NEWS DETAILS

Sometimes the people we admire most in life give us a clue to how we might want to contribute to a better world ourselves. Reading about the work of civil rights leaders or climate activists can give us a moral uplift that can serve as motivation for working toward the greater good. The Greater Good Science Center studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being, and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society. To begin the process of discovering the meaning in your life—or to adjust a search that’s gone slightly off course—I recommend following three steps. “How to Build a Life” is a weekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness.

For
many in the field, terms such as “importance” and
“significance” are synonyms of
“meaningfulness” and so are insufficiently revealing, but
there are those who draw a distinction between meaningfulness and
significance (Singer 1996, 112–18; Belliotti 2019, 145–50,
186). There is also debate about how the concept of a meaningless life
relates to the ideas of a life that is absurd (Nagel 1970, 1986,
214–23; Feinberg 1980; Belliotti 2019), futile (Trisel how to create meaning in life 2002),
and not worth living (Landau 2017, 12–15; Matheson 2017). Many major historical figures in philosophy have provided an answer to
the question of what, if anything, makes life meaningful, although
they typically have not put it in these terms (with such talk having
arisen only in the past 250 years or so, on which see Landau
1997). Consider, for instance, Aristotle on the human function,
Aquinas on the beatific vision, and Kant on the highest good.

Relationships that increase your sense of belonging (significance)

It was generally thought that individuals used assimilation more since it did not require them to change their overall beliefs; however, accommodation may actually be more common, especially in the face of huge, life-altering events (Park, 2010). When an individual changes the situational meaning to be more in line with their global meaning, they are using assimilation. When the individual changes their global meaning to make room for this new situation that doesn’t “fit” with their current understandings, they are using accommodation. Experiencing how strengths and behavior make a difference in life, is an example of putting significance into practice. Frankl (2006) explains this phenomenon as the will to meaning, which refers to the intrinsic motivation to find answers and explanations for life events.

• Or, if your family is more a source of stress than support, deep friendships could be what you value most.
• Many seem to believe that purpose arises from your special gifts and sets you apart from other people—but that’s only part of the truth.
• They could not imagine that this end result was a deliberate choice, so it seems important to choose the kind of person you want to become not only in your career but also in other areas of life (Christensen, 2010).
• Although most who hold
  supernaturalism also hold theism, one could accept the former without
  the latter (as Camus more or less did), committing one to the view
  that life is meaningless or at least lacks substantial meaning.
• Some values may be closer to your heart and more personally meaningful than others.

In modern psychology, meaning itself is generally no longer questioned; virtually all psychologists agree that meaning exists as a concept for humans, that it can be found in the world around us, and that we can create or uncover our own unique sense of meaning as well. Modernists questioned the significance of traditions and, indeed, anything that we had gained or learned through traditional https://ecosoberhouse.com/ means. The innovation and staggering discoveries of the early 1900s thrust mankind into a world of new possibilities. Einstein’s theory of relativity only reinforced the idea that life and humanity were more nuanced than it had previously been considered. Luckily, humans are resourceful – we have infinite ways of finding meaning, and infinite potential sources of meaning.

Shifting and replacing values

Now a new book takes a stab at figuring out just what pursuing a meaningful life entails. The book, though only loosely tied to research, is mostly an engaging read about how people find meaning in life through “four pillars” of meaning. Although it may be common folklore that ardently searching for, and effortfully creating, meaning in life is the primary way to truly experience this sought-after feeling, research suggests that most of the time meaning is actually quite easy to detect.

While this is important in terms of knowing what works for well-being and happiness, when people do not have a clear sense of purpose in life or know what they value in life and why, writing down their thoughts and formulating a strategy for their life is important. That does not have to be a lengthy process, but spending a few hours every couple of years might be enough (and is more than most people do). Benatar (2006, 60–92, 2017, 35–63) has advanced an
additional argument for nihilism, one that appeals to Thomas
Nagel’s (1986, 208–32) widely discussed analysis of the
extremely external standpoint that human persons can take on their
lives. There exists, to use Henry Sidgwick’s influential phrase,
the “point of view of the universe,” that is, the
standpoint that considers a human being’s life in relation to
all times and all places. When one takes up this most external
standpoint and views one’s puny impact on the world, little of
one’s life appears to matter. What one does in a certain society
on Earth over 75 years or so just does not amount to much, when
considering the billions of temporal years and billions of light-years
that make up space-time.

Why is it important to set goals?

Deliberate processes can be engaged in several different ways, including coping activities. Individuals who engage in these coping activities use positive reappraisal, revise their goals and seek solutions to their problems, or activate spiritual beliefs and experiences to help them survive their difficult experience (Park, 2010). “Those who have a ‘why’ to live can bear with almost any ‘how’” – Nietzsche. Journaling about goals and achievements increases awareness of this specific facet of meaning. So the good news is, you don’t have to choose between having wealth and living a meaningful life.

• Brown explains that the conventional approach to finding a purpose gets it all wrong.
• In fact, many older adults live incredibly long, busy lives, and their positive psychological profiles act as a buttress against illness, loneliness, and depression.
• Finding ways to make life meaningful and purposeful and rewarding, doing the activities that you love and spending time with the people that you love – I think that’s the meaning of this human experience.
• When you are able to answer this question, you can act on the answer, spending more of your life pursuing the things that give you meaning and doing things that promote your well-being.
• We shared many different strategies you can implement when looking for that ultimate answer, and we sincerely hope that when you have found your ikigai, you will make changes to actively live that life of meaning.

If the pattern of one’s life as a
whole substantially matters, and if a proper pattern would include a
beginning, a middle, and an end, it appears that a life that never
ends would lack the relevant narrative structure. “Because it
would drag on endlessly, it would, sooner or later, just be a string
of events lacking all form….With immortality, the novel never
ends….How meaningful can such a novel be? Notice that this objection is
distinct from considerations of boredom and repetition (which concern
novelty); even if one were stimulated and active, and even if
one found a way not to repeat one’s life in the course of
eternity, an immortal life would appear to lack shape. In reply, some
reject the idea that a meaningful life must be akin to a novel, and
intead opt for narrativity in the form of something like a string of
short stories that build on each other (Fischer 2009, 145–77,
2019, 101–16). Others, though, have sought to show that eternity
could still be novel-like, deeming the sort of ending that matters to
be a function of what the content is and how it relates to the content
that came before (e.g., Seachris 2011; Williams 2020,
112–19).

Cultivate positive emotions like gratitude and awe

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Meaning and Valued Living Exercises for free. Sometimes it looms big in our lives; sometimes it slips in almost unobserved. Sometimes we miss a meaningful moment entirely until days, months, or even years go by and then suddenly something that once seemed insignificant becomes a pivotal, life-changing moment.