When you are stressed out, working too hard, and running around to meet the latest deadline, or pay a stack of bills, you often are not the nicest person to be around… far from it. If on the other hand, you shift your focus and live your life with purpose and intention, this changes. Living with purpose makes us kinder and nicer. Why is that?
Living with Purpose Helps You Focus On Others
Living with purpose often includes other people. It’s about those around you as much as about yourself. We are social creatures and we like to work with, interact with, and help those around us. When we make those relationships a priority, we take the needs of others into account. That teaches us empathy and understanding, which in turn makes us nicer and kinder to those around us.
Living with Purpose Takes You Out of the Competitive Mindset
When you stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, you stop competing with everyone around you who are competing for the biggest, newest, nicest whatever. Life is about much more than outdoing everyone else. When you realize that and focus on relationships, experiences, and helping each other out, you are kinder because you’re no longer competing for that number one spot.
Living with Purpose Reduces Stress
Since you’re no longer participating in the rat race in the same way as before, and are looking for meaningful activities and relationships that make you happier, it should come as no surprise that your level of stress is greatly reduced. I don’t know about you, but I’m not the kindest person when I’m stressed out. When I’m more relaxed and fulfilled on the other hand, being kind is a natural state of mind.
Living with Purpose Increases Happiness
As you’ve already seen in previous blog posts in this series, living a purpose-driven life makes us happier. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise to you that you’re kinder and nicer to be around when you’re in a good mood. It’s when you’re stressed out, or feeling trapped, mad and angry at the world that you aren’t so much fun to be around.
To recap, living with purpose does quite a few things to make you a kinder, nicer person to be around. If that’s not a great motivator to work towards a more purposeful life, I don’t know what is.
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