Day 7: Focusing on What Brings You Meaning and Purpose in Life
7 Cups has an exciting online therapy update to share this month. To celebrate, we’re doing 25 days of Gratitude, Self-Care, and Personal Growth and please keep checking each day for updates!
Hi everyone! I hope you are well. Today we will be talking about meaning and purposefulness in life. We all talk about wanting to feel fulfilled and trying to make sense of what is the purpose of life and we have different answers to it, some people rely on religion, others on philosophy, and some of us are still looking.
The good news is that we know of some techniques that can help you understand how one can feel fulfilled and how to make sense of life especially if you feel lost on this front. This is such an important topic that there is a whole therapy technique on it called ‘Logotherapy’. It is a therapeutic approach that helps people find personal meaning in life. If that interests you, a good place to start is the book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor Frankl (found of logotherapy). You can find a summary of the book here but I recommend you read the book too.
The essence of logotherapy can be found in this quote by, Friedrich Nietzsche ‘Man can suffer anyhow, as long as he knows why. Many exercises and techniques that aim to help you find fulfillment or purpose are aimed at helping you find your ‘why’. The key takeaway is that we are not looking to reduce our troubles, nor are we hoping for a solution that helps remove all suffering from life, that is not realistic or possible but you do need goals/ambitions in life that are worth suffering for.
Another way of finding meaning is to find your ikigai. Oxford English Dictionary defines Ikigai as "a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living". This diagram helps visualize what Ikigai can look like.
Well, this is all great but how do we apply these techniques?
1. Think of a picture you would like to have in your room, where you can always see it. You don’t get to take it down at any point and it must resonate with who you are and what you believe in.
- If comfortable tell us what that picture is.
- Then reflect on why chose that picture.
This is a way for you to get in touch with what matters to you which is a step closer to figuring out what will help you feel fulfilled.
Example: Alex wants a picture of his own family, smiling and eating happily around their dining table. This reminds Alex of how much he values his family and how good it would be to have those moments. This gave Alex the realization that he values his family deeply and should be spending more time building meaningful relationships with them.
2. To find your Ikigai, ask yourself the following questions:
What am I good at?
What does the world need more of?
What can I get paid for?
What do I love?
The answer should ideally fall under all these categories. The being good at part does not have to be that you are an expert but rather something you genuinely enjoy learning more about and find that you can apply if you put your mind to it.
You can either do both exercises and share results or choose one. The first is more helpful at figuring out what matters to you, it sends you in the right direction but the second one helps you narrow down your options.
Further resources
@Hope
Great post, thank you! This would be an example of a picture I would think about.
- The picture represents the healing power of nature to me - just the forest and me, no urban sounds but the sound of water making it's way through the forest, the leaves whistling in the wind, the smell of earth.
2. To find your Ikigai, ask yourself the following questions:
What am I good at? I'm quite creative
What does the world need more of? Love and compassion, places to go to for support
What can I get paid for? Maybe producing something creative
What do I love? Supporting others here as much as I can and learning about mental illnesses
I'm in the blue triangle 😩
@Hope, Thank you for the wonderful post. I appreciate the exercises as they prompted me to take a moment and contemplate my life.
The mental images that consistently occupy my thoughts are those of beautiful houses. I opt for such images because I place a high value on aesthetically pleasing homes, associating them with comfort and an overall sense of well-being. The visual of well-designed homes makes me feel positive and fosters feelings of relaxation and happiness. I also value comfort and happiness.
What am I good at? I am good at establishing connections with people.
What does the world need more of? I believe it is Empathy and Compassion
What can I get paid for? I get paid for providing therapy which brings me satisfaction
What do I love? My love for my family and home holds a special place in my heart.
This is a wonderful exercise, thank you!
For me, the picture I actually do have in my room, is of big old trees. Old growth trees to me feel safe, sturdy, and wise.
I am good at empathy.
The world needs more people to have compassion-both for themselves and others.
I already get paid for holding space for people-for witnessing and supporting them.
I love reflecting back to people how courageous they are.
1. There is a picture I had painted myself, it is a mountain side with a pier, and a beautiful lake. I chose this picture, because I have always felt connected to nature, water and serenity. An the picture that I painted represents what my ideal version of serenity looks like.
2. Finding my Ikigai, I am good at painting, drawing, and being able to use my empathy in a very unique way. I feel the world needs more people that are willing to help others, rather than chase after materialistic means, especially nowadays materialism has taken such a strong effect on marriages/relationships or even family connections. I get paid in love and compassion for my emotional support towards my fiancee and toddler, I also get paid physically for helping the elderly get the insurance they desperately need. I love myself, my daughter, my fiancee, my in-laws, my grandparents, my apartment, my job, my cat and most of all i love my sister
@Hope
Very cool prompts. I enjoyed reflecting and weaving these together.
A picture that resonates with who you are and what you believe in.
it'd be some kind of powerful quote, then every time i see it it serves as a mantra
2. To find your Ikigai, ask yourself the following questions:
What am I good at? Helping people
What does the world need more of? Understanding and sincere effort to try
What can I get paid for? A human touch technology just can't replicate
What do I love? Creativity, art/media, philosophy, psychology
I would like to share an idea that I first saw in a Jack Canfield book and that I have shared with many of my clients and my own family and friends as well. I encourage people to find a rock that feels particularly good in the palm of their hand... I keep a small bag of rocks in my office for anyone that would like to take one or they can find their own on a beach or a hike... Then I encourage them to hold their rock on a daily basis, (I prefer the morning when I wake up or at night before I go to sleep), and while they are holding their rock and feeling the texture and weight of it, I encourage them to say 5 to 10 things that they are grateful for. I find that having my grateful rock in my hand, as I think of and say out loud the things that I am grateful for, gives me a greater sense of the impact of my gratitude.
Right now I am grateful to be part of this thread. Thank you for reading...
@MariaWasielewskiMA
I like this idea of a grateful rock as it acts as a good reminder to focus on all the nice things we have in life but also to help us stay anchored in the present. Thank you so much for sharing!
From ChatGPT4…
"Ikigai" is pronounced as "ee-kee-gah-ee." Here's a breakdown:
- "Iki" (ee-kee): The first syllable "Iki" sounds like the "ee" in "see" and "kee" as in "key."
- "Gai" (gah-ee): The second syllable "Gai" has a soft "g" sound, as in "garden," followed by "ah" as in "father" and "ee" as in "see."
The emphasis is typically on the first syllable, so it's "EE-kee-gah-ee."