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Jan 21, 2016 · Why is meaning important to life? Because the energy invested in meaning allows you to connect with your deeper purpose. The more you engage with meaningful life, not only does it grow with time, it also provides you with a happy, fulfilling life. This is very different than pleasurable life that is transient, current, and illusory.
- Moshe Ratson
- Happiness
- Healthy Habits
- Stronger Personal Relationships
- Wealth
- Health
- Longevity
- Better Sleep
- Reduced Risk of Alzheimer's Disease
- Better Mental Health
- Better Heart Health
The researchers found that a sense of purpose promoted happiness and well-being among adults 50-90. “Happiness” included a range of positive feelings from pleasure to life satisfaction to the sense of contribution to a larger purpose.
Older adults with a sense of purpose were more likely to practice healthy habits, according to the study. For example, participants with high rankings on PIL were more likely to exercise regularly, eat healthy foods, watch less TV, participate in the arts, and avoid sedentary behaviors. Along the same lines, a recent surveyof more than 500 adult pa...
Higher ratings for the belief that life is worthwhile were correlated to the likelihood of having a life partner, less risk of divorce, more contact with friends, membership in various organizations, volunteering, and a greater number of close relationships. Not surprisingly, those with strong PIL also experienced less loneliness.
In addition to a wealth of benefits of purpose in life, PIL also brought wealth itself. Sense of purpose was associated with greater prosperity, including income, paid employment, and assets, even after taking baseline wealth into account.
High “Life is worthwhile” rankings were correlated with better self-rated health, a lower incidence of chronic illness, less chronic pain, lower incidence of depression, and higher functional fitness. As if that weren’t enough, other studies have heaped more onto the already full plate of purpose benefits, including these:
A study of almost 7,000 U.S. adults over 50 published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2019 concluded that individuals with stronger purpose in life had lower all-cause mortality. Having a purpose also decreased the chance of prematuredeath. Even after controlling for such factors as depression and chronic illness, those with a...
In a studyof older adults, 428 Black and 397 White, researchers discovered that those with a higher level of meaning and purpose in life had better sleep quality. Moreover, they had fewer problems with sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome.
In a seven-year study of more than 900 residents in senior housing facilities, researchers discovered that greater purpose in life was associated with a substantially lower rate of incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Even when some study participants were afflicted with AD, higher levels of purpose in life seemed to have a protective effect on c...
A small study of 77 people in treatment for addictions found that those who had a sense of existential purpose and meaning in life had fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, as described here. This result jibes with the U.K. study above, which also discovered that PIL was correlated with fewer depressive symptoms.
Reviewing the data on heart health and purpose in life from 10 studies of 136,000 people, cardiologist Randy Cohen concluded that "people with a low sense of purpose... were more likely to have a stroke, heart attack, or coronary artery disease requiring a stent or bypass surgery." By contrast, those with a strong PIL had a 19 percent reduction in ...
- Belonging. When we are understood, recognized, and affirmed by friends, family members, partners, colleagues, and even strangers, we feel we belong to a community.
- Purpose. When we have long-term goals in life that reflect our values and serve the greater good, we tend to imbue our activities with more meaning. Researcher Adam Grant has found that professions focused on helping others—teachers, surgeons, clergy, and therapists—all tend to rate their jobs as more meaningful, and that people who imbue their work with purpose are more dedicated to their jobs.
- Storytelling. When it comes to finding meaning, it helps to try to pull particularly relevant experiences in our lives into a coherent narrative that defines our identity.
- Transcendence. Experiences that fill us with awe or wonder—ones in which “we feel we have risen above the everyday world to experience a higher reality,” according to Smith—can decrease our self-focus and lead us to engage in more generous, helpful behavior.
Aug 20, 2021 · 1. Foster a passion (purpose) Vallerand (2012) argues that either motivation or passion drives our desire and interest in activities. Motivation is useful for activities that are considered dull (e.g., washing the dishes), whereas passion is the driving force for activities that have significance for us.
Jul 6, 2010 · The second reason why we prioritized “meaningful” is to honor how we all get there in different ways, to think about individual variations in what it means to lead a meaningful life and build a healthy community. Some people find meaning in some sort of sensory pursuit, some people find it in beauty, some people find it in kindness.
Confidence in life’s meaningfulness may be greatest around age 60, on average, a recent study suggests. Using data from 1,042 U.S. adults, University of California, San Diego, researchers found ...
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Mar 11, 2023 · The important thing to take away from this discussion of meaningful experiences is that the definition of “meaningful” can vary widely; some people will find significant and life-changing meaning in situations in which others would simply shrug and move on with their life.
