Many people today feel a bit down because they can’t find their reason to be. Because that meaning eludes them, they’d believe that it reflects on their consistent happiness.
Life is indeed full of ups and downs, and modern life is just too busy to sit and take stock of how to find your raison d’etre. However, living with purpose and having a rewarding life of happiness is entirely possible, and that’s why we’ve written this guide.
We can start by showcasing a life of purpose and happiness in the modern day.
What Makes a Life of Purpose and Happiness?
So, what is a purposeful and happy life? Ask anyone, and they’ll probably tell you different things based on their own personal goals and ambitions. However, there is a general consensus that happiness stems from a few core traits – wealth, social status, and influence over others.
Yes, money, power, and respect are good things to have, but they don’t create purpose and happiness as one would think. Even those with extraordinary wealth and influence feel like they are missing something from their lives and feel lost.
A purposeful and happy life consists of moving towards goals that synchronize with your values – or what makes you the most comfortable. It’s not always easy, given our circumstances. We’d argue that it’s even more challenging today, considering our ‘always-on culture keeps us busy.
So, how do we journey towards living with purpose and happiness? There is a process that you can follow to work towards that goal and neatly fits in with various life circumstances.
5 Ultimate Steps You Can Take Towards a More Purposeful and Happy Life
We’ve established the general make-up of a life full of purpose and happiness. What steps can we take towards achieving one? While there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach, there is a generally agreed-upon process that facilitates your goals.
Explore the five ultimate steps towards a purposeful and happy life below.
1.    Discover and recognize the things you care about most.
Garnering more purpose and happiness in your life starts with finding and aligning with what you care about most. Considering how busy and muddled your life can be with work and personal commitments, it isn’t the easiest step to take.
However, taking a little time to filter out what’s most important to you is a crucial step into living with purpose. Why? Because if you’re working towards things that you care about, you’ll end up feeling that you’re on a more fulfilling path.
You’ll be making a difference in the things that matter most in your life – and ultimately, you’ll feel like you’re an essential part of a bigger picture. Take some time and write down the most cherished things in your life to start carving the path towards a more purposeful and happy life.
2.    Build trust in yourself.
Listing the things you care about most lays the groundwork towards living with purpose. Now it’s time to start creating a focused road by building trust in yourself.
What does solidifying trust in yourself mean, though? Do you think you can already count on yourself to get things done? Building trust isn’t more about accomplishing tasks. It’s generating the confidence to not concern yourself about what others think.
Most people seek validation from others and believe it gives them purpose and happiness. However, you’ll find that decisions influenced by others will only deliver positivity in the short term. They don’t help your long-term vision of living with purpose and happiness.
Because you’ve outlined the things you care about most, you can build trust in yourself by making decisions based on those values. Don’t let others hinder your train of thought – trust yourself because, in the end, you know what’s best for you!
3.    Start developing positive emotions.
You’ve got a purpose to be in the things you care about. You have an avenue to follow in your decisions – but how do you start running towards purpose and happiness? Developing positive emotions is one of the ultimate steps towards achieving those goals and improve your life significantly.
Gratitude is one of the key players in helping you develop those positive emotions. It creates a link between yourself and others. Caring about their well-being ultimately enhances and builds on your own.
Your gratitude will help you feel like you contribute to the world in numerous ways. The return on that positive emotion focuses on your purpose in life and will significantly stride towards living with happiness.
4.    Serve the community.
Stemming off the subject of positive emotions like gratitude, you can use them to serve the community. That step is one of the most rewarding in discovering life with purpose and happiness.
Serving the community doesn’t necessarily mean going out and doing charity drives or volunteer work all the time. The basis is that you’ll use your newfound focus, confidence, and emotions to empower others. Those small actions are more rewarding than one could imagine.
Getting others to believe in themselves is something they’ll be grateful for forever. It highlighted your intention of being a vital community member and cherished to high esteem.
You’ll continue to feel more fulfilled and live with purpose by continually spreading positivity around the community.
5.    Learn to live in the moment.
The final step to living with purpose and happiness helps you take action. Learning to live in the moment facilitates your achievements and rewards because it’s an action-based step. But what does that mean exactly?
Too many that strive for more purpose and happiness wait around for the right time to take action. There’s an expectation that things will fall into place naturally, and you’ll then find your purpose and happiness.
People become afraid to take action to get there over a fear of failure. However, each little step you take now works towards your purpose and happiness – hence, you need to live in the moment instead of waiting for a better one.
Don’t be afraid of failure. Each decision that may not work in favor is an experience that works towards something more significant. It’s not taking action that stumps the drive towards purpose and happiness.
All you need to do by reaffirming the previous steps is to keep living in the moment, and your living cycle of purpose and happiness will keep spinning.
So, now we’ve got the process down. Is there anything we can do to help us maintain that life of purpose and happiness?
These Things Can Help Grow Your Life of Purpose & Happiness
Once you feel you’ve achieved a life of purpose and happiness, you’ll see many challenges in keeping that positive mindset. Not only are the below guidelines applicable factors inside the ultimate steps, but they can also help you grow.
Explore these concepts into growing and maintaining your life of purpose and happiness.
Take Care of Your Mental Health
It’s not easy to find progress on your purpose and happiness journey when facing mental health struggles. Today’s society sees us become more anxious and stressed than ever with increased communications and more challenging personal and professional environments.
Living with purpose and happiness requires you to take a step back and manage your mental health from time to time. If you need to talk to someone, go talk. Should you need to disconnect from the grid, disconnect. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with looking after yourself, and it will ultimately serve you in achieving your goals.
Learn to Forgive
Living with bitterness or resentment for others can be a roadblock in your stride towards purpose and happiness. It’s not uncommon that you’ll face injustice or disrespect from others in your time, but learning to forgive can relieve that burden.
It’s not easy to release some grudges and personal violations. However, doing so can help you move on with your life and realign your focus towards purpose and happiness. See any issues between you and others as part of a life experience, and use it to enhance your journey.
Broaden Your Horizons
Broadening your horizons means taking some time to look at things from another perspective. You may have a particular way of understanding things because of your life circumstances. But sticking to that way of looking at things can hinder your growth towards living with purpose and happiness.
Start taking an open mind to everything you come across in life. It will give you a more meaningful connection to others, allowing you to thrive on your steps towards personal fulfillment.
Be Empathetic
You never know why people behave the way they do, and it could be because of various unseen circumstances. After all, we’re only human, and we’re going to experience discomfort and challenging events in life.
Being empathetic towards the struggles of others is a crucial contributor to serving the community, as mentioned in the ultimate steps. It helps spread the positivity needed to live with purpose.
Learn to Live with Uncertainty
Nobody likes uncertainty. We always want to be in control to forge a more straightforward path to living an intentional life. However, the nature of human life doesn’t always allow for complete control in everything that happens.
Learning to live and manage uncertainty is a crucial factor in living with purpose and happiness. You’ll feel confident that no matter what comes your way, you’ll be able to deal with it, in parallel with the step of learning to trust yourself.
Build a Strong Community Network
Having strong connections to others makes us happier. It paves the way to serving the community as outlined in the ultimate steps. Building a network within your community can offer more avenues to help others and solidify your purpose in life.
Keep checking in on friends and relatives, meet some new people at social events – maybe even offer a helping hand to a stranger. Expanding your network and strengthening connections is a robust way to live a happy and intentional life.
Be Mindful
Practicing mindfulness is a great way to develop positive emotions, one of the critical steps to living with purpose. The practice involves meditation that makes you aware of your current feelings and dealing with the exercises.
Breathing exercises, guided imagery, and other methods can help facilitate mindfulness. The result is reduced stress, less anxiety, a relaxed body state, and more focus.
Take a Technology Break
The number of devices we have that transmit information to us consistently is overwhelming. That constant stream of communication can burden the mind and interfere with your efforts to curate a more purposeful and happier life.
Every now and then, a technology break is recommended. It helps reset and clear your mind of all the information that too often sends us into a frenzy. Ditch the smartphones for a while and enjoy the great outdoors or some human connections.
Sleep Well
Getting a good sleep every night works wonders on happy and intentional living. The science behind good sleep speaks for itself, being great for your physical health as well as your mental health.
We’ll feel great, meaning we’re more focused and able to channel more positivity throughout the day. Understandably, it’s not always possible to sleep a solid 8-hours a night, but doing that more often than not is very beneficial towards your purpose and happiness.
Exercise
Our overall well-being plays a crucial role in achieving living with purpose and happiness. Exercise is a big part of getting to that state of well-being, so it’s imperative to take a little time to move your body around, even if it’s only for a little while.
Not only will your physical health benefit from exercise, but that increased blood flow will contribute to developing positive emotions. Make sure you incorporate a bit of movement into your daily routine – perhaps a walk or some yoga?
Living With Purpose: Final Thoughts
Achieving a happy life and living with purpose is ultimately in your hands. It’s essential to recognize that your personal fulfillment is unique to you. It is not up to anyone else to dictate how you want to live.
We created this guide as the groundwork for a life with purpose and happiness, but you need to get to work! Take actions and enrich your life!
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