Create a Meaningful Life

How can you know what really matters in life?  How can you know if what you are doing is what you are meant to do?  How can you know if what you are doing has any meaning at all?

The short answer is this…

What matters in life is to know the meaning of life.  And the most powerful way to know something is to create it.  So what matters in life is to create the meaning of your life.

If that seems a little confusing, here’s the long answer….

Your Meaning vs Their Meaning

First, what you are doing does have meaning.  Your life will always mean something.  But that meaning is more powerful, more potent, more helpful if YOU create it, instead of letting someone else give it to you.

Unfortunately, many people look to their friends, their family, or their work to define the meaning of their life.  They drown out their inner Voice with the voices of their parents, their peers, their boss, or even famous public figures.  This can tell us what other people want THEIR life to mean.  But it eventually creates more internal confusion than clarity and still leaves that nagging ragged question… “what does MY life mean?”

3 Ways of Knowing

In general, there are three ways of knowing something.  You can understand it, or know it cognitively.  You can experience it, or know it experientially.  And you can create it, or know it by distinguishing it. Creating something makes it distinct from everything else.  So, knowing something by creating it, is the most powerful method.

Find your Voice

To understand the meaning of your life requires that you distinguish between your inner Voice and all those other voices (family, friends, coworkers, etc).  Take the time to meditate regularly to find clarity or use your journal to determine which thoughts and feelings “sound like you” and which do not.

Ask the question, “Whose thoughts and ideas are these?” and simply listen. Can you distinguish between the voices that speak and the Observer who listens?  Then, can you notice which voice makes you feel passionate, excited, or hopeful? That’s your inner Voice. Check out I Know I’m in There Somewhere by Helene Brenner for more great ways to find your inner Voice.

Once you begin to focus on your inner Voice, it will get louder and stronger each time you listen to it.  But more importantly, you will understand this Voice better than the other voices.  And vice versa, you will realize that the voices of others cannot know or understand you better than your own.

So, if others cannot know you better than you know yourself, why would you let them define the meaning of your life?  You wouldn’t.

That means you must create the meaning of your life.  No one else can give it to you.  No one else can define it for you.  No one else can know it better than you.

Life’s Meaning, Now

Get our your journal, return to your inner Voice, and ask “What do I want my life to mean, right now?” Number & write down everything that your inner Voice says.  It may be a million things.  It may be one thing.

You may hear words like  Love. Power. Freedom. Connection. Beauty. Truth. Understanding. Harmony.  Or you may hear something completely different.  The first time I tried this, I heard over two hundred meanings and wrote for over an hour.  By distinguishing what you want your life to mean, you’ve instantly created the meaning of your life.

But, there’s a catch.  The meaning you’ve just created only applies to that single moment.  With each passing breath, you have the opportunity to recreate the meaning of your life.  And take action on that meaning.

Take Action

With action, comes clarity. You may begin with a thousand different meanings, but as you take meaningful actions, those thoughts will distill into one to five powerful ideas.  The more actions you take, the clearer your life’s meaning will become.

After a while, you can revisit your inner Voice and ask again “What do I want my life to mean, right now?” Listen without expectation and write down everything you hear.  For me, right now, those two hundred thoughts have boiled down to Unity, Authenticity, & Transformation.  Your life’s meaning could be something similar, or something completely different.  You simply have to take the time to create it.

Your life matters because you accept the responsibility of your inner Voice, create your life’s meaning, and act on it.