Make This a Year of Meaningful Living

person holding a sparkler

Every January, people make resolutions to improve their lives. From quitting sugar to saving money to running a marathon, these discrete goals are generally noble attempts to bring about a sense of health and happiness, while capitalizing on the fresh energy that a new year usually brings.

But the statistics don’t lie - only 20% of those people will achieve their goals. The other 80% lose motivation by the second week of February, and by March they are back to eating, spending, and moving the way they did last year...and the year before.

So why not think fresh about creating a new year? In fact, let’s drop the resolutions altogether and instead think bigger and broader. Forget about losing pounds or starting up a new hobby - why not go for it and make your New Year's goal to create a more meaningful life for yourself?

What is a meaningful life?

First, there’s a difference between a meaningful life and a happy life, though the two are commonly linked. Think about the most meaningful aspects of your life now - perhaps it’s deep and messy friendships, a satisfying job serving others, or spiritual practices that help you get through the pain of loss. A meaningful life is one in which you feel engaged, connected to purpose, and able to connect your gifts and passions with your highest values.

Martin Seligman, a psychologist considered by some to be the father of modern positive psychology, believes that meaningfulness is actually a component of happiness. It’s often in our pursuit of meaning that positive emotions arise naturally - for example, when we volunteer in the community, we may experience a “helper’s high” that boosts our mood. This experience of contentment is more satisfying and longer-lasting than the bursts of pleasure we might have when we only seek gratification in life. 

The four pillars

Each person’s conception of meaning is heavily influenced by his or her environment, culture, family and social networks, and past experiences. Your idea of a meaningful career may include social justice work, while your neighbor sees it as quitting his day job to pursue a lifelong passion for music. However, in her research on meaning, author Emily Esfahani Smith found that there are four basic themes that come up when people around the world describe a meaningful life: belonging, purpose, transcendence, and storytelling.

Smith describes these pillars in the four short videos below.

Group of five kids in matching uniforms sitting on a bench in the dugout, with their arms around each other

Belonging

What is belonging, and how does it create meaning?

teacher standing at a table pointing to a lesson with students around her

Purpose

What is the role of purpose in a meaningful life?

woman standing in front of an enormous tank of fish at a public aquarium

Transcendence

How does the experience of transcendence relate to a meaningful life?

close up of hands writing in a journal, with a cup of coffee to the side

Storytelling

How do the stories we tell ourselves create or hinder meaning?

How to create meaning this year

A meaningful life may sound like a high aspiration, but you can simply think of it as making each moment matter. A sense of meaning is something you can cultivate every day, in each moment - no matter what your circumstances are.

  1. To enhance your sense of belonging, dedicate some energy this year to nurturing your relationships and expanding your community. This might mean turning off your phone to play on the floor with your kids, volunteering for a local nonprofit organization, or inviting a friend to join you on your evening walk. Even small, intentional acts, such as writing in a gratitude journal about why you appreciate your friends, or saying hello to your downstairs neighbor as you pass one another on the stairs, are meaningful ways to incorporate a deeper sense of belonging into your life.
  2. Identifying your purpose begins with an exploration of your gifts, passions, and values. Your purpose is your contribution to the world - the ways you use these gifts to bring knowledge, joy, ease, or safety to others. This might be a big shift in your life, such as finding a job that allows you to use your gifts and passions in the service of others, or you may simply start paying more attention to how you contribute to others’ wellbeing - such as making your friends laugh.
  3. For many people, transcendence comes from nature, creativity, or spiritual practices. Ask yourself, when in the past have I felt as if I were connected to something bigger? How can I create that experience again? Increasing your experiences of transcendence can be as simple as going for a walk in nature, visiting a museum and looking at works of art, praying or meditating, or listening to music.
  4. Storytelling starts with paying attention to how you process and reflect on things that happen to you. Do you tend to fall into the identity of the victim to whom bad things seem to happen? Or do you recall your strength in challenging times? How we consolidate our own life narrative has a big impact on how meaningful we perceive our life to be. The Life Spiral exercise is an activity that can help you get started.

But first, take a deep breath

Creating a meaningful life is a marathon, not a sprint. The best place to start is noticing the ways your life is already meaningful, and bringing more energy to those areas. The more impatience you bring, the less likely you are to create goals that make sense for your life and harmonize well together. Remember that while you may choose to dedicate this year to meaning, ultimately this is a lifelong project.