Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 239 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#221

Post by michepriest »

michepriest wrote: post #220

I’ve been working intentionally on this for over a year after I got laid off and decided I didn’t want to work for someone else again The best explanation in what I’ve read is, purpose is “living the truest expression of yourself as a human being” - Oprah To get there I recommend her book, “The Path Made Clear.” Go through it slowly. Your path will unfold in parallel. I’m working on living authentically (saying what…

As far as books goes, aside from The Path Made Clear, read those that help you go deep into whatever it is you’re exploring so you can quickly get over the discomfort of learning something new.

If you’re over 40, read From Strength to Strength. If you don’t already, learn to meditate. There are many different methods. Find one that feels right for you. Move your body in the way you naturally wanted to as a child. For example, I loved riding my bike and doing cartwheels so I bicycle and do yoga.

I recommend Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. The next book on my reading list is Soulcraft by Bill Plotkin.

As far as happiness, it’s not a destination. It comes in moments. You have happiness. We all do. The trick is to be present when it happens. The key to happiness is decreasing the moments of unhappiness, learning how to let go. A mentor of mine told me to figure out how to only give 1 fuck a week. It changed my life.

Journal, analyze what brings you moments of unhappiness and structure your life to eliminate as many of those as possible. Write what brings you more moments of happiness and how to increase those.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#223

Post by trollerator23 »

mobiuscog wrote: post #188
trollerator23 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have considered it, and that may be the answer. However, studies do show that "have a purpose" is correlated with happiness.

Cause vs correlation perhaps. People with a purpose have less decisions to make on their own - their purpose directs them - and therefore they have less stress, and more happiness. It's why many people are drawn to religion - it removes some responsibility and decision, and focuses life.

Exactly.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#224

Post by lostlogin »

jstarfish wrote: post #203
lostlogin wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Volunteer work is a good start, missionary work is even better. I couldn’t disagree more with regard to missionary work. Having someone tell me why their sky friend needs to be in my life is outright offensive. I get a fair few US 20-25 year olds trying this crap out at my home in Auckland, New Zealand.

I wasn't suggesting anything secular. Programs like Doctors Without Borders was more what I had in mind, but that particular example requires specialization and longer-term commitment. The point is to travel, see the real rest of the world, and to get something from the experience other than hangovers and gonorrhea. Door-to-door evangelism amounts to harassment and is not at all in scope.

Absolutely agree that this example is a good things.

I’ve never heard Doctors Without Borders described as missionary work.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#225

Post by trollerator23 »

johnea wrote: post #205

Ha Ha 8-) I take it from your username that this post is intended to trigger trolls, so I thought I'd respond... Of course, the answer is, you have no "purpose", or you can have any "purpose" you choose. Since "purpose" is a completely fictional concept, in the exact same way as finance. You take all the people away, there is no "purpose" to the universe. Gravity, electromagentism, they're totally happy chugging alon…

Hehe. Mostly I just troll but I did mean this seriously.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#226

Post by [deleted] »

ptrhvns wrote: post #40

Well, I think a change in perspective might help. Namely, you do not find your purpose because it's not lost. You create or choose your purpose. A purpose is not necessarily inherent, or given to you by the Universe. On a related note, work hard to understand that point enough to stop feeling bad about not having one. We evolved to want a purpose or goals for fitness purposes, but there's no rule coming from the Univ…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#227

Post by trollerator23 »

hayst4ck wrote: post #189

One might view purpose as a property that every person has. It is a field that must be filled. Having an unfilled purpose field results in a feeling of emptiness which is unpleasant resulting in motivation to escape that feeling by finding meaning. This is a poor model. Viktor Frankl's man's search for meaning said that purpose is to live life as if every moment had purpose. At first I found that tautological and mea…

Wow, this one was different. Thanks. Will look.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#228

Post by trollerator23 »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #91

>There are plenty of studies that show that having a "purpose" and working after it is correlated with higher happiness or well being. "Purpose" is vague enough, so to make things worse I am going to conflate it with "life meaning", "calling" or "personal values". Some subjective sense being correlated with blah blah blah doesn't mean any such thing objectively exists. It doesn't. You have no purpose. Nobody designed…

Why, I agree that there's no "externally designed" purpose, it does exist if people think it does (to them). It may be just "stuff I like doing". That's why I am asking here.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#229

Post by trollerator23 »

statquontrarian wrote: post #64

Some research and expert guidance you might find useful: 1. Frank Martela and Michael F Steger. The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5):531–545, 2016. doi:10.1080/17439760.2015.1137623. 2. Roy F Baumeister. Meanings of life. Guilford Press, 1991. 3. Viktor E Frankl. Man’s search for meaning. Simon and Schuster, 1985. 4. Roy…

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How do I find my “purpose”?

#230

Post by trollerator23 »

Nathanba wrote: post #120

No offense, but how many years have you lived in this world? Have you seen it? Have you never cared yet? If not, what is your problem? How about you actually go and when you read a piece of news or see a problem out in this world, you CARE. For one second in your life, you actually dont just look at yourself and do everything for your own higher happiness and well being and you actually try to help somebody else or f…

You don't know anything about me or about why I am asking the question. Chill. You don't get a cookie.
Post reply on HN