Discovering your purpose in life can give you direction, inspire you to be a better person and make your life more fulfilling and less apathetic.
Side note: Apathy is caused by many factors, including a lack of fulfilment. To be fulfilled, you need to focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t do.
Unfortunately, today, a disproportionate amount of people are seeking psychotherapy to solve their problems, worries, anxieties, stress and lack of happiness. They do this by pouring out their souls to another human being, whether a psychologist, counsellor, relative or even a friend in the hope that person will remove all their burdens.
Hope is not a strategy.
In my opinion, counselling, if not used proactively, will have either short-lived or negligible results. The emphasis during these sessions is usually based on asking what’s wrong with the person instead of what’s right with them.
In other words, it’s not about a person’s limitations or challenges, but about their potential and inherent ability to overcome life’s challenges by learning to develop their brain power.
Research shows that the majority of people have no idea of how the brain operates or how to deal with any mental problems, nor have they any incline of what they are capable of becoming or achieving. This condition evolves from a self-diagnosis of their self-image, the picture they hold of themselves and which they believe to be true. Such an image is created by other people based on their own limited knowledge of human potential and a profound lack of understanding of brain function.
Nurtured children are programmed to believe in limitless possibilities for themselves. Such expectations are then reinforced by themselves and others who see their performance increase in value.
Therefore, they learn faster and become self-motivated. On the contrary, children who lack nurturing and are exposed to self-doubts, expect their situation to remain constant to the limited future programmed into their brain. Once again, the principle of reinforcement applies.
Generally speaking, in childhood, you tend to believe what you are told about who you are and what you can or cannot do based on the opinions of adults. This condition remains constant throughout your life unless the brain is reprogrammed to believe differently.
Just looking through the rose-tinted glasses of positive thinking is not the answer. It’s a modern catchphrase, “Think Positive.” Some people then put the phrase on a card and stick it on the fridge door or the dashboard of their car. Alternatively, you could read positive-thinking books or attend motivational seminars, which are supposed to infuse you with feelings of hyper-joy.
Unfortunately, the facts dictate otherwise. Notwithstanding that motivational books or seminars have affected the lives of millions of people over the years, the emotive effect doesn’t last very long because the emotions conflict with the existing brain programming which usually wins.
For the motivational material to have an effect, it is necessary to reprogramme your brain daily with thoughts of “Yes, I can” to create a new belief and effect a more powerful and lasting positive self-image. It should be clearly understood that there is a substantial difference between positive thinking, motivation and optimism.
Optimism is a conclusion reached through a thought pattern leading to a possibility. The brain needs a programmed logic to structure a person’s thinking. That part of the brain, the hippocampus, searches for reasons behind an idea.
For example, if someone says: “Going to the gym to keep fit is fun,” but you happen to hate gyms, you’re not going to change your thinking because some well-meaning enthusiast said so. If the other person thinks the gym is a great idea, they have a reason for thinking that way, such as they may have won a competition. But you will never think going to the gym is an excellent idea just because it’s on a fridge magnet. This is where optimism plays its role because it involves some logic.
Optimism causes you to look for and think about real positives and overcome challenges realistically.
Discovering purpose in your life and becoming more fulfilled is essential. Fulfilment brings mental and spiritual peace and happiness instead of joy affected through material acquisition. Such happiness comes from pursuing meaningful activities that, in turn, bring fulfilment.
I use my writing to better myself and others. And I continue to live up to that. I have written about personal development, programming your brain, and other topics. But I am happiest when I write something that addresses a problem and even happier when I get feedback that my writing touched someone’s life or helped them positively reprogram their brain.
If you discover your purpose and direction, the journey will give you extraordinary personal growth.
