Living a Meaningful Life

It is well established that a sense of purpose is necessary for psychological health, and in turn, for human adaptation and survival. Human evolution depends on our motivation and our will to survive; our feeling that life always remains worth the effort.

In an edition of the American Psychologist (“Life is Pretty Meaningful”), Samantha J. Heintzelman and Laura A. King took note of a uniquely obvious and easily overlooked paradox in how we characterize meaning in life: “It is portrayed simultaneously as a necessity and as something that is next to impossible to attain.”

The consistent finding from studies measuring the experience of meaningfulness is that most people say that their lives have meaning and purpose. It is not an experience in short supply. Anything necessary for survival has to be in abundance; the fishes need water for survival as humans require food, water and shelter.

While it is an ordinary part of the human experience, we tend to view meaning as a rare commodity. We approach it as “a construct and experience shrouded in mystery” and readily accept that it must be “chronically lacking in people’s lives.”

The existentialists have told us that life is absurd and that individuals must create meaning for themselves. The alternative, as commonly depicted, is to journey to a mountaintop to ask a hermit-guru: “What is the meaning of life?

The research shows that “social exclusion reliably leads to lower ratings on meaningful existence” and that social connections enhance the experience. What this says is that our meaning in life is garnered from a sense of belonging and identification with loved ones around us. A positive mood is also an influence. Individuals who are untroubled will rate their sense of meaning higher. Whatever else a purposeful life may involve; persons who are satisfied and content are not likely to feel they are missing anything.

The belief that one is living a meaningful life is associated with positive functioning. This includes satisfaction with life (Chamberlain & Zika, 1988), enjoyment of work (Bonebright, Clay, & Ankenmann, 2000), happiness (Debats, van der Lubbe, & Wezeman, 1993), positive affect (Hicks & King, 2007; King, Hicks, Krull, & Del Gaiso, 2006), and hope (Mascaro & Rosen, 2005). Perceiving life as meaningful is even associated with physical health and general well-being (Reker, Peacock, & Wong, 1987; Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Singer; 1998; Wong & Fry, 1998; Zika & Chamberlain, 1987; 1992). Higher levels of perceived meaning are also associated with lower levels of negative functioning, including psychopathology (Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1964), stress (Mascaro & Rosen, 2006), need for therapy (Battista & Almond, 1973), suicidal ideation (Harlow, Newcomb, & Bentler, 1986), and depression (Debats et al, 1993; Mascaro & Rosen, 2005). Steger (in press) provides a comprehensive treatment of the benefits of perceiving meaning in life.

Based on a review of empirical findings on a broad array of topics including love, work, religion, culture, suicide, and parenthood, Baumeister (1991) concluded that the human experience is shaped by four needs for meaning, which can be understood as four ingredients or criteria of a meaningful life.

First, a sense of purpose is reached when people perceive their current activities as relating to future outcomes, so that current events draw meaning from possible future conditions.

Second, people desire feelings of efficacy. People feel efficacious when they perceive that they have control over their outcomes and that they can make a difference in some important way.

Third, people want to view their actions as having positive value or as being morally justified. That is, people are motivated to act in a way that reflects some positive moral value, or at least to interpret their behaviour as conforming to ideals and standards of what is approvved and acceptable.

Fourth, people want a sense of positive self-worth. They seek ways of establishing that they are individuals with desirable traits. Finding some way of believing oneself to be better than other people seem to be a common form of this need for meaning. In the next edition we will share some suggestions you can consider if you are seeking to add some meaning to your life.