What Is the Importance of Finding Your Purpose in Life? How Does it Impact Mental Health and Well-Being?

The Successful Aging Evaluation (SAGE) study, which analyzed data from 1,042 adults in San Diego County, found that the “presence of meaning” correlated positively with physical and mental well-being, while actively “searching for meaning” correlated negatively with mental well-being and cognitive function.

Such a finding might allude to the idea that those who are still searching are not well. But that is not quite right.

Of utmost importance here is to find our natural point, our unique place where we already live. It might still be developing and unfolding, but we are in it. We are not lost or floundering with no direction.

We need to define what the purpose of life is and pursue it. When we are moving toward that purpose with understanding and awareness—when we know what it is and how to approach it—we begin to feel genuine satisfaction, inner delight, and tranquility.

And yes, alongside that comes discomfort, restlessness, and imbalance. The path includes both. There are ups and downs, but we take pleasure in the entire process. We then become like storm petrels, soaring in the winds of change.

In such a process, we might fall into despair, questioning whether we are even on the right path. However, such a state is still better than living like inanimate objects. It depends on our values whether we involve ourselves in the process to attain life’s purpose or whether we simply let the years slip by in everydayness. Some want comfort while others want life’s purpose.

But do I even believe in the above-mentioned study? I do not believe anyone. It is because there is no one to believe. Just look around at the world. I trust only what I have lived through, tested, and experienced myself. My real learning happened through my own inner laboratory, through my teacher, through rising and falling on this path.

The way to life’s purpose definitely includes sharp descents. I have had times when I could not even get out of bed. But that is natural. It is the seeker’s path. We cannot escape it. And yes, we call that a happy path. Absolutely. It is exultation in battle, even in the fall.

What would I wish for someone beginning this journey? That they enjoy the metamorphosis. That they feel alive in every change, every wave that crashes within. That is life. Not to grow old prematurely, but to stay young, at least inside.

I can no longer climb mountains or fight the sea with my body, but inside me, mountains rise and oceans roar, and that all gives me the sensation of life. We stay young, no matter what age, if we keep searching.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 23, 2019. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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