For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. –Viktor E. Frankl
When we’re feeling down, when things aren’t going our way, sometimes we think, “What’s the point? What’s the meaning of all this? We’re born, we spend a few years here on Earth and we die. Why?”
Do you think there’s one, big, solo meaning of life for all humans?
I tend to agree with Viktor Frankl and his quote above. We each have our own meaning and it changes throughout our lives.
Have you ever considered what the meaning of your own life is?
We’re All Here To Help
One of my big personal beliefs is that we’re all put on this planet to help others using our innate skills, passions and abilities. “Others” can mean other people, animals, plants or the planet. We’re all connected. We’re all part of the same energy, the same stuff. If we help others, we help ourselves.
It doesn’t matter if we, personally, help a handful of people or millions. The impact of our actions on each person we affect is spread from that person to everyone they touch and everyone those people touch and so on. It’s like spreading a flame from one person’s torch to another. Using that line of thinking, each one of our actions eventually affects the rest of the world. Really.
You may ask, “What can I do that could possibly make a difference? I’m just one person out of billions.” Know that you’re making a difference every day with your thoughts, choices and actions. Now it’s time to ask yourself what kind of difference you’re making.
Are you going through life on auto-pilot doing what you think you’re supposed to be doing, blending in? If so, you’re teaching everyone around you, especially your kids, if you have them, that this is OK. This is what is socially acceptable and what we’re all supposed to do.
If you’re running on auto-pilot wishing things were different, looking for someone else to show you that it’s OK to do something different but everyone you observe is doing what you’re doing, know that your life probably won’t change. We’re the sum of the five people with whom we spend the most time.
Be the Change
Be that person you’re looking for because there are thousands or millions looking for that same person. People need leaders and role models. Why not have it be you?
You don’t have to be a big celebrity or famous athlete. You just have to do something a little different. Do what you love.
If you start to think a little differently and take a few actions toward that “something different” you’re after, others will be watching. They’ll follow your lead. You’ll make a difference in the lives of those watching you and those watching your observers. It’s a ripple effect.
You’ll be spreading happiness and personal freedom whether you realize it or not.
Mindfulness In Action
This is another area where mindfulness can be so valuable.
Slow down and notice your thoughts, choices and actions for a day. Don’t judge anything. Simply notice.
What kind of example are you setting? What are you teaching others through your actions? Is this the kind of example you want to be for others? For your kids? For all the kids out there?
Find Your Purpose
There are all kinds of programs out there that help you find your passion and purpose. I strongly encourage you to give yourself the gift of going through these exercises on a regular basis, maybe annually.
You can have more than one purpose. Everyone has at least one. Find yours and do something about it. My last post has some simple steps to move you forward on that path.
Don’t second guess yourself or judge what comes up as not good or valid enough. Follow your intuition even if it seems crazy, or especially if it seems crazy. Crazy is good. Crazy is what changes things. Crazy is only crazy because everyone isn’t doing it – yet. Remember those crazy scientists a few hundred years ago who thought the earth revolved around the sun and that the earth was round?
In addition to having more than one purpose, the meaning or purpose of our lives can change. Please don’t think that if you identify something now that you have to stick with that one thing for the rest of your life. That’s another myth of societal programming. It’s really OK to change your mind whenever you want and as often as you want. It’s your life.
Big lesson: Do what makes you feel good. When you feel good, good things come to you.
What’s the meaning of your life right now?
How can you live that meaning every day?
Create the life you want: Combine the law of attraction with mindfulness
The law of attraction suggests that our positive or negative thoughts bring about positive or negative experiences. My latest book, The Mindful Guide to Law of Attraction, pairs that belief with the powerful practices of mindfulness. Through intentional breathing, writing, and engaging, you’ll hone a method for manifesting health, wealth, and love―the elements of happiness.
Let the law of attraction work for you by adopting its basic steps of identifying and visualizing the things you desire. Then use 45 practical meditation techniques included in the book to achieve awareness. By concentrating your positive energy on obtaining your wants, you’ll give yourself permission to receive them.
To your happiness! ~Paige
You can find this book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Indigo.
The Mindful Living Guide
Life .. life is the meaning of leave to gather love together and stay together. A life completed after get the happiness. I must say life is nothing without family.
thanks
Hi Paige,
There are many great ways you can impact others. For example, our parents had an impact on us, then we impact our children and in turn our children impact their based on that. In the end the world can be impacted by the way we were raised. We see that every day.
A great way to touch others in a positive way is to do to others what you would want them to do to you. As a blogger, internet marketer, a writer, a life coach, etc, I always thrive to do this FIRST more than anything else.
Thanks for this.
You’ve hit on a HUGE point Sylviane! How we raise our children dictates what our world will be like tomorrow and into the distant future. I think that raising our children in a loving and accepting environment is one of the most meaningful things anyone can do. It’s at the top of my list.
There’s a Native American way of thinking where we ask ourselves how our actions today will impact those seven generations into the future. It certainly keeps us out of the ‘short term gain’ thinking that has trashed our planet and many of its peoples.
And the Golden Rule will always be of paramount importance.
Thanks for your awesome comment!!
I sometimes think that we are all here not to fulfill a purpose as much as we are here as a result. The result of a perception. I can’t explain it in theological or metaphysical terms, but that the way it seems to me. The purpose of our lives, then is to wake up and to help others wake up. Again, words fail me. Sorry I can’t be more articulate.
Galen,
I understand how hard it can be to boil big concepts with feelings of this level down to mere words. I like your idea of helping others to wake up. I think there are way too many people sleep-walking through life who will never see the joy and beauty that’s all around them. Thank you for your enlightened comment!
Hi Paige,
Your post reminds me of Mother Teresa and the quote, “There is no small act of love.” Something like that. I love your final lines.
Do what makes you feel good. When you feel good, good things come to you.
It’s simple. It’s true. It’s my ego that likes to complicate things;) Have a great week!.
Comparing my post to Mother Teresa?!?! Wow!! 🙂
My ego has made so much of my life difficult too and I’m finally getting tired of it. I’m realizing that it doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve simply made the choice to have things go more fluidly.
Thank you for the very kind comment, Tess! You continue to be an inspiration for me!
I guess that everyone, at a certain point in their lives, have asked that question. It is very important because by finding your meaning, you can start living a fulfilling life.
Good point MIchael! By definition, to live a fulfilling life, you would probably need to fulfill something – your meaning. Thanks for the great comment!
Great post Paige – I reposted on Facebook – CRAZY is my partner and friend! I have been called crazy many times over in life and I also have heard she can walk through S_ _ _ and come out smelling like a rose. I celebrate that!
So here’s my crazy story – I left a job that paid a salary 15 years ago to work total commission as a single mom and 2 kids. I was told I was crazy but now guess what – it’s the best RISK I ever took because those “crazy” people know how to live on the edge and then they begin to fly when they let go.
I now work for myself because of letting go of the salaried job and have had financial freedom that I couldn’t have ever possibly had if I continued to work for people with a salary – by the way, living in total FAITH helps too because I have been on commission for the 15 years and it’s all good!
Great post and thank you for your amazing writing Paige!
Nancy
Thanks Nancy! And thanks for the Facebook share! To you and your partner: PLEASE keep being crazy! You’re one of the role models we all need.
While I continue on a salary, I’m working on generating my own income with my own products and the programs of others. I continue to overcome my old programming that makes it difficult to have faith. I know that’s one of my biggest obstacles. It’s all in my head. My intuition and dreams have shown me what’s possible when I have faith and let go. Now I just have to do it.
Thanks for being such an inspiration Nancy!!
It takes an inspiration to know an inspiration! Like Michael Jordan states, “JUST DO IT”…..jump off the cliff feel the exhilaration of life and allow yourself to flow into unknown territory!
Living from the heart space and keeping the mind out of matters of the heart – to truly be free in living without our old core beliefs that were put on us from others…..
Living in the possibilities of life,
Nancy
Awww, thank you Nancy! ‘Just do it’ is one of my favorite sayings.
In terms of jumping off the cliff, in my Letting Go post I wrote about the dream I had about essentially jumping off a cliff. Since then I’ve had visions in my meditations of soaring like an eagle that seem to come out of nowhere.
I’m learning to internalize the letting go process, knowing that the Universe always has my back and trusting that.
You’re awesome!!
i read your letting go post – You are at a breaking point – you are on the edge and you are ready to make the JUMP! DO IT – fly and feel the beautiful air blowing your hair and feel it on your skin!
The Universe always has our back – you are right the KEY TRUST, FAITH and BELIEF….
Takes an AWESOME to know an AWESOME!
Nancy
Thanks Nancy! We’ll be flying together!!
“Be that person you’re looking for because there are thousands or millions looking for that same person. People need leaders and role models. Why not have it be you?”
That sentence resonates so much with me Paige! Once again you are echoing the thoughts in my head (we do that with each other!) I’ve spent way too much time downplaying my gifts, playing ‘small’ so as not to make others feel uncomfortable. The piece I was missing is that I am actually doing my friends, loved ones, and everyone a disservice by holding back and not sharing my ‘different drummer’ leadership.
We all hold a greatness inside us – but we have to stop looking outside in order to recognize it.
It’s a twisty path to change these patterns, and it takes courage to put yourself out there. But the rewards are great!
Exactly Sarah! Society and our schooling teaches us to play small and blend in, like it’s some crime to be proud of our uniqueness and gifts. It takes decades to undo this programming and even realize what our gifts are. Over the past year I’ve experienced the dramatic benefits of putting my unique self out there. You’re so right: it’s a twisty path but the rewards are great. Keep following your path!!
“Don’t second guess yourself or judge what comes up as not good or valid enough.”
A mindset I have struggled to internalize. Downplaying myself had kept me from taking many positive actions for myself. I have learned to control this “fear” of putting myself out there and believing what I do, say or think is equally valid or valuable as that of the person whom I perceive as better. What a difference it has made. How much more settled in myself I feel. And now I live with greater confidence and more presently. I do better for myself and show the right example for my children.
Wow Lee! That’s a big shift! Congratulations! I think most of us have the “not good enough” programming (due, in large part, to our school systems). You’re clearly experiencing the freedom from knowing that you’re more than good enough. And your kids are receiving the benefits too.
If we’re all part of the same ‘stuff’ or energy and we’re all connected, there’s no way that anyone can be any better or worse than another. We may create that perception in our own minds but there’s no way it can be true.
Thank you Lee!
On the first day of my summer break (My preschool classes are finished for the year), this is truly a perfect post for me to read! I’m inspired to finish writing my next book! Thank you Paige!
We can inspire each other to finish our books, Betsy! With school out, it’s a great time to focus on you and really live your purpose. Good luck with your projects!!
For me it is about getting to the core of something – making significant contact with others or getting to the core of an idea of topic.
That’s a great one Evan! Getting to the core of anything is where real change happens. Whether it’s medicine, therapy or many other techniques, most only deal with the surface and many people only live on the surface. The core can be scary to deal with but it’s where change and healing occur. Thank you!!
LOL.
“Follow your intuition even if it seems crazy, or especially if it seems crazy. Crazy is good. Crazy is what changes things. Crazy is only crazy because everyone isn’t doing it – yet. Remember those crazy scientists a few hundred years ago who thought the earth revolved around the sun and that the earth was round?”
I call myself crazy too!
Frankly, I’m one of those still trying to find the meaning of my life: what I want to do, to be, to see…
I still have a long way to go…
Glori,
You may not have as far to go as you think. What do you do every day? What do you write about? This is your meaning now. It doesn’t have to be some big, unreachable goal. Our lives are made up of everyday days, not a few big moments.
I was watching the movie Up with my kids again last night. In one scene the little boy recalls in detail how he spends time with his dad at the park and getting ice cream (his parents are divorced). He says, “I know it sounds boring but it’s the boring things I remember.” The little things in life matter and create meaning.
There’s nothing more exciting than seeing one’s thoughts translated to words. I believe my life’s purpose is to put a smile on the faces of those I interact/connect with and any life I touch. In various ways, that make a difference for the better to them.
Beautiful post. I’ve got to add it to my next blog post 😀
Love you, Paige. You’re the best.
That’s a beautiful purpose Vidya! And I know that you do this every day. After reading how you do this in one of your previous posts, I envisioned you as an angel floating around and touching people with your magic. Each person you touched was forever changed and a little happier. You’re an amazing person!
Purpose, mindful action. Both things I have been practicing and I’m simply amazed at what comes to me is so different from small changes, a different view, a clear mind.
I’ve always felt I had a good outlook, and I think that was true, but what i actually practiced was different. It wasn’t mindful and I spent time wanting what was out there instead of realizing I already had it. I just wasn’t practicing it.
I believe whatever we want is already within us. It’s a matter of breaking though fear and letting it really happen.
I completely agree with you Jt. The past few days I’ve been noticing my own thoughts regarding things I want. I reflect on them in terms of what I already have and wanting what I have. Then I realize that I already have what I’m wanting. It just doesn’t look exactly like I was expecting.
And of course, no “thing” is going to make me happy. That’s inside, found only when we decide to be happy in the moment.