Psychologically Speaking

with Stewart Hase

Purpose built for life

At Minnie Water there is a bay, protected by a reef where eager fishers launch their boats off the beach. To enable fish cleaning after an outing out to sea there are three large concrete 'tables' set into the rocks at the water's edge. For the few days I was there last week there were a large number of seagulls and pelicans hanging around this spot at any time of the day and night waiting for a feed. I watched these quite well-fed birds sitting on the rocks facing the wind or preening themselves in the warm autumn sun. But always waiting for the next boat to come in. It made me think about what these birds might be doing had there not been a free feed on hand. I suspect they would have been hungry and more lean. They would also have been flying around hunting for food, motivated by a primitive purpose. Busy, purposeful.

A lack of purpose sometimes happens to people and is linked to all sorts of ills, ranging from a mild disquiet through to depression and anxiety and even to social breakdown. The latter is seen in communities where there is high unemployment. Without purpose, alcohol and drug abuse become rampant and domestic violence increases. Without meaning or any sense of reprieve, detainees in Australia's version of concentration camps become psychologically crippled. An elderly person loses their lifelong partner and shortly afterwards also shuffles off the mortal coil. There are myriad examples of how not having purpose can lead to negative feelings and behaviours. Motivation is a critical drive and without it we begin to look inwards because there is nowhere else to go and then begins a cycle of despair.

A friend and I were chatting the other week about stress and life. She made the remarkable comment that she wanted to die completely exhausted, with no gas left in the tank at all. Her view was that it is important to stay continually challenged in at least one part of your life. Excitement and anticipation keep the engines roaring along and the blood flowing. I often meet people who are no longer interested in life. One of the simple treatments I employ is to help them find something that gets them looking outside themselves. This might be a change of job, a new hobby, doing community work, helping others. Just finding something that is challenging and exciting. Getting out from in front of the TV and the computer is a good start for some. Life's purposes change too as we leave school, go to work, have children, buy our first home, watch the children leave, and then retire. Then of course there are the tragedies that occur along the way. So, I have found the need to realign my challenges and be flexible because I have learnt that life is subject to change at a moment's notice.

I suppose that the seagulls and pelicans at Minnie Water would get back to what they are good at if ever the boats stopped coming in. Unless motivation is eventually bred out of them completely. And us?