What is your true passion and purpose in life?
One of the most important aspects of living a full and contented life, is to understand what you are passionate about. You don’t actually have to search too far to find out your passions for life. Your passions will talk straight to your heart. The question is – are you listening to your heart?
Life can change our intended path in life
This is the problem for many of us living in the modern world. Our busy lives can distract us from the things which are truly important to our heart. And when we get distracted from the things that are really important to us, we can lose the passion for the daily routine. Before long, the daily routine can become boring and unfulfilling.
The answer is to find your true life purpose!
PASSION and PURPOSE (IKIGAI)
What is your true passion and purpose in life? The Japanese people from Okinawa have a word for this – it is called “Ikigai”. This word literally means “reason for being” or “reason for getting up in then morning”. This beautiful concept is the perfect description for finding your purpose in life, and living according to your passions.
Living with Purpose is necessary for a Long Life
Start with Being Grateful
I think we should be incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the time we have on this earth. I also think we should be grateful for the opportunity to grow old – with grace, dignity, and humility.
These days, barring accidents, which reduce drastically after we navigate through our teenage years and early 20s, we can expect to live for at least 80 years! That should be no great surprise to anyone these days – are you prepared for that?
Do you expect your health will make it to 80 years old?
Better Health
Do you know that the average life expectancy has been steadily improving over the last 100 years, and at the current rate, we should expect to live way beyond 80 years – maybe even to 100! I am even aware of commentators out there, who are projecting further into the future, and predicting a human lifespan of 120 years up to 150 years!
Unfortunately, at the current rate of medical care and lifestyle expectations, the problem with living to an extended age, is more to do with ill, and in particular, poor health. But in case you haven’t noticed, any of the poor health outcomes can be directly attributed to lifestyle decisions, which is something we can control. So my question is, if we are prepared to grapple with our lifestyle choices, can we actually improve the outlook of our health in later life.
There are several lifestyle things that we could all be doing right now, to ensure we stay fit and healthy
- DON’T smoke – in the words of Yul Brynner – “Don’t smoke – just don’t smoke”. Smoking will take years off your lifespan, but also increase misery and poor health for the years you do have.
- We all need to be aware of our weight, and try to maintain a healthy Body Mass Index. Doesn’t matter what you use to keep score, but this is a prime indicator for healthy outcomes in later life.
- Eat a primarily plant based diet. Despite all of the debate and confusion around what is the best diet for humans, there is undeniable evidence that the longest living people eat a moderate diet that is primarily made up of plant based whole foods, and to avoid processed foods. Seafood is a component of the most healthy diets, but red meat is minimal across all of the longest living populations.
- Reduce alcohol to within the safe drinking guidelines. IF you struggle to stay within the guidelines (like me) then the easier alternative is to quit…
- Avoid sun damage. Now in many parts of the world, doctors have come to realise that people have avoided sunlight and become Vitamin D deficient.
- Moderate exercise. This is a difficult one to quantify. We all need to exercise, we all need to stay mobile, we all need to maintain muscle, joint and skeletal fitness. Whatever you do, or whatever you can manage has an enormous health benefit both in the here and now, as well as improving healthy outcome in later life. No surprises here.
- Better sleep. I reckon this is something that we all know we can better at, but busy lifestyles can be a real problem. But lack of sleep can be bad for your health…
These things might sound basic, but in fact, they all offer us better health right now AND into the future.
So are there any tricks to living longer?
As a matter of fact, there are some resounding secrets to longevity, and it is not all about genetics, the right diet, or even the right lifestyle.
- The clue was more about way we live.
- It is not necessarily what we eat – it is how we eat.
- It is not necessarily our genes that dictate how long we live, but how we live.
- It does not even matter how much we exercise, but how we exercise.
One of the best ways to summarise this is to analyse our purpose in life. Do we have a passion for life?
Finding your Ikigai can be described as follows:
- Do something you love
- Do something you are good at
- Do something the world needs
- Do something you can be paid for
These elements can result in a strong purpose and passion for life, and I believe we have these aspirations inside us. But these dreams and aspirations are often suppressed from our childhood by the rules and obligations that are imposed in our adult life.
If we are able to rekindle our childhood dreams and aspirations, we can find our path to Ikigai.
When we live a life full of purpose and passion, we never need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. We already know our purpose for the day, and our passion will help us to achieve it no matter how difficult. When we have a purpose to help others, not only do other people benefit, but we receive an enormous boost of self actualisation and pride in achievement.
There is no doubt that living a life with purpose and passion far exceeds the alternative life full of quiet desperation and numbing with drugs and alcohol.
Living a life full of purpose and passion is also beneficial to our own, and it has been shown that there is a direct correlation between living a longer and more fulfilled life.
