The purpose is always outside yourself and more significant than yourself; you can’t worry about yourself when you are busy helping others.

Living and enjoying for a long time isn’t just about “me.” Viktor Frankl wrote “Man’s Search for Meaning” after being in a concentration camp.
In the book, he says that when people lost a reason to get up in the morning, they were dead within 24 hours.

“I get up in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and enjoy the world.” E. B. White

Write Grow & Give on a note on the bathroom mirror and look at it when you brush your teeth morning and night. A good day with purpose is when we both grow and give. To succeed, you must cultivate your curiosity, enriching your work and life.

In every new meeting with a person, you will learn amazing things, and when you try to be interested in others instead of enjoyable, you will be enriched by every person you meet for the rest of your life.