What it means living a meaningful life?

We all desire happiness, but what we don’t realize when we talk about happiness is that happiness is a temporary emotion. It feels very pleasant and light, but being an emotion is more an indicator for where we stand relative to something that we want in our life. Is it very oriented to the present, short term and it is temporary.

This is not to say that wanting and going for happiness is something not good, but that it is not healthy if we get fixated on feeling happy and when we feel sad or angry or any other emotion, we consider that our life is terrible. Also, chasing happiness can easily trick us into going always for more and more and more of anything, thinking that we can get our next “high” from there.

But do desire for yourself to have a lot of happiness in your life, for your daily emotions to have a ratio of more positive than negative! A mindful way of being happy.

What about meaning?

Martin Seligman, an American psychologist and the “father” of Positive Psychology, says that ” meaning comes from belonging to and serving something beyond yourself and from developing the best within you”.

When we feel that our life is meaningful, we feel excitement, determination, focus, direction, mindfulness. And when something doesn’t go as planned or we feel unpleasant emotions, we can take a step back and look at the bigger picture and understand that it is all part of the journey.

When we pursue meaning, we don’t expect everything to be only positive and light. Instead, we connect to what every experience means for us, and what we can learn and take from it.

Meaning can also be seen as a sense of worth in our life, which we all derive in a different way: from relationships, creativity, accomplishments in a given field, generosity, etc. It is the value we give to our life.

In the pursuit of a meaningful life, we check and align with our values and principles and deep inner desires and calling. We are driven by the depth and long term fulfillment. We are driven by wholeness and a full expression of who we are. We feel driven to do and experience the things that fulfill us deeply.

What is even better about living a meaningful life is that you are already meaningful and no effort is necessary. True, that when you first encounter this, you might not see it. But by pausing and reflecting at the bigger picture of your life, you can already see it: you are part of something bigger than you are!

One core part of living a meaningful life is connecting to your resources and wholeness. And this will already add so much to your life.

Another important part is to pursue your passions and engage in them as often as possible and even make a living from them because when you work on something that you love, it creates joy inside and that joy is manifested in our lives and in our interactions with others and it creates even more joy. Thus, finding a way to use your passions to give back to the world can be very meaningful: being your whole self for the benefit of all.

Many times when we talk about meaning, we also talk about purpose.

Now, for some, finding their purpose in life can be easy, but for others can be a daunting task and we made a BIG thing out of it! Your life can be meaningful even if you don’t have THE purpose in life.

Having a purpose means having an intention or objective, literally. Thus, you can anytime set a purpose for your life: helping others, inspiring others, creating beauty, creating art, bringing awareness, connecting others etc. etc. The secret is to serve you and others (and here I include nature and our planet) as well. And the other secret is to for you to be as yourself while doing it. For many, focusing on what brings them joy is living a meaningful life and with what they create out of joy, they inspire and serve others in ways that they never imagined possible.

What I really want to articulate is that finding your purpose in life is much easier than we might thing: what brings you joy and involves others as well?

Now, how you live your day to day in order to pursue your intention in life might be totally different. Let’s say your intention is to help others. That can be done in so so so many ways: from working in a call center and giving them information about something to being a healer (doctor, therapist, etc.).

Here is where your passion and doing what you love and brings you joy comes into place, that’s how you choose your way of living your purposeful life.

When you find your purpose and the way that is closer to your heart for living it, no matter what happens around you and your experiences, it will give you a reason to move forward and stay in your center and live even more fully and deeply.

And your purpose can change many times along the years.

Living a meaningful life is a choice we all have! And one you can make at any moment in your life!

It does come with challenges and it asks you many times to be brave and overcome fears and doubts, insecurities, limiting beliefs and life stories, unhealthy behaviors, to heal old wounds, find your wholeness and all that jazz, but it is every day worth it!

Your purpose for now in your life can be living a meaningful life and the rest will follow!

If this resonated with you and you need support get in touch! I will be honored to assist you in your journey!

p.s.: the photo used was taken in an expedition organized by Insights Seekers in the desert of Sinai, Egypt, where I took part as the psychologist and coach of the expedition, a very meaningful experience for myself, my work and others!