​Life Purpose

What Is Life Purpose?

Life purpose refers to feeling motivated and self-directed in achieving something you are passionate about. Life purpose means very different things to different people. For you, it could involve working towards a goal, being part of a community, or living in accordance with your values. What is key is that it gives you sense of meaning.

Why is it important to build this skill?

When you have life purpose, you feel good about how you are living your life. You feel that there is some ultimate reason for your actions and that you are contributing to the world in some important way. This gives you a sense of satisfaction and connectedness which helps you experience more positive emotions.
​Activities to develop this skill:
What is happiness?
It turns out that getting clarity on what happiness is is not a simple task. Happiness is defined in many different ways. To find purpose, first explore what happiness means to you.
Happiness Drawings
When we visualize events, our brains process these events as if they were real. Our brains have a difficult time telling the difference. In this activity, you'll get clear on happiness by drawing pictures of your happiness.

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About Dr. Tchiki Davis
Dr. Davis is founder of The Berkeley Well-Being Institute. After getting her PhD in psychology at Berkeley, she started creating online content & programs to boost well-being—some of these have reached more than a million people. As author of Outsmart Your Smartphone, and contributor to Psychology Today, The Greater Good Science Center, and Shine Text, Dr. Davis aims to share her insights on happiness & health with people all across the world. Learn more about Dr. Davis.
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