At some stage of our time on earth, we might wonder what is the meaning of our lives.
If you have ever had this thought – then take comfort that you are not alone. There is ample anecdotal evidence that people are looking for ways to live a more meaningful life.
Living a meaningful life – and deciding what is meaningful – is an age-old question (e.g., Marcus Aurelius wrestled with this question when he was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 AD).
If you are reading this article, then living a meaningful life must be of interest to you. However, you could be wondering what do we mean by ‘meaningful’, and whether there are any benefits to striving towards such a way of living? And are there any practical suggestions for how to achieve a meaningful life?
Before we get to the practical suggestions about how to live a meaningful life, we first define what ‘meaningful’ means, and we will motivate why living a meaningful life is worthwhile and what benefits are associated with this type of experience.
Why am I doing this?
Do I want to do this?
What do I want to do?
Life is difficult. Not just for me or other ALS patients. Life is difficult for everyone. Finding ways to make life meaningful and purposeful and rewarding, doing the activities that you love and spending time with the people that you love .
meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.
There is something infantile in the presumption that somebody else has a responsibility to give your life meaning and point… The truly view, by contrast, is that our life is as meaningful, as full and as wonderful as we choose to make it.