When I saw the Daily Prompt on WordPress this morning: “What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?”, I couldn’t help but think about a post I made back in 2017. I’m sharing it again because it addresses that question. And with the passage of time, my own opinion has changed somewhat, so I have made a few small updates.

 “It doesn’t matter who we are, what we are doing and what our station in life is, we all have the ability to contribute to something beyond ourselves and (to find) purpose in doing so.” – Emily Esfahani Smith, author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters.

According to Smith’s research, it isn’t happiness that makes life worth living – it is meaning. It is rising each day with a purpose. As simple and as uncomplicated as that sounds, I wonder how many of us have been chasing the wrong thing.

Is developing a “meaning mindset” the only true answer to achieving fulfillment?

Living on auto-pilot, or chasing mostly what brings you pleasure, or working long and crazy hours, driving yourself to exhaustion to conform to someone else’s definition of success – do any of these pursuits sound like happiness to you?

Or have you already figured this out?

Update: Our purpose, or anything that fulfills us, can change with time; from education to self-expression, from career and to parenthood and beyond. The main thing is, hopefully, whatever endeavour, it gives a measure of satisfaction and meaning.

I think we are all guilty of “living on autopilot” from time to time. Life and its many challenges have a tendency to do that to you. I do believe in the randomness of life, and yet also believe in self-actualization which helps give you a sense of direction, to give those experiences more meaning than ever.

Something has to generate that singular feeling of being alive in a positive way. What will make me happy? But “happiness” is far too vague a goal to me. What passion or purpose will make me feel more alive?

Some of us may take a little longer to figure out what gives meaning to our days. Sometimes, the smallest things can give meaning, and matter a great deal to someone else. A life with purpose would also take us outside ourselves so that we can’t help but take others into account. At least that is my perception of what Smith’s book is telling us.

Have you found your meaning?

*First posted in June 2017