Wellbeing Through a Meaningful Life

Summary

Wellbeing can be achieved by choosing a meaningful life activity. Some people may have a meaning for their entire life. Some people may only have meaning for moments of their lives. Identifying a meaningful day activity and identifying a sense of meaning for your life is an individual choice. The research indicates that a meaningful activity contributes to your sense of wellbeing. Society has affected what we decide is meaningful in our lives. Is it possible that the influence of society has led us astray, that we have misinterpreted what is truly meaningful in our lives? Take a moment to evaluate your life. Consider how we, the human race, has evolved: collaboration, tolerance, and acceptance have led us to who we are and where we are. Remember the history of Berenike, an ancient port in Egypt, where peoples of different civilizations met and mingled. Choose your meaningful day activity and share it with the world because collaboration, tolerance, and acceptance is going to take us, the human race, to continue our lives together.

Wellbeing Through a Meaningful Life

Wellbeing is linked to our sense of meaningful living. The relationship is not unilateral and is nuanced. Let’s dive right into an exploration of wellbeing through a meaningful life.

What is a Meaningful Life?

That’s easy to define, one might say. I was taught that…

Yes, each of us may have been taught what constitutes meaning in life. And, each of us may have been taught something very distinct from what was taught to our friends, colleagues, customers, neighbours, fellow countrymen, people in another country, members of a different religious group, persons speaking a language other than English, urban dwellers versus rural residents, and the list goes on.

None of us has a monopoly on what is right. Meaning in life may be as unique as the individual life each of us has chosen. The common denominator is that we attribute value and, thus meaning, to our lives.

So, let’s get off our soapboxes right now. I cannot and you cannot dictate the meaning of another person’s life. Period. If we do, we are passing judgement and that is our problem, not theirs.

Aspects of Life Contributing Meaning

Consider your life, right now.

What is your sense of purpose? Can you identify aspects of your life which reflect a sense of meaning? How did you arrive at your selection? When did you elect the choices that have drawn you to the life you currently embrace?

Friendships, career, public stature, leisure activities, spiritual practices, volunteerism, charity, activism, exercise, sharing joy, teaching, learning, procreating, and a host of other activities and qualities and personal values may be the source of meaning in a person’s life. Each of us has a compass that will guide us to follow a path which reveals the meaningful attributes in our lives.

Do you care if your life has meaning?

Some people may not have an overarching meaning for life. They may participate in life as if they were on a roller coaster. That is their choice.

Mind your own onions, we were told as children, translated from another language. Fragrant and explicit. Bother with someone else’s onions and you will feel the sulphurous compounds emanating from them.

Let it go. Let it be.

Open your mind and consider that other people have other perspectives, including about what constitutes a life of meaning. Just remember, everyone living makes a choice about what lends meaning to moments of their lives.

Meaningful Day Activities and Mental Wellbeing: the literature

The literature is sparse and somewhat diffuse. There is research data regarding wellbeing through a meaningful life. Additional research is recommended to further advance our awareness of how a meaningful life, meaningful life activities, contribute to our mental wellbeing. The evidence points in the direction of a positive relationship between meaningful day activities and mental wellbeing.

There are studies which explore meaningful day activities and mental wellbeing. There are studies which have looked at mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of meaningful day activity intersecting with poverty on the sense of wellbeing. There is some research exploring the correlations between belonging/connectedeness, participation in meaningful activities, and wellbeing. The studies that do exist often have low power (few participants) and they are not conducted as randomized, blinded, controlled studies, for obvious reasons. How could you blind someone (researcher and participant) to a meaningful day activity?

The studies, in general, demonstrate a positive correlation between engaging in a meaningful activity and mental health. Even the study conducted amongst persons during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown (Marshall et al, 2023) provides glimpses into the effect of not having adequate financial resources, loss of employment, no employment, and disrupted connectedness through social distancing, on mental wellbeing.

You may not agree with the conclusions of the researchers of the aforementioned study (Marshall et al, 2023).  Place your political biases in check and step back. Change your lenses. Put yourself in the shoes of the interviewed participants. Recall the price gouging that occurred during the pandemic. Consider what it was like to be poor and socially isolated. How would you have responded to the survey questions and interviews, let alone to living in poverty at that time?

How Did This Thing Called Meaningful Day Activity Emerge?

Let’s return to the beginning of this post. Each of us was taught…

Parents can be so wrong. Nevertheless, parents or other primary caregivers teach us many lessons. Generation after generation the lessons are taught and learnt. The lessons are transmitted culturally. The lessons have impacted our social mores and political approaches and national bureaucracies and governmental policies and judiciary tactics and legal precedents.

Even about what constitutes a meaningful life.

The meaningful life message transcends state boundaries. The rhetoric has become a part of our cultural genetic make-up.

Can the structure of human society tell us anything about the relevance of a meaningful day activity to our wellbeing? Perhaps it tells us that we have emerged as a human race because we imbued meaning into our lives. We decided to share our meaning with other humans. We procreated. And, now humans have populated the earth, driven by our sense of meaning.

What if we are wrong?

I do not mean wrong related to having meaning in our lives. I mean wrong in the specific attributes which we believe accord meaning to a life.

Wouldn’t I be passing judgement on the choices of other people? Good point.

But, what if society in general has become a bit derailed in its quest for promoting a meaningful life? What if the community has taken a back seat to the corporation or to the political party or to the idolized leaders or to the icons who represent our society but, quite frankly, do not resemble many of us with our layered cultural background, lived experiences, linguistic origins, and ancestral values?

What if the trend-setters are incorrect in their messages of monoliths in society, never to be reconciled with each other?

Could it be that we, as a society, are wrong?

Back to basics

Consider what truly brings meaning to your life.

Embrace the individuality of this choice: societal hegemony has no place in our lives. It is, in the vernacular, not common sense.

Take a look at our history, exemplified in the history of Berenike,  and how humans have evolved and created mosaics from our cultural differences which nourish us and diversify the gene pool, for the better.

A Buried Ancient Egyptian Port Reveals the Hidden Connections Between Distant Civilizations:

hidden-ancient-egyptian-port-reveals-180984485

Bracing ourselves against each other is not how we arrived where we are today, a human mosaic of contradictions and aspirations and inspiration. Collaboration, tolerance, and acceptance created the beautiful people of this earth. Only collaboration, tolerance, and acceptance will make this world, our world, better and will ensure that we learn from each other and embellish each other’s lives.

That is the meaning of life.

To quote Viktor Frankl, “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’”. I think he knew a thing or two, since he survived The Holocaust.

Take home

Find your meaningful activity.  It is a key to a healthy life. Wellbeing through a meaningful life.

Recall the posts about compassion and gratitude contributing to wellbeing.

Discover a meaning for your life and you will have discovered an elixir for all of us to enjoy: living meaningfully in harmony to promote a better world for all.

What a beautiful way to honour our ancestors who enjoyed each other’s company in Berenike.

Selected References:

Frankl, V.E. Quotes from Viktor Frankl’s Life’s Search for Meaning. GoodReads. Accessed online on September 22, 2024, at https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3389674-man-s-search-for-meaning

Haim-Litevsky, D., Komemi, R., Lipskaya-Velikovksy, L., Bosco, A., and Tchounwo, P.B. (2023). Sense of Belonging, Meaningful Day Life Participation, and Well-Being: Integrated Investigation. Int. J Envron Res Public Health, 20(5): 4121. Accessed online on September 22, 2024, at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10002207/

Harflett, N., Jennings, Y., and Linsky, K. (2017). Introduction to the research on the impact of meaningful activity for people with mental health problems. National Development for Inclusion, NHS Foundation Trust (NHS Camden and Islington). Accessed online on September 22, 2024, at https://www.ndti.org.uk/resources/the-impact-and-effectiveness-of-meaningful-activity-for-people-with-mental

Marchant, J. (July/August 2024). A Buried Ancient Egyptian Port Reveals Connections Between Distant Civilizations. Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed online on September 22, 2024, at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hidden-ancient-egyptian-port-reveals-180984485/

Marshall, C.A., Gewurtz, R., Holmes, J., Phillips, B., Aryobi, S., and Smith-Carrier, T. (2023). Meaningful Day Activity, Psychosocial Wellbeing, and Poverty During COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study. Can J  Occup Ther, 90(2): 136-151. Accessed online on September 22, 2024, at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10040486/

Solution Focused Brief Therapy. (August 25, 2024). Does Your Life Have Meaning? SFBT Moments Volume 409. Accessed online on August 25, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob2YUu5_uak&t=439s

 

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your mental health provider.

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