In my recent writings and observations about finding happiness, I have taken the time to look within myself to find different sources of happiness. These reflections have enabled me to understand what can bring me happiness. The main reason that I have taken this approach is that it has forced me to think through what I believe will make me happy. It required some soul searching and forced me to think about what I need to do in order to make those things happen.

Through those inward journeys, I have found that being truly happy will require me to find a sense of purpose or meaning.

There are many activities and behaviors that I can add to my daily routines that help me achieve a greater since of happiness. These activities help put my body in an optimal physiological state that is ideal for being happier. They help me manage my day in a way that reduces stress, which is helpful. However, all of these efforts do not end up being incredibly useful if there is no sense of deeper meaning.

This observation was inspired by my reading of Viktor Frankl’s, “Man’s search for meaning”. There have been other observations that have also lead to this conclusion. One of those is watching my friends who have children. It is clear that their lives are focused on more than their own happiness. They work hard each day in order to provide for their children and to teach their children how to become better humans. While many of these individuals acknowledge that it is difficult, they wouldn’t change it for anything.

As someone who does not have children, it has made me contemplate this question: Where may I find similar meaning? Thought he process of answering this question, I’ve tried to observe where others find meaning and ultimately happiness.

Here are some of my observations:

Religion: this is probably one of the more powerful ways that some people find meaning in their lives. These individuals are able to have a sense of purpose that is greater than themselves. It provides guidelines for living. It also provides a sense of hope for the future. While there are many things that I find destructive about religious dogma, this is one of the highly valuable attributes it possesses.

Work / Career: a lot of people that I am around find meaning in their careers. This is definitely a place that I have spent the majority of the last 15 years. It is one reason that this past year and a half has been challenging for me, as I have transitioned how I define myself through my work. One of the interesting observations that I made is that individuals from different generations derive meaning from their careers in different ways. While I observe people that are older than me, I see people who identify with the companies or industries that they’ve spent their life supporting. As I look at younger individuals, I see people who are identifying with their work and the meaning that the work itself provides. The best example that I can think of would be this one: Working for Nike might have been a great career at one point, however I speculate that many millennials would prefer to work for Tom’s Shoes.

Family: I have already identified the meaning that my friends get from having children. There are others that I see that generate meaning from a larger sense of the family unit. This means having a solid family unit with parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Social impact / Volunteer efforts. I have witnessed individuals that get a lot of their personal meaning by contributing their time, money and effort to different causes. In some instances this turns into their fulltime work and careers, however in most cases it is effort they put forth outside of their occupation. It occurs through their donations to charities they believe in, time spent supporting events and in some cases simply being associated with the cause.

There is happiness within, while meaning comes from something much larger.

The main conclusion I have come to, as I have observed others and thought about how they derived meaning is that individuals are finding meaning by looking outside of themselves. Their desires to find meaning and increase happiness is not limited to inward searches. They are not simply trying to fulfill their own physical and emotional needs. They understand that satisfying their basic needs is critical but happiness comes when they have found meaning from something bigger than themselves.

These observations are simply the same observations that many people have previously made. None-the-less, it’s opened my eyes to the reality that living with purpose and meaning is a critical element to finding happiness.