In today’s world, it can be easy to run through the maze of life without pausing to think of its meaning. Even after retirement, we can often get too busy to press the pause button
Does what I’m doing matter? More importantly, does it matter to me?
Feeling that what you’re doing has a real purpose and meaning that matters to you can make a huge difference in your life. It makes getting up each day the most exciting thing in the world. You can’t wait to get started. Forget trying to force yourself to work hard, it becomes more important to remind yourself to take breaks to eat!
But how can we cultivate a more meaningful life? The answer is usually complicated. It can depend on many factors. Here are 10 ideas that will help you find meaning in your life every day, so that you can’t wait to get up in the morning and see what the day will bring.
(1) Know What’s Important
Know what’s important for you. Write down your top 5 things that you believe are the essence of how you want to live life. This can include things like “family time,” or “sing every day.” It could also include more complex ideas, like “honesty” and “simplicity.”
(2) Pursue Your Passion
Everyone should pursue their passion in life. It’s what makes life worth living, and gives our lives true meaning and purpose. Each time you work on something you love, it creates joy inside you like nothing else. Finding a way to use your passions to give back to the world will give your life ultimate meaning.
(3) Discover Your Life’s Purpose
If you had to give yourself a reason to live, what would it be? What would you stand for? What principles do you hold highest? Is your life’s purpose to help others? Is it to inspire others with great works of art, or your words of wisdom? Finding your life’s purpose is a daunting task, and one the requires some serious soul searching on your part.
(4) Be Self-Aware
Be aware of yourself and your actions. Remain mindful of what you do at all times, and make sure you are living life according to your principles, your life’s purpose, and what you are passionate about. Review your actions each day, taking stock of those that strayed from your path. Work towards correcting any incidents in the future. Meditation is a great tool for accomplishing this task. It helps us increase our self-awareness throughout the day.
(5) Focus
Rather than chasing 3 or 4 goals and making very little progress on them, place all of your energy on one thing. Focus. Not only will you alleviate some of the stress associated with trying to juggle so many tasks, you will be much more successful. Try and align your goal with something you are passionate about, so that there will be an intrinsic drive to work hard and do well.
(6) People More Than Things
Often, we are faced with wanting to buy material goods. Consider carefully what you purchase, and think more about spending your money on experiences with friends and family. Not only will this give deeper meaning to your life by focusing on your relationships rather than material wealth, but you will be a happier person as a result.
(7) Live With Compassion
Both for yourself, and others. Keep in mind the following quote: “For some, compassion is the purpose of life, what gives it meaning, and what leads to ultimate happiness.”
(8) Find a Way to Give Back
Do something that both honors your beliefs and passions, while giving something back to the world. By giving something back, we inevitably find purpose in the act. By cultivating more of these activities, you will find your life has more meaning and purpose behind it.
(9) Simplify Your Life
By simplifying your life, you’ll have more time to do what fulfills you and gives your life meaning. It can also help reduce stress and make your overall life easier to manage. It will greatly improve your productivity. If you’ve never tried to simplify things before, it really is a great feeling.
(10) Set Daily Goals
In the morning, before you start your day, create a list of 3 goals that you find fulfilling and meaningful. Make sure they adhere to your set of principles and beliefs. Tackle the hardest things first! Don’t make this list too long. By placing too many things on the list, you’ll feel the urge to multi-take, which is not good, or you’ll feel overwhelmed, which isn’t good either. By trying to do less, you’ll end up doing more.
Don’t get overwhelmed To start, you can pick one thing at a time and slowly incorporate the ideas into your life. Remember that life is about the journey, not the destination. And living a meaningful life will make it all the much better.
