And I look forward to a future which will feel as meaningful as it does today. If you’re interested in the concept of meaning and how you can cultivate more meaning in your life, either your personal or professional lives, here is a piece that might give you some idea. When we have long-term goals in life that reflect our values and serve the greater good, we tend to imbue our activities with more meaning. Having purpose has also been tied to many positive outcomes, including increased learning for students in school and better health. We are all faced with challenging, yet essential questions that help us understand meaning and purpose in life.

If you are a primary caregiver, ask for help when you need it and accept help when it’s offered. Don’t hesitate to suggest a specific task to someone who offers to help. Friends and family are usually eager to do something for you and the person who is dying, but they may not know what to do. Caregivers may also feel overwhelmed keeping close friends and family informed.

Why the best time to drink coffee is not when you wake up

Knowing the “why” of your actions can infuse even trivial behaviors with value. One way to perceive more significance in your life is to actively seek out intrinsically rewarding experiences, like (re)connecting with nature or people who make it easy to express your true self. Given the now-documented https://ecosoberhouse.com/ long-term social, mental, and physical benefits of having a sense of meaning in life, the recommendation here is clear. Rather than pursuing happiness as an end-state, ensuring one’s activities provide a sense of meaning might be a better route to living well and flourishing throughout life.

She is renowned for her work on positive psychology, meaning, and spiritual development, and is the co-developer of the Mindfulness-Based Meaning Program. We might presume that strongly endorsing these strengths would only make a modest contribution to meaning in life. Fortunately, we each have numerous https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-create-meaning-in-life-best-ways-and-practices/ strengths, and we learn to use strengths that we currently score low on. Gaining an understanding of the nature and use of your strengths is one way to build your meaning and is backed by research. “Those who live meaningful lives develop positive, authentic connections with others,” Thompson says.

Routes for cultivating meaning in life

We can often feel like we are operating on “automatic pilot.” Although the inability to make sense of your life can detract from the experience of meaning, simply making sense of it doesn’t necessarily mean that life will feel meaningful. It is easy, for example, to think of an individual who possesses a cynical belief about how their life has unfolded. This worldview may help the individual make sense of their situation and life more broadly, but it seems unlikely to foster the belief that their life is full of meaning. This example illustrates how meaning is not simply about “connecting the dots” but also finding beauty in the picture that emerges.