By most accounts, the keys to happiness and longevity include the freedom to express your feelings, a sense of usefulness, and friends. Though the modern trend to these goals is through drugs, therapy, or meditation, you may have better luck getting a dog.
Caring for something or someone other than yourself is understanding that there are bigger things in the world than your ego. It’s also the beginning of finding a purpose in your life and work.
A purpose gives your life meaning. It’s a reason to get out of bed. With a purpose, your life is no longer about you and your needs, but about serving a larger community. It’s about making work that matters and that directly affects the lives of others. It’s about doing work out of love and a sense of belonging, not because we have to.
The knights, the samurai, the Boy and Girl Scouts, and even the movie-mythic Jedi all have a moral code of decency to live by that centers around serving others. Let them serve as your example. Love something other than yourself. Help, teach, lead, or perform unrewarded good deeds.
Of course, we need to make our daily bread, but when our efforts rarely have any effect on or meaning for others, life can feel like treading water. Financial success is great, but the world doesn’t need more millionaires. We need more creative people who give a damn about something other than themselves. You needn’t give away all your belongings or move to Bali or India. Start small. Get a plant.
