Читать книгу BOSH! Healthy Vegan - Henry Firth - Страница 35

People with a core sense of purpose have been shown to live longer, healthier lives. The Japanese call this ‘ikigai’, which translates directly as ‘reason for being’. Your driving purpose may be your career, or your religion; it may be community work, or caring for your family. Having a strong sense of purpose in life can help you remain happy and healthy.

This is core to our BOSH! beliefs as well. Both of us have a clear purpose – we are here to provide plant-based inspiration, knowledge and recipes for people all around the world, and in this way do our bit to help tackle global climate change.

If there’s a disconnect between what you do in your daily work or home life, and what you believe, then that can have a real impact on your wellbeing. If you’re unhappy at work, this can spill over into other parts of life. It may cause you to comfort eat, it may stop you from exercising, it may cause you to fall out with your family and friends. By contrast, if you’re fulfilled by your work, then your relationships, your personal routines and habits are much easier to feel in control of.

This doesn’t mean you have to leave your job to become the next Mother Teresa. Life’s not like that! If your job enables you to look after and provide for your family, then that is a great life purpose in itself. Just make sure you are clear why you are doing what you are doing, and take satisfaction from that.

But now that you’ve taken this opportunity to think about your health and wellbeing, think about ways you could feel more fulfilled. If you resent Mondays and live for the weekend then it might be time for a change. Could you retrain for a job that is more in line with what you love? Could you change aspects of your existing work and take on some new, more satisfying challenges? Could you volunteer in the community?

Let yourself choose things that matter to you, and those around you, and you’ll find yourself living with purpose.