So, what is your idea of the meaning of life? Are you destined for greatness? Take time to figure this out for yourself and find fulfillment.

I’m sure you’ve asked yourself about the meaning of life. Most adults have at some point. We ponder, we laugh, we cry, and we ask ourselves once more: What is the meaning of life? Maybe we already know the meaning, and maybe we are getting close. One thing is for sure, there are lots of questions to be asked.

There are some people who see life as a test, while others see it as a random set of happenings. Each of these ideas are plausible. There are many other meanings that cause our imaginations to run wild.

What is the meaning of life? Let’s ponder a few questions and see for ourselves.

1. “Who am I?”

Probably one of the most important questions you will ever ask is, Who am I?” To know yourself, truly understand what makes you happy, makes you mad, and what touches you the most, are keys to understanding the fabric as your particular human being. What is your favorite color? What kind of tattoo would you get? What is your favorite food?

Yes, these are rather simplistic questions to ask when discovering who you are, but you can get deeper with it too. What events stick in your mind? What are your standards, spiritual or non-spiritual views, and what are your limits as a human being? Ask yourself who you are, and be thorough. This is the first step of learning life’s meaning.

2. “What makes me happy?”

The next best question would be centered around what makes you excited to be alive. You must ask yourself, quietly, and in solitude. You must not let anyone else decide this for you either.

So, what makes you giggle and guffaw? What makes you dance around in circles and proclaim the beauty of the day? What makes you happy? Is it watching your favorite show? Does it make you happy to travel? Does it get you super excited to hear your most beloved band has recorded a new album? Is it the raindrops on your nose, the mud on your hands, or the snow day inside beside a warm roaring fire? What makes you happy? This is the foundation of your life.

3. “How would I save the world…if I could?”

Another great way to get in touch with the meaning of your life is to understand how you would want to save your world. Your life should be loosely structured on what you can do to make things better for everyone. If being kind is your idea of saving the world, then practice that. If creating useful products is your life’s purpose, then invent a product that eliminates a bit of poverty.

How would you save the world? Keep asking yourself this question and it will help you formulate a good thing you can do for humanity. This helps you, in turn, discover your purpose in life. Try it! It really gets thinking about life.

4. “If I was to die a year from now, what would I do in the meantime?”

If you knew the date of your death, I guarantee you would do things differently, and I promise you would get pretty close to the meaning of life. You have one year before death, would you spend more time with family and friends or would you commit to writing a book as a legacy? Would you give away all your things or would you throw caution to the wind and go a little crazy?

Sit down and try to imagine the end looming near and try to discover what you think would fulfill a short timeline such as this.

5. “What are my values, standards, and beliefs?”

This question might not seem as important to some twenty-year-olds as with those who are hovering over middle age.

Well, I guess I can only speak for myself. When I was twenty, I was more concerned about changing my boyfriend’s bad habits and getting married. I never really thought about what I personally believed in. I didn’t contemplate about my standards and what I would not tolerate. Instead, I was tolerating everything and trying to look like a starving supermodel. What a waste.

I hope, unlike myself, that you are asking this question at a much earlier age than I did. “What are your values, standards, and beliefs?” What do you pray to, if anything? How do you view politicians and what they stand for? How far will you go to make a relationship work and when is it time to leave? These questions are important and they will help you discover the meaning of your life.

What is the meaning of life for you? Keep reading…

6. “What are my goals?”

Feeling stuck? Well, now it’s time to re-evaluate your goals in life. Since you’re not really going to die in a year, well I hope not, then you should be thinking about where you would like to be in that year. Would you like to be more financially secure? (Now I’m sounding like a salesman about to start a sales pitch)

But seriously, what are your goals? Would you like to be married, promoted, divorced, have a child, watch your child graduate from school, travel to the moon? Well, I guess that the last one was a little far-fetched, but who knows.

The point is, to set goals is to give your life a huge boost of meaning for you. Even setting small goals in intermittent periods of time gives you something to continually look forward to. See what I mean?

7. “Who do I admire the most?”

If you can discover the person you admire the most, then you can find meaning in that discovery. What is it that makes you admire this person? Is it the fact that they make lots of money? Is it because they have lots of friends? Maybe you admire this person simply because they know how to make you smile.

Having a mentor allows you to have a human goal, a person you look up to that can help you reach new levels in life. Thus, life attains much more meaning.

8. “So, what’s my legacy?”

Your legacy is what you leave to your children, your children’s children, and your children’s children’s children…you know. Writing a book is one way to leave a solid legacy to those who come after. You don’t have to be an author to do this either. You can also leave photographs, artwork, and even write your own song.

When enjoying these things, descendants can think back and smile while sharing what they remember about you. If they never met you, they can gaze at these tangible remnants and imagine who you must have been. Simply imagining these things gives you a new purpose in life and a reason to keep being creative.

So, What Is the Meaning of Life?

The only way to truly understand the meaning of your life is to just live! You must live fully, not with reservation or too much regret. If you must regret, please just feel sorry for what you did and not for what passed you by. You can always seek forgiveness much easier than you can hate not taking a chance.

I try harder every day to get to know me and to venture outside my comfort zone. Unfortunately, I fail most of the time. One thing is for certain.

I hope to never stop trying and I will ask myself these questions every single day. I think I’m getting closer to understanding my own personal meaning. I hope you do as well.

References:

  1. https://www.success.com
  2. https://www.mindbodygreen.com

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