February marks one year since my retirement from mental health counseling as an LPC. Setting that hat down gave me opportunity to fully focus on the LLC, Mindfulness and Motion that I established to continue offering mindfulness-based programs, teaching in my local community and on-line. As I reflect over the last year and what I’ve been engaged in professionally and personally, I feel gratitude. Through regular mindfulness and meditation, reflection and conversations with others, I am recognizing that I have been in flux much of the time and flow some of the time. This is an interesting, challenging and wonderful stage of life—navigating how I want to age gracefully, with meaning and purpose. As I investigate meaning and purpose at this age/stage of life, I am trying to be intentional about choosing meaningful work with Mindfulness Based Programs as I also intentionally engage in personal activities and relationships that continue to foster meaning, purpose and promote connection.
How do you explore finding meaning and purpose? How are you intentionally engaging in activities, relationships and work that supports your meaning, purpose and connection?
Trusting my own curiosity and attending to my own need to revisit purpose, I’ll share some resources and practices that have been helpful for me. Identifying meaning and purpose involves recognizing beliefs about life purpose and determining which actions and behaviors support those beliefs. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl writes, “Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct.” In my experience, engaging in regular meditation practice, reflecting on the awareness that arises and regularly talking things through with trusted others, clarifies my beliefs and helps me identify right action and conduct. I suggest talk and meditation prior to choosing right action and conduct.
Positive psychology defines purpose in life as the possession of goals and a sense of direction; the feeling that there is meaning to one’s present and past life. This comes directly from psychologist Carol Ryff’s Model for Well-Being. For quite some time, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have been identifying and clarifying what well-being consists of and requires from us. They have identified four pillars for training the mind for well-being: Awareness, Connection, Insight and Purpose. Their findings support my supposition that defining and implementing our life purpose requires:
1. Awareness practices that contribute to the qualities of attention, self-awareness and mindfulness.
2. Connection that promotes healthy interactions and supportive relationships.
3. Insight practices that assist with self-understanding, an awareness of our thoughts, emotions and physical states, as well as an awareness of the boundless world.
4. Core values for motivation to embody purpose and apply them in one’s daily life.
The most challenging part of this for me is to stay focused on my own purpose when I live and choose to engage in a world that has so many distractions and nonstop information constantly overloading my bandwidth of attention. Once again, my mindfulness and meditation practice are key to offsetting ongoing overload and distraction from what’s important, reasonable, worthwhile and meaningful for me to be engaging with. When we are seeking to understand our meaning and purpose, we naturally set intentions and objectives for living in ways that support these aims. Strengthening awareness of where my attention goes through consistent focusing practice is key for me. Insight meditation practice assists in revisiting my understanding of what’s meaningful and valuable for me at any given time.
As I spend time contemplating 2025 and how I want to engage with meaning and purpose, I find myself teaching a few more 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses for Mindful Leader. I find myself networking with local providers to support mental wellness through offerings of mindfulness practice. I am also planning more travel, connection with loved ones, and being outside in nature whenever the weather allows. I’ve found that I really enjoy cooking and mindful eating practices. I’m still trying to decide if taking up a new hobby is on the horizon. Mindfulness practices support these curiosities with kindness and compassion and intention.
As part of your own exploration for purpose and what is meaningful, consider joining me for any of the following programs:
o Mindfulness for Beginners (and those who desire to Begin Again), March 31st, April 7th and 14th.
o Mindfulness at Emmanuel, March 2nd and 16th.
o Half Day Mindfulness Retreat at Kindred Wellness in Glen Rock. More details and registration information provided in March. Save the Date: Saturday, June 7th, 9am-12:30pm, ET.
o Individual or Group mentorship to explore practices for increased awareness around your life purpose; grow life goals.
Wishing you well as you pause, step away from the overwhelm and practice awareness around what’s meaningful, and engage with purpose.
Karen
"The meaning of life is to give life meaning." Viktor Frankl
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