LIVING WITH A STRONG SENSE OF PURPOSE
Secret of a Healthy Mind
A RESEARCH was carried out at the academic centres of Hospitals Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai Roosevelt in New York. The findings of the study were presented on March 6 at the American Heart Association’s EPI/Lifestyle 2015 Scientific Sessions in Baltimore. According to the study, having a strong sense of purpose in life may lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. The researchers defined “purpose in life” as having a sense of meaning and direction and a feeling that life is worth living. Those with a low sense of purpose, however, are more likely to suffer cardiovascular problems. (Psychcentral, March 7, 2015)
Although, physically human beings are like other animals; the uniqueness of man is that he possesses a mind. It is the mind that governs the whole human life. If the mind is healthy, one can lead a healthy life. If the mind is not healthy, then all of one’s activities will be seriously affected.
A strong sense of purpose gives you all those positive things you require to lead a good life on earth.
What is the secret of a healthy mind? It is to have a strong sense of purpose. A strong sense of purpose gives you all those positive things you require to lead a good life on earth.
There are people who have developed a strong sense of purpose in terms of having material goals, such as earning money or attaining a political position, etc. However, experience shows that these people who begin the early years of their life with great enthusiasm and they, die in frustration. An example is the American billionaire Bill Gates, who earned a lot of money until his name entered the list of the richest persons in the world. In the beginning he was full of enthusiasm, but later he himself acknowledged that he became frustrated and began to search for an alternative.
It is true that a strong sense of purpose gives a person a healthy life, but attaching the sense of purpose with a material end or a worldly goal has a limit. After crossing this limit, this kind of goal has no positive role to play for a person and it sometime leads to tension, ill health and other problems. Moreover, a person with such a target becomes a victim of despair and frustration.
There is only one thing that can give man a strong sense of purpose, and that is for man to make the discovery of God as his goal. The search for God has no limit, it may continue forever. God is man’s Creator and He is the All-Giver. So, it is but natural that God alone can be the true goal for any person.
Belief in God is not a mysterious belief. The concept of Paradise is associated with belief in God. Paradise is given to a faithful person as reward by God. Thus, to find God means to find the source of total fulfilment in terms of Paradise. This is why having a strong sense of purpose can be applied only to finding God and Paradise. Any other goal cannot be an alternative for a person in this regard.
A strong sense of purpose is good, but it requires a base that is eternal in nature. For example, pursuit of political position has an end. As a political seat necessarily involves both winning and losing, it can never form an eternal basis for a strong sense of purpose. A goal which does not have eternity and comes to an end after a while, cannot offer man a strong sense of purpose. Even if it gives a sense of purpose, it will do so in a temporary manner. Anything temporary can never satisfy a person in the complete sense.
