Higher Purpose And Meaning

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”-Barack Obama

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Part of happiness is having a Higher Purpose.  Something to strive for that is bigger than you.   We all want to matter and to make a difference in the world, at work, or in someone else’s life.  Our Higher Purpose is how we find deep meaning and fulfillment in our lives by contributing to someone or something that is bigger than ourselves.

“Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller

Based on research by the Center for Disease Control only 21% of adults strongly agree that their life has a clear sense of purpose. In two other studies, 90% of alcoholics and 100% of drug addicts thought their life was meaningless. In several polls over several time periods and countries when asked what was very important, “having a purpose or meaning in life” was chosen by 80% to 90% of the respondents while money was chosen by around 16%. Having purpose and meaning in your life has been connected to happiness, life satisfaction, physical health, and self-esteem. According to recent research by Fredrickson and Cole, having purpose and meaning actually increases our health at the cellular level providing us with a better immune response profile.  Purpose and meaning are important and better for us emotionally and physically, but for many of us they are also illusive.