3rd Dec, 2023
At some stage in our life, we all wonder about the meaning of our life.
If you have ever had this thought, then take comfort that you are not alone. There is ample anecdotal evidence that people are looking for ways to live a more meaningful life.
Living a meaningful life and deciding what is meaningful are age-old questions. Even Marcus Aurelius wrestled with this question when he was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 AD.
At some stage in our lives, we will be confronted with variations of the following questions:
Why am I doing this?
Do I really want to do this?
What exactly do I want?
How can we go about finding our meaning?
First, there is no single panacea to the sense of living without meaning. Finding meaning is ultimately a personal journey.
What brings me meaning might not bring you meaning.
‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ was a great book I read some time ago. In one passage, the author wrote something that resonated with me
“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
The answer to why we lead a meaningless life is because of misplaced priorities due to the LKK syndrome (Log Kya Kahenge) and trying to keep up with the Joneses (Jains in our case in India) also, if you permit me to use the millennial lingo, due to the FOMO (Fear of Missing out) and the YOLO (You only live once) effect.
In ‘The Art of Dreaming’, Don Juan provides another valid reason while telling Carlos Castaneda, “Most of our energy goes into upholding our importance. If we were capable of losing some of that importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free our energy from trying to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur;
And two, we would provide ourselves with enough energy to catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe.”
Once asked, “You seem extremely happy and content. What’s your secret to living a happy life?” the then 98-year-old Charlie Munger, the famous investor replied:
“The first rule of a happy life is low expectations. If you have unrealistic expectations you’re going to be miserable your whole life. You want to have reasonable expectations and take life’s results good and bad as they happen with a certain amount of stoicism.”
This Sunday, Change your priorities, question yourself, Lead a meaningful life, and Stay blessed forever.