Life is Meaningless
If you go to a Landmark forum, an intensive personal development workshop, "Life is meaningless" is the punchline.
You might say, Lou, that sounds terrible.
Yet people leave these workshops as if they saw Jesus.
My experience wasn't that strong, yet the wisdom of the statement remains.
Life's meaninglessness can cause existential angst or radical empowerment.
Because if the statement is true, it means all the stories you tell yourself are just that—stories.
All the rights, wrongs, limits, and judgments have no basis in reality because there is no objective reality.
If life is meaningless, it gives us the power to create our subjective narrative.
It's helpful to seek meaning, not happiness.
You know things will happen you don't want.
You can decide the meaning you attach and the lessons you find.
Here are 5 ways to make your life more meaningful.
1. See life as your teacher
If you want to grow spiritually, trust life is giving you exactly what you need at every moment.
We need this lesson most during our low points.
Ram Dass said, "Suffering is Grace."
The biggest challenges hold the seed for the greatest opportunities.
Life's difficulties are meaningful because they shape us.
Like sharp glass getting battered by wave after wave, we come out more beautiful than before.
To practice seeing life as your teacher, ask:
What is life trying to teach me?
What am I learning?
How can I surrender?
How do I integrate this lesson?
Stoics have a phrase, Amor Fati—Love of Fate. That captures the essence of finding meaning in each moment.
Can you love what is, even if you wouldn't choose it?
When you see life as your teacher, there is nothing to hide from.
It's as if you have open arms to the universe, allowing its mystery to do what it wants with you.
That is what Jon Kabit-Zinn might call, Full Contact Living.
2. Know what's important to you
Knowing what matters to you gives you an orientation to walk by. As Nietch said, "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."
What do you value? Are you willing to take a stand and live by those values?
If you don't know what's important to you, ask:
What would you fight for?
Who do you admire? What do you admire about them?
What were you doing when you lost track of time?
What is something you did you are proud of?
What is one of the best decisions you have ever made?
What are you obsessed with?
If you don't know what's important to you, find out. Take some time to get clear because then you can use your values to gauge whether you are living in alignment.
The more you align with your values, the more meaningful life becomes.
3. Take Risks, Bear your Soul, Bring something into the world
Once you know what you stand for, find an edge to step toward. There's meaning in learning something new or doing something you didn't think you were capable of.
In June, I began working on a high school speech. I had no idea how it would unfold. I just knew it was something that wanted to come out of me.
After completing it, I did some practice gigs, and then last week, I gave my official assembly in front of 300 students.
It was a huge risk to put myself out there. Yet, after bringing it to life, I feel fulfilled in what I created. Moving through doubts and stepping into my power is deeply meaningful.
I'm not saying you need to do what I did.
Anything that elicits vulnerability is a risk. If you're asking:
What if no one likes it?
What if I get rejected?
What if they laugh at me?
What if it doesn't work?
Then you're on your edge. Jump in!
If life is your teacher, and you're standing for your values, it will be a meaningful experience, whether it works or not.
4. Ask how you can help?
Start your day by asking how you can have a positive impact on others.
There is someone I knew who made it a point that the first thing she did every day was for someone else.
Whether that was sending them an article or making an introduction, she made it a point to start her day by giving.
In some way, our purpose helps relieve the suffering of others.
When we are helping others, we feel a sense of At-Oneness. We feel interconnected. Knowing you are playing a positive role in others' lives is meaningful.
It could be as small as smiling at a stranger or holding the door open.
Even better when you ask, how can I help someone who can do nothing back for me?
5. Put yourself in the way of beauty
This was the lesson that Cheryl Strayed's mother would tell her about bringing creativity into her life.
Beyond creativity, beauty invokes the deep welling of meaning inside of us. It isn't cognitive meaning, like "That sunset is beautiful."
The moment you speak about beauty, you miss the experience of beauty.
Beauty is that quiet inner awe when you immerse in something moving. It may be at a play, in nature, or while reading a great work of literature.
Paintings, movies, dancing, writing, athletic brilliance—all can have beauty.
Set up habits that allow more beautiful things in your life. Decorate your home with art, books, and plants, and make it important to watch the sunset.
Surround yourself with beautiful people, not aesthetically, but soulfully—people who lift your spirit and are beacons of possibility.
The essence of beauty will seep in so that you are experiencing more of yourself as the ray of beauty that you are.
How much more meaningful can it get?
Recap to bring more meaning into your life:
See life as your teacher, Amor Fati. Love what is. Suffering is grace
Know what's important to you, and know your values
Take risks. Bear your Soul
Ask how you can help, be of service
Put yourself in the way of beauty
Email me and let me know how you find meaning in your life.
Go out there and be your beautiful self.