A Purpose Bigger Than Yourself

Do you want to stay young and healthy for a long time? Do you want to have a joyous life? If so, create a purpose bigger than yourself. Let me explain how this works. First  you have to get rigorously honest and ponder a few questions. Ask yourself: Who’s in charge here? Is it my body or my mind? Does your body serve the intentions of your mind? or does your mind serve the intentions of your body? The motive is what produces the result. You can do the same activity and produce totally opposite results depending on your motive.  

Test yourself before you read the rest of this article. Write down the answers to this question. If you won the lottery today and had tons of money and all your time free what would you do? 

If your mind is in the service of your body you will be constantly seeking pleasure, thrills, comfort, nice things, good food, a big house, vacations, and all sorts of sensual experiences. In turn the body will whine and complain like a spoiled child about how uncomfortable it is. It’s too hot, It’s too cold, The neighbors dog is barking too loud, we need a new TV,  I need to lose weight, I need a massage, I need to see  the doctor, I need , I need, I need… lets go out to dinner. Lets have a drink, another piece of cake, I need to lose weight, I need to do something about my health, I’ll join a gym so I can have a sexier body, then I can attract someone else with a sexy body. Then I can have two bodies to play with. My body this, My Body that, My body hurts, My body’s fat…

Do you get the picture, it never shuts up. The more you give it the more it wants, and to get your attention it fusses at you and becomes uncomfortable so you will give it something. A candy, a smoke, anything. It becomes sicker and sicker and eventually dies on you. This is the essence of craving and a mind dedicated to satisfying the body. 

If your body serves your mind however, you will have a completely different experience of living. Lets say you have a purpose that you are really interested in. You have a mission, a passion, an exciting  project conceived in your mind. If your body was to complain that it was tired you  would just ignore it because you were so interested in your project. After a while the body learns to shut up and just be disciplined. It becomes your friend and serves your mind. You would find that in a very short time your body would be in radiant health, just because you ignored its whining. And of course  you took good care of it so  your mind would be clear. 

I read about a man who was given 3 months to live. He had incurable cancer throughout his entire body. He figured , “what the heck, I have three months left  to live I think I’d like to make a difference” He started giving food to starving kids on the street. Twenty five years later he was still alive and his organization had grown. Thousand of  orphans had been  fed and sheltered. 

What’s your life for? Is it all about comfort? Or do you want to create something bigger than that?

Every time you do something ask yourself; What’s it for? Create a legacy. Create something that takes a hundred years to build. Remember the Great Wall Of China and all the other fantastic architecture. Create something bigger than yourself and you will have the best health  you ever imagined.