Re-establishing a sense of authentic purpose (or as one of our research participants put it, “refinding my mojo”) can take a while, especially after life transitions that mess with our identity and most valued roles. Reconnecting with our current values, strengths, and sources of personal meaning (e.g., inner Compass and foundation of purposeful living) takes time and energy, which can be hard to muster when one feels stalled. Feeling stalled, by the way, is not exclusive to people on the heels of big life changes. Some days I wake up feeling that way, despite my commitment to living on purpose. Could be the weight of the world gets me; worries about those I love; or my monkey mind is on full tilt – whatever. The doldrums hit and I hardly feel purposey.  What might we do until we get our mojo back?

One of my strengths is my tilt towards self-reflection and using those reflections to guide my life choices - and I have the journals to prove it! However, given that our greatest strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses, I often run the risk of over-thinking things. (People who know me well are now rolling their eyes a wee bit.) It strikes me that living with purpose is about knowing where we want to go and who we want to be and then intentionally taking steps towards that goal – that is, both reflecting and acting. If this enterprise is all about the doing, we risk scrambling up a ladder that is leaning against the wrong wall. But if it’s only about reflecting, we risk never moving at all.  

As I described in my Reflection last month, I (mostly) retired in June, something that feels both weird and delightful. With the change in my work status, some of my default life structure has shifted and with it, some of what drives my sense of purpose in life. I have the opportunity to recraft or refine what purpose looks like in this chapter of my life, which will take some degree of intention and effort. Beyond the very real satisfaction that I derive from believing that my life direction matters in some way, it’s worthwhile to revisit why this investment is worth it.

I recently discovered Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues’ (2005) model that proposes an “architecture of sustainable change” in our happiness. They suggest that an individual’s happiness is informed by three factors: our individual biologically-based happiness set-point; our current life circumstances (where we live, demographic factors, life status factors); and our intentional activities. They recommend that while we can’t do a whole lot to budge our hard-wired set-point and may not be able to change many of our circumstances, we can improve our chronic happiness (i.e., subjective well-being) via shifts in our intentional activities. They emphasize the importance of choosing activities that fit for us – align with our core values, signature strengths, personal resources etc. For anyone who has taken the Compass Course, does this sound familiar?

Most adults (myself included) do not regularly engage in levels of physical activity recommended by Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services); that is at least 2.5 – 5 hours per week of moderate intensity activity. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/PAG_ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Researchers want to identify factors, such as purpose in life, that might propel greater levels of physical activity.

Gratitude and Purpose in Life

Creativity refers to the ability to produce original and unusual ideas or to make something new or imaginative. Beyond artistic activities and expressions, creativity takes many forms such as fashioning beautiful spaces (home, office, garden); planning party or special meal; crafting innovative solutions to work problems; curating a wardrobe that makes a personal statement. Creativity infuses our own take or flair into anything we might choose to do. Christine Valters Paintner reminds us that, ...“the primary creative act is the living of our daily lives, making of it, a work of art” (2011, p. 16).

Authenticity is broadly defined as knowing and expressing one’s True Self. Scholars suggest that authenticity has to do with living in accordance with one’s values and beliefs; striving for genuineness and openness in close relationships; and being consciously aware of one’s own mental state, regardless of whether thoughts or feelings are socially undesirable or conflicting. (Scholars have a variety of subclassifications – trait versus state authenticity, subjective versus objective – but for us, a basic understanding will do!)