{"id":22003,"date":"2024-09-03T00:00:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T06:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/?p=22003"},"modified":"2025-11-30T10:48:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T16:48:27","slug":"how-to-help-promote-a-sense-of-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/how-to-help-promote-a-sense-of-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Promote a Sense of Meaning and Purpose in Your Depressed Clients"},"content":{"rendered":"

True happiness … is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.<\/em><\/p>\n

– Helen Keller<\/p>\n

“My life just seems empty! What’s the point of anything? It wouldn’t make any difference if I wasn’t here!”<\/p>\n

These are common sentiments indicative of a depressed mindset. But they also indicate a sense of meaninglessness and purposelessness. At their heart may lie a sense that life has little value or meaning.<\/p>\n

It often seems to me that once we connect to a purpose bigger than ourselves, suffering, privations, indignities, and difficulties fade as they begin to play ‘second fiddle’ to our primary cause, which is above and beyond the self.<\/p>\n

Emile Zatopek, the long-distance runner and multiple Olympic gold medal winner, had a great sense of purpose, which was to be the best and make his country proud. He said of his training: “Is it raining? That doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.”<\/p>\n

When we feel I<\/em> matters less than we<\/em>, or perhaps an abstract idea like ‘truth’ or ‘good’, then personal problems feel less important – or even a necessary part of the journey, like potholes on the road to an important destination.<\/p>\n

There’s an obvious caveat here, though.<\/p>\n

Prefer to watch instead?<\/h3>\n