How a strong sense of meaning and purpose can strengthen resilience

Join me in this week's episode as I discuss how a sense of meaning and purpose can greatly increase our resilience, as well as improve our overall quality of life and general health.

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Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Transcript

Tatiana: 0:00

Welcome to the Integrated Wisdom Podcast. I am your host, Tatiana Da Silva. Join me as we discuss what it means to live an integrated life and explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater meaning, peace, and connection by integrating the wisdom of spirituality, psychology, Neuroscience, Epigenetics and Energy Psychology are hoped to empower you to create deeper and more loving connections with yourself and others, whilst also paving the way for humanity at large to be reimagined and inspired to become the very best version of itself. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the integrated wisdom podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. If we get another week. Now for those of you that have been following along with the podcast. We'll have heard me say a few times. That worldwide. We are experiencing a crisis of meaning. We're seeing rising Mental anguish and loneliness and. Pain that people are experiencing all over the world. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we've, we've disconnected from a deeper sense of meaning. A deeper sense of purpose. For. Why we're here. What makes us get up in the morning every day? And that's actually what I wanted to focus on today. Over the holidays when I had some time out. I watched a documentary that had been on my, my list of things to watch. On Netflix called the blue zones. Now these documentary. Actually centers around five places in the world. Where a significantly high proportion. Of. Members of that community. Tend to live beyond the age of a hundred. In extremely good health. Not only did they maintain their physical strength, their vitality, their flexibility. They also tend to have. Very good cognitive functioning. Very sharp. No memory issues. Very connected. And so this documentary follows this different places in the world. With this phenomenon has been observed and documented. And the presenter's focus was in trying to identify. What, if anything. Was there in common between these five different cities. I don't want to give too much away you can watch the Netflix. Documentary yourself. some of the places that he is centered around was Okinawa in Japan. Sardinia in Italy. There was a community in California. That right now the name of the city is escaping me. Costa Rica. and Ikaria in Greece. And it was the most fascinating documentary. It obviously centered a lot in, in terms of what their diets involved, some of the commonalities of their diet. The commonalities in their physical activity. But when it got to the end of the documentary and this researcher started to distill what were the core factors that tended to. Set somebody up for longevity, for health, for. You know, positive outcomes all around. One of the standout features. On that list. Was a sense of meaning and purpose. And in the documentary, how that was measured was. Where the individuals had a particular activity. That they would engage in daily. That gave them that sense of purpose that gave their day structure. That. Gave their day a focus for some, it was a hobby for some, it was works. I'm still worked. Okay. whether it was in the garden or, you know, making art. Because they were artists. Some were volunteering. In their communities, but there was always this sense of engaging in meaningful activity. That gave them a sense of purpose that gave them a sense of. Positive pride. That made them feel useful. Like they still had things to contribute to life, to the world, to their communities. And. I was immediately struck by that because here again, We're seeing another example where the data is showing us very clearly, how a sense of meaning. Is a protective factor. For our emotional, mental and physical wellbeing. As well as the overall quality of our lives. And. I feel like. There is something there that's telling us. What's important. Right. I think. When we think about. How our lives have been structured in more recent times. our focus has been very self-directed. And in some ways, That disconnects us from that higher sense of purpose. because This sense of meaning that we're talking about is something beyond ourselves. It's almost like. We have to offer. In reverence to the world. Whether it's a skill. Whether it's a presence and energy. There's lots of different ways in which we show up. We can show up for other people. In the world in our communities. That. Give us a sense of meaning because we're in service of something beyond ourselves. And I think in many ways, we've, we've lost sight of that. And saw, I think at the beginning of every year, It's always that opportunity, right? For us to take stock, to think about. How we want to, to. To structure our, our life or restructure our life as the case may be. To bring us more into authentic alignment to give us a greater sense of. A life of joy. A life well lived. And I don't know that we can do that without starting to really bring back into focus. This question of meaning. What are the things in my life. That give me that sense of meaning. That gives me that sense of purpose. Some of us who are lucky. Enough. have chosen careers that fulfill these to a great extent. Right. We're in service driven jobs where we're helping people all the time. It's one of the things that drew me to being a psychologist, I wanted to be of service to others. Service is one of my strongest values. And service is also the core of why I so desperately want to start talking about these concepts more broadly. I want to be working in this space of. Shining a spotlight on the need to integrate spirituality back into our lives.'cause I know. The benefits that that will bring to people in terms of improving their quality of life, improving their sense of. Happiness their sense of peace. And their ability to transcend the suffering. That I see far too much in my line of work. So that helps. But not always. Do we have jobs? Where did that sense of how I'm serving others beyond myself? Is very tangible. And so particularly in those instances, it's very important to. To take some time and stop in and think about. What are some things that I can put in place in my life. To give me that sense of purpose to give me a sense of meaning. It can't be. Financial gain. Right. Again, not necessarily in work. Like we don't, it doesn't have to be at work that you feel like your service. If you're focusing on service all the time. But you certainly need to have some area of your life where you feel like this sense of greater meaning and purpose. Is being met. In a way that's feels satisfying to you. And that's what I wanted to give you today to think about, to reflect on. And. Maybe even guide you through some prompts of some things that you might want to consider. To help you. Start this reflection. If you don't have a really clear answer. To that question. What is it in your life that gives you that greater sense of meaning and purpose? What makes you bounce out of bed in the morning? Maybe not bounce, but. Um, but what gives you that sense of, um, I have a reason to get up. In the morning. It might be your family. It might be your kids. Right. It might be a friend. It might be a community that you're part of. And if you're struggling to find answers to that question. Then. I invite you to really think about what, what are some things that I can do? How else. Can I start to bring. A sense of meaning. And greater purpose into my life. Some questions that. Can be really helpful to guide these questions around your values. And I think when we start to connect with our values, And you think about your values as this. Steady compass. That's always pointing the way. Too. What matters in your life, how you're living a life, that's authentic, how you can show up as your best. Version of yourself. Checking in with your values is always a first step because that will help you understand. What is at the heart of how you would show up, like what's at the heart of how it, what gives you meaning. So a question might be. What values are most important to me in my life. And w are my current actions aligned with those values. Like I said for me as an example, one of my strongest values. Is the value of service. It's at the heart of everything that I do. And so obviously my job takes care of some of that, but I also look for other ways and we checking, I can ensure that I embody that value. Right. Another value is. Like love or being loving. I try to be loving in my interactions with those around me. I'm not perfect. I'm not no Saint. Right. We all have off days. But for the most part, I try to embody. That sense of being a loving presence in my interactions with them. So how, how does that show up for you? What are some of your values? How could you prioritize or incorporate these values into your daily life? And. Another way is to maybe find activities where. You feel yourself going into that state of flow sometimes when we're in that stage, it really shows us that we're connected to something. Deeper than us. Right. Something that's almost transcendent. And, you know, some people we could be their art. And it could be music. Uh, it could be a writing. So what activities help you lose that track of time? And how can you integrate some of those passions more? Consistently and falling into your life. But when that one step further. You know, if we want to expand it beyond ourselves. How can I use this, this talent, this gift. His interest in a way that's of service to other people. And it doesn't have to be all the time. It doesn't have to be. At a wide community level, he could be simply I love to bake. Cooking makes me happy. I bake something and I share some of that. With a neighbor that I know. Has been having a rough time. Or is it a bit lonely? Right. That's an example of showing up and, and feeling like we're being of service, we're having, there's a greater sense of meaning. To what's going on. Other ways. In which you might want to engage with your community. We have volunteering might give you that sense of purpose. Um, you know, like I said before, sometimes it's, it's about our family. How are we, how are we engaging with my family? And without families. Without kids. Are we being present with them? So these are some examples of how you can incorporate or start to think about what gives your life that sense of meaning. In a practical way, in a way that you can engage with. Day to day. But when we talk about a sense of meaning and this crisis of meaning. What I'm also talking about. Is. This idea that. Everything that's happening around me. Must have some kind of significance. Must have some kind of purpose. And many, many ways, and this is well validated in the data. In research. If I am able to. To take a bigger picture view. Of scribe, a higher purpose. To some of the challenges that I face in my life. My resilience and ability to withstand those challenges. Increases significantly. There's so much research that's been done on this. And so when I talk about spirituality, that's really what I'm talking about. Right. This idea that. People have. The ability to. Connect with source with a higher purpose like that. There's something bigger than all of us that there's something bigger than what we see day to day. That. Gives order and make sense of things. For us in a way that we can't. And allows us. To feel more at peace, I guess. With this idea. Um, What did he say that we have to struggle with? It's it's what we're talking about. When you hae people say, That when something happens, that's painful. That's challenging. Instead of asking yourself, Why is this happening to me? Ask yourself. The question. What can I take out of this? So what is this trying to teach me? Right. It's looking for this higher significance. To what's going on. To what's happening. That allows you to take that step back. To feel more empowered again. Less victimized by the circumstances of life. There's ample research that has shown time and time again. How much of a protective factor this ability has for peoples. What abilities to deal with. Adversity in life. And I know that in the previous episode, I've spoken about this, but Dr. Victor Frankl who wrote men search for meaning. He created his entire methodology around this. He was a firm believer that human beings could. Withstand the worst of atrocities. So long as they could give it. That experience. Uh, transcendent sense of meaning. Uh, reason. Higher than themselves. For what was going on. And sir. I think if you're going to walk away from this episode with any. One focused question to reflect on as you navigate your day-to-day life situations. And this is true again for when we're having. Challenges with our kids when we're having challenges with our partner. You know, work setting. When I'm feeling empty and lacking joy and purpose. Right that question of, What is there in this situation for me to learn? What could this situation be trying to show me? To teach me. About myself. About what I may still need to do. To develop. About what matters. So I invite you to reflect on these things. If you haven't yet. Identified what your values are clarifying those alleys for yourselves. But also starting to connect with his sense of how can I feel. Like a greater sense of purpose and meaning in my life. Okay. I have reconnect more with my community or those around me. What does having a meaningful and purposeful life even mean? To me, that might be a question worth, reflecting on to. And if you're not sure what that is. And you get to have the great adventure of going out and trying different things to, to see. What's parks. Uh, vibrancy in you, what sparks joy in you? What kind of energizes here. These are all clues that we receive. In a, like in a physiological way, in a very tangible way. About the things that are aligned for us that are fuel authentic to us. And when we're in alignment and we're feeling connected. It's almost inevitable. That you have this greater sense of meaning you have this transcendence. Feeling. That. You know, things of everything's right in the world, even if it isn't. On the surface of it. So as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on, on this. Feel free to reach out to me. Let me know what you think. If there's any questions that you may have. if there's anything that you'd like me to dive deeper on or clarify. you know, I always welcome your feedback as you know, You can find me on Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. So feel free to DM me there and yeah, I hope you all have a lovely week. And I'll look forward to speaking to you again. Next time. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Integrated Wisdom. It is my sincere wish that today's episode may have intrigued and inspired you to reclaim your power and step into becoming more fully integrated spiritual beings. New episodes are published every Wednesday. And I hope you'll continue to join us as we dive deeper into what it means to live an integrated life. So if it feels aligned to you, I invite you to hit subscribe and share it with others who you feel may benefit too. You may also find me on Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. Remember, each moment is an opportunity to embrace your divine potential and create a world that is more frequently inspired. So for now, stay connected, stay inspired and keep shining your light. Into the world.