3 Ways To Add Meaning To Your Life

A recent worldwide study determined that the number one need of those suffering psychological problems in the COVID-19 era is “meaning.” The stressors associated with COVID-19 caused people to question life’s meaning. Life changed after lockdowns. Activities changed. Interruptions in work, school, social activities, church, and travel, left voids, created fears, inspired anxiety, and caused people to question the meaning of life. In the aftermath, today’s challenges, including inflation and war, have fueled the need for meaning.

Viktor Frankl, the creator of Logotherapy, or “meaning” therapy, explained that when there is a lack of meaning in one’s life it creates an “existential vacuum.” This vacuum quickly becomes filled with depression, aggression, or addiction.?His theory became an all too familiar part of the post COVID-19 world!

We experienced an unprecedented rise in depression and even suicidal ideation among children.?Personal and group aggression caused a record increases in crime and rioting. Over 100,000 overdose deaths were recorded in one 12-month period.?Meaning is not only important on the personal psychological level, but it also appears to be the glue that holds our society together.?

The Meaning Triangle

There are three ways to find meaning in life: through creativity, experience, and attitude. These three roads define our relationship to the universe. When we are creative, through work or any activity, large or small, we are contributing to the universe.?When we experience the universe, whether it’s through nature, art, or another person, we are taking from the universe.?And when we take a stance with our attitude, we are defining our relationship to the universe.?In all cases we are very much alive, and our life has meaning.

Finding meaning in your life will require self-reflection.?You will need to question yourself, reflect, and make realizations.?This may require making changes in what you do or think. It may be difficult, but it is always rewarding.

Creativity

Ask yourself: What creative gifts have I offered to others through my talents, my work, deeds done, or goals achieved, that held meaning for me?

What does your work contribute to the world??Can you cook? Do others enjoy your special soup? Have you rescued a dog? Is your neighborhood a better place to live in because of the flower bed you put on your lawn? Did you help a child with their art project??Get the idea?

My life is filled with all kinds of creativity, however, my personal favorite is working with my hands and building something I can see.?The other day I finished a wooden gate across my driveway designed to provide privacy for my border collie who protects my family from anything that moves. Every time I walk by the gate my life has a renewed meaning. Trivial? For sure, but for me it’s like displaying my homework on the front door of the refrigerator.?So, what gives you that lift? Creativity, large or small, is what the universe asks of you!

Experiences

Ask yourself: What experiences have I enjoyed by encountering others in relationships of all kinds, from nature, culture or religion, that were deeply meaningful?

Did you experience your child’s first step??Did you teach your son how to tie a Windsor knot in his necktie??Did you realize how much you love your spouse? Did you look into the night sky and feel like an ant? Did you attend a concert that made you cry? When we feel awestruck by the beauty of the universe, and especially the people in it, our spiritual life is stimulated, and we become one with the universe.

For me getting as close to nature as possible is an awesome experience. Fishing, boating, camping, all allow me to pretend that I’m exploring the unknown and challenging the forces of nature. In reality, I’m acting like a child.?I’m playing.?And did I mention that childish playfulness is a useful way to experience the universe, especially for those of us who work on the serious, and often painful, side of life.

Attitude

When we are not giving to, or taking from, the universe, we can be defining our relationship to the universe through our attitude. Ask yourself: What values have I displayed by taking a stand toward situations in my life??How have I defined my relationship to the universe?

The greatest freedom that we have is to have whatever attitude we wish about absolutely anything.?We can never enjoy freedom from life’s challenges; however, we always have the freedom to take any stand we wish in the face of any situation. This is how we establish our relationship to the universe.

Through the years I have counseled many who were struggling through the weeds of adversity.?It has been my honor and privilege to be a trusted partner on their journey to seek meaning through the stance they take in the face of sorry or downright tragedy. To my mind, human triumph over tragedy defines us as partners in the universes’ Divine plan.

We are not called to be victims and view tragedy as a virtue, but rather, we are called to overcome tragedy and view triumph as a virtue.

Though I have been blessed in many important ways; pain, guilt, and tragedy have never been far from my heart. My attitude, however, has allowed me to grow, to prosper, and to rise like the phoenix from the ashes.?

This attitude has included a deep understanding that unavoidable suffering must be countered with an attitude of gratitude, hope, and faith. Life has been a struggle since we decided to take the journey down the birth canal.?We entered a world that was alien, cold, and frightening. We were utterly dependent for all our needs. And somehow, we made it from there to here. Having the right perspective is of great assistance in having the right attitude.?Get it?

The Ultimate Question

In over 40 years of professional practice, my heart has grown heavy with those in the throws of serious pain, depression, and sorry, often to the point of seeing no purpose in living.?Sometimes considering suicide.?No one has ever wanted to end a life that has meaning and purpose.

We have discussed bringing meaning to our lives by what we contribute to the universe, by what we take from the universe, and by the attitude that we have, by the stand that we take, toward life’s adversities.?But what is the “ultimate” meaning and purpose of life?

To answer this question, I must stand on the shoulders of a giant, Viktor Frankl, who used the analogy of a movie to illuminate this mystery:

“…consider a movie: it consists of thousands upon thousands of individual pictures, and each of them makes sense and carries a meaning, yet the meaning of the whole film cannot be seen before its last sequence is shown.?However, we cannot understand the whole film without having first understood each of its components, each of the individual pictures.?Isn’t it the same with life? Doesn’t the final meaning of life, too, reveal itself, if at all, only at its end, on the verge of death??And doesn’t this final meaning too, depend on whether or not the potential meaning of each single situation has been actualized to best of the respective individual’s knowledge and belief?” (Man’s Search for Meaning, 1959, p.168).

We are challenged, therefore, to ascribe a meaning to each and every picture, to each and every scene, to each and every act, that constructs the film, that is the story of our life. Any analysis of the passage of time will conclude that, in the end, all that remains is the past. We build the past with every passing moment of the present.?Each moment will have meaning if we so decide.

My final questions are: As you review the movie that is the story of your life, what do you see? Since you are the director and the lead actor, what comes next?

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