The meaning of life has been a question I have kept on wondering about trough my life.
What is it? Why are we here? What are we supposed to do?
When I started focus on this question I can see that my thoughts and viewpoints were quite selfish. I started with the idea of life being about having as much wealth as possible and live my life hedonistically maximizing my experience of life trough personal fulfillment. The main focus was on on myself and how life would feel as good as possible for me to live. I thought that the success of your life could be measured in things like your net worth, how successful your career has been, how expensive your house is and things similar to those.
After some while, I ended up coming to other thoughts. The main reason was that despite of being quite successful at fulfilling those measurements, I did not feel at all that I would have been somehow living a life, that would meaningful in regards to meaning of life. Actually I did not even feel especially happy with the way I was living my life, even though I was doing quite well according to the ways I used to measure being successful in your life.
I ended up thinking that my viewpoint was probably too narrow. I figured that I have not included any immaterial things in my viewpoint on life’s meaning. I thought that I might be more successful with the result if I included some feelings and emotions in my measurements.
I ended up thinking that my viewpoint was probably too narrow. I figured that I have not included any immaterial things in my viewpoint on life’s meaning. I thought that I might be more successful with the result if I included some feelings and emotions in my measurements.
Next I begun to think about things people had answered to me, when I asked them for the meaning of life. One of the things that was a common answer to that question was love; to love and to be loved. I thought about that, but quite soon come to the conclusion that it really does not fit as an answer to the question. Mainly because it didn’t fit the scope of how I was trying to examine the issue. Love as itself is a feeling with high and low points and it is too vague, as it does not specify what is included or excluded from the term of love. I still felt that love and similar thing do have their own important place in life, but it is more part of how make your life as fulfilling, enjoyable and filled with happiness than the actual meaning of life. But regarding the Meaning Life, I ended up skipping love from the list of possible answers on that question.
During the term that I had been wondering this issue, the feeling of being too selfish and personal with my answers had been continuously in the back of my mind. I started to think that I would rather try to find an answer that would fit generally to any and all lives lived, than just my personal answer.
I figured that my previous thoughts on the question were probably too consuming regarding the environment, surroundings and resources that are available in the world overall. So, in order to have an successful answer to the question I had begun to modify my way of thinking from a personal viewpoint to a common viewpoint. Common viewpoint would then be a meaning of life that all of the people in the world could share without running out of the resources that are existing in the world.
In order to try to find out a common answer to the question, I actually changed the viewpoint form personal to overall viewpoint of the whole planet. I started to think about, what would be the most important thing that a life could produce from the viewpoint of the planet? First I tried to find a specific outcome that would be most important one. I was not able to get to an answer by looking for a specific value. Instead I realized that it would be more useful to measure all the effects of what a single life had created to the world, dividing them into positive and negative effects regarding all life and the planet. This would mean that from the overall perspective the most valuable life would be the life which produced the most positive effects. This should then be used also to evaluate the value of a single life.
In order to divide lives to positive and negative lives, a life should get a score of anything over 50% in positive effects that the life made to the planet in order to be considered as objectively positive life, below 50% is negative and even 50% is neutral. So, from the viewpoint of the planet the critical factor would be to lead a life of even a little bit over 50% on the positive side.
I personally believe that the knowledge that your life has/had a meaning and that it is/was positive, gives you a sense of living a life that matters and living it that way will give you satisfaction that helps you to get by on days that seem to be harder than others. I know that one life can be compared to a grain of sand in the desert, but still without you in it, that grain of sand would have never been there. In the opposite situation (living a objectively negative life) that grain would never have been there and instead the number of grains of sand in the desert could have been lower than there are now. It should be noted also that if everyone would see that this would be a good way to live and would live their lives in a objectively positive way, even in theory the only possible outcome would be a better world and a future in all possible ways of measurement.
At this point I felt that I had finally found an answer that could be seen as a general guideline on where to aim with living your life. Also in this way life has a meaning, meaning of being a positive change in the world.
After this figured out, i felt that I had finally found an answer that at least seemed to fit the question. However I still was left wondering could there still be something which could add to the positive outcome I had found or the way to achieve it? As I thought of this I started to think of things that would last longer than my life and the first thing that came to my mind were my children. My children would hopefully outlive beyond my own life and as I was a part of their creation, they could be at least from some viewpoint to be seen as effects that my life had on the planet.
In this point I realized that if my thoughts on the general meaning of life would be correct then it would be important to me to at least try to pass on to my children the values which I had found to be working for me in my own life, while also creating an universal positive change to the world. This would then be true because there would be a chance that they would lead a life of positive or negative lives and if I could help them to somehow select and live in the positive way, that would end up benefitting my children, myself (as creating even more good things with my life) and the planet. This brings out another thing in life, meaning how important it is to raise your children to the values that would as much as possible in line with your own positive values.
When figuring out the above, I also realized that (of course) I am also a child of my own parents and by that also my own actions and lifestyle will then make a change in the results of how much positive or negative things their lives have and will have produced. This meant that as also by life would be measured by me living either a positive or negative life. And the outcome of my own life actions will not only have meaning to myself but my parents and children also. I felt that I ended up with an answer that has much more influence on my Life and the Lives of the people closest to me (my parents and my children). It also made me understand why the relationship between me and my children together with the relationship between me and my parents are and will be important to me through all my lifetime.
In the end of this post I wanted to add a small example of quite a simple thing that I have personally found to be positive in real life. That is the help you can offer to someone else without the expectation of personal gain. I have found out this to be a way that in all cases creates a positive experience to the receiver, a positive action in your life and usually you feel that you have done something good and it is an small award to yourself just for doing it.
*This is the start of the post (and website overall), please come back later to check the progress of this post and other additions in these webpages. Thank you! -Markus
Whether it’s career burnout, general aimlessness or a craving for a new path, most people will hear a call for a positive life change at some point in their lives.
This isn’t about the National Institutes of Health report that 16 million U.S. adults suffer from at least one major depressive episode each year, but rather about a healthy need to jar oneself out of a rut. What to do?
The case studies that follow offer excellent anecdotes that work. The key is to focus on the roots of your doldrums, recognize your power to get on the other side, and map out concrete action steps for moving through this phase and on to your greatness. If you find yourself in a rut, try these tactics to move forward.
The key is to focus on the roots of your doldrums, recognize your power to get on the other side, and map out concrete action steps for moving through this phase and on to your greatness.
- Identify the forces in your life that make you truly happy. Science finds that connection to loved ones, health (exercise specifically), and giving back are all closely connected to happiness. Create goals that include these themes.
- Focus on change. Write down the steps that you will take to move out of your rut. These might be specific things related to the results you want-for example, signing up for a class that introduces you to new people and experiences-but change can be found everywhere. Take a different route to work. Drink your coffee after breakfast instead of before. If you always tackle the elliptical machine at the gym, take on the treadmill. Buy an outfit that is outside of your comfort zone, or travel to new lands. Tackle a new skill that challenges your self-identity. Think of yourself as an introvert? Sign up for improv classes. Convinced you’re not athletically inclined? Enroll in tennis lessons. Are you a confident loudmouth? Go on a silent retreat.
- Get a goal buddy. This might mean asking a close friend, perhaps someone who also wants to make life alterations, or telling your entire network about your plans. Fear of public humiliation can be a powerful, positive force for adherence.
- Be open. You might start this journey with a clear idea of your desired outcomes. But if you do hard internal work and open yourself to the possibilities of positive change, even more amazing evolutions will be revealed. Stay nimble, and say yes.
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