Made to Count: Discovering What to Do with Your Life

Because without knowing those two things, I felt adrift and incredibly out of control. Instead of being hard on yourself for not having clarity , be proud of yourself for moving forward on a foggy road when you could easily find a cloudless, well-beaten path to follow…to certain dissatisfaction. And besides, what story will be more interesting to flash before your eyes in the end: There are always going to be opportunities that look good on paper, and that little, scared voice within may tell you that your life will only matter if you take them.

The only one who can make wise decisions for you is you. You may think you only have one purpose and that you need to push yourself to find it. It will mean you had one purpose then, and now your purpose has evolved. I now know it was all important, and not just because it brought me to this site.

All those steps were important because those steps were my life. And my life is valuable and worth enjoying regardless of what I do professionally. This moment—this crucial part of the process—is a destination in itself, and now is your only opportunity to appreciate it, and appreciate yourself for living it. Her latest book, Tiny Buddha's Worry Journal , which includes 15 coloring pages, is now available.

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Click to opt-out of Google Analytics tracking. Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's not about me. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. Click here to read more. What if you never care about anything so strongly that it becomes the bliss you have to follow? See a typo, an inaccuracy, or something offensive?

Please contact us so we can fix it! Purpose is adaptive, in an evolutionary sense. It helps both individuals and the species to survive. It also grows from our connection to others, which is why a crisis of purpose is often a symptom of isolation. Purpose is a part of meaning; meaning is a much broader concept that usually also includes value, efficacy, and self-worth.

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In a paper , for example, Leslie Francis studied a group of nearly 26, teenagers throughout England and Wales—and found that those who read the Bible more tended to have a stronger sense of purpose. Secular reading seems to make a difference, as well. In a survey of empirical studies , Raymond A. Mar and colleagues found a link between reading poetry and fiction and a sense of purpose among adolescents.

By seeing purpose in the lives of other people, teens are more likely to see it in their own lives. In this sense, purpose is an act of the imagination.

The writing of historian W. Du Bois pushed social-justice activist Art McGee to embrace a specific vision of African-American identity and liberation. Find books that matter to you—and they might help you to see what matters in your own life. Want to help high schoolers find purpose? The GGSC's Purpose Challenge for students, educators, and parents incorporates cutting-edge science into videos and interactive exercises.

Kezia Willingham was raised in poverty in Corvallis, Oregon, her family riven by domestic violence. I want the kids out there who grew up like me, to know they have futures ahead of them. I want them to know they are smart, even if they may not meet state academic standards. I want them to know that they are just as good and valuable as any other human who happens to be born into more privileged circumstances.

And there are so damn many messages telling them otherwise.

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• La tenda 144 - Rrashbull in Albania (I Galeoni) (Italian Edition).
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• Ive Changed My Address.

He kept that promise by becoming a Peer Rape Educator in college—and then a sex educator in San Francisco public schools. Why do people like Kezia and Christopher seem to find purpose in suffering—while others are crushed by it? Explore the difference between a happy life and a meaningful one. Learn how helping others can help you finding meaning in life. Discover the health benefits of having a purpose. Jeremy Adam Smith explores how the science of purpose could help explain white supremacy.

Certain emotions and behaviors that promote health and well-being can also foster a sense of purpose—specifically, awe , gratitude , and altruism. Here we arrive at altruism. In one study , for example, Daryl Van Tongeren and colleagues found that people who engage in more altruistic behaviors, like volunteering or donating money, tend to have a greater sense of purpose in their lives. Interestingly, gratitude and altruism seem to work together to generate meaning and purpose.

In a second experiment, the researchers randomly assigned some participants to write letters of gratitude—and those people later reported a stronger sense of purpose.

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2. Made to Count: Discovering What to Do with Your Life.
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5. How to Find Your Purpose in Life.

More recent work by Christina Karns and colleagues found that altruism and gratitude are neurologically linked, activating the same reward circuits in the brain. Giving thanks can help you find your purpose. But you can also find purpose in what people thank you for.



• How to Find Your Purpose in Life?
• Made to Count: Discovering What to Do with Your Life by Bob Reccord.
• Maybe (chapter 2);
• Covetous or Contented (Radical Christianity Book 5)!
• When the Voiceless Sing: Love stories from our hero Caregivers.
• Tycoons, Scorchers, and Outlaws: The Class War that Shaped American Auto Racing (Palgrave Pivot).

Like Kezia Willingham, Shawn Taylor had a tough childhood—and he was also drawn to working with kids who had severe behavioral problems. Unlike her, however, he often felt like the work was a dead-end. No specifics, but youth work was my purpose.