Stepping into Joy and Purpose

By Xochitl Armién,

Edit/Blog/Publishing Team

As we enter the new year, we reflect on our past and decide what changes we would like to enact to stay true to our chosen path. It’s easy to get caught up in the motions of a busy routine and push enjoyment and aspirations to the back burner. However, time moves quickly and making the most of every moment, in dedication to ourselves and a higher cause is significantly valuable. It is in practicing joy and acting on our purpose that we give meaning, motivation and gratification to our lives. Through these efforts we inspire and uplift those around us, cultivating a positive difference in the world.

❥ A healthy life requires balance enjoyment and work.

Joy is the practice of being present to recognize and be open to experience moments of elation and happiness, but also resilience and hope. In reclaiming joy, we act in resistance to the systems of oppression that so long have attempted to stamp us into a perpetual state of survival. 

In their book, Leading with Joy, Akaya Windwood and Rajasvini Bhansali describe joy as an “approach to leadership centered in wholeness, celebration and staying in the work for the long haul＂(Woodwind & Bhansali 2022). They explain that being grounded in joy is vital, as so many powerful changemakers are overworked and caught up in the interconnected systems of oppression that lead them into despondence, disappointment and burnout.

What activities, people, and practices bring you joy?

During hard times, what helps you find the positive?

What attainable practices can you implement into your daily routines to experience more joy?

 ❥ Living true to purpose is a journey of joy, love and determination in the face of challenge.

“Love work”, a concept created by storyteller Tania Esparza, describes the projects we find great joy in, that fill us with life, and fulfill a duty we feel in our spirit to make a difference. Much of this work isn’t easy, but a deep-set motivation to create an impact bigger than ourselves drives us to persevere through the many challenges that arise.

The Stanford Center on Adolescence defined purpose as “a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self” (Damon, Menon & Bronk 2003). 

❥ In essence, our purpose is our unique power — one we can find deep in our core. Our greatest skills and our rawest passions, intersect at our purpose, and we must select the most fitting manner to apply our great efforts. 

Take a moment to think about your childhood gifts and special talents. 

How do they relate to the way you work on your purpose?

What are your core motivators in your life and work?

❥ Our cultural backgrounds – and the experiences that come with them– influence our purpose in life.

In a study into the Sense of Purpose Among Female Students Belonging to Minority Ethnic and Buddhist Backgrounds, participants shared that they “aspired to be role models who can lead and motivate minority youth to fulfill their educational and career goals” (Sharma & De Alba, 2018). Furthermore, their family backgrounds, generational struggles, and immigration stories motivated them to aim high and defy odds and stereotypes.

How does your culture, background, and life experiences impact your purpose?

Who do you impact with your “love work”?

❥ Having a central goal to look forward to motivates us to keep going during hard times.

In the turbulence of our world, it is purpose that guides us through times of survival and empowers us to thrive once we find stability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, having a sense of purpose was found to be an indicator of perseverance and resilience in college students, in a recent study from California State University Fresno. One of the factors found to promote resilience was having faith that one’s actions make a positive difference. The study stated that having a sense of purpose is a “critical characteristic of resilient youth, which strengthens their several other attributes such as goal-directedness, motivation, aspirations, persistence, and hope＂(Sharma & Yukhymenko-Lescroart 2022).

Later in life, purpose becomes an essential source of vitality that helps elders remain healthy and thrive. In the “village of longevity”, one of the five Blue Zones located in Okinawa, Japan, elders credit Ikigai, the Japanese concept for “a passion that gives value and joy to life”, as one of the practices that has helped them reach such old age, healthy and fulfilled.

❥ Our lives are precious and honoring our time on this earth by living it to the fullest is honoring ourselves.

Not only do we make our own lives more enjoyable and meaningful, but in following our higher purpose we leave a positive impact on the world– no matter the scale of our actions. In doing our part we contribute to the creation of a more loving, just and equitable society for all.

Note –  Some inspirations for this blog include: the aforementioned book, Leading with Joy, by Akaya Windwood and Rajasvini Bhansali, works by Ms Sandy Holman, words from Ms Tania Esparza and Ms Keya Bell and most of all, my own journey with joy and purpose in my life.