How to Find Balance in an Unbalanced World

By Mark Kaplan / June 18, 2020

This is the time to find our humaneness. When everything seems unbalanced it is a good time to evaluate what it is to be human. What is it that makes us feel purposeful? What makes us happy?

Strangely, they go hand in hand. When we feel purposeful, we are happy. Consider how depressed people are when they don’t have work or when they find their skills are no longer in demand. Being purposeful might be more important than being healthy and being loved.

What is the Point of Purpose?

Purpose is ingrained deep in our DNA and our subconscious. When we are children every other word is “look at me”. Why? We fear being invisible and of no interest to others. Why do we check our phones 100 times a day to see if someone wants to connect with us?

Why do entertainers have such passion for people being interested in their work? How about writers and artists? Why do we give awards for outstanding achievement in sports and business? People are motivated by being recognized. Is there a Super Bowl so players can make more money? No, everyone wants to know who is best, even the players.

Daniel Pink in Drive said humans have a desire to be autonomous, purposeful, and engage in something they love. You might turn this into we usually excel when engaged in something that is important to us. This makes us feel purposeful and may be the reason we are here.

At the deepest root, we all want to find the reason we are here and being purposeful is frequently the answer.

Purpose Gives us Balance When Everything Else is Unbalanced

If we know why we are here, what is happening around us is less disturbing. Consider the front-line workers right now. They know they are important for everyone to sustain and they risk their health and mortality to serve. This is why soldiers often feel purposeful. This is why service to God and Country are raised to such lofty levels for motivation. If you can’t put God and Country above the value of your own life, a soldier might not do what is needed most.

Purpose takes on a value bigger than our own life. It is how we see ourselves being of service. It doesn’t make a big difference how many people we serve, but in the movies the hero is always trying to save the world by preventing a disaster from ending humanity.

How about doctors that travel into remote regions to treat people or doctors just in the city? They feel a purpose to make people feel better. Social workers and juvenile officers are helping people in need. Now the BLM protestors are helping people in need.

Finding Your Purpose

What could you do that would best express who you are? I am a writer and a surf instructor. There are very few obstacles to keep me from writing every day but all kinds of obstacles have interrupted surf instruction this year. When I can’t bring the joy of surfing to so many people, I feel distraught. It is something more than money.

What could you do that is more important than money? Many successful pursuits have started as a hobby and passion and evolved to fame. A passion doesn’t need to find fame for us to desire to engage, but fame does tell us we have hit a good note and others are connected to us.

Find a passion and pursue it with all your heart and the unbalanced world will seem more balanced.

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