A Gallup poll asked people around the world in 2007 if they felt a sense of meaning in their lives. Liberia came out as the nation where the highest percentage of people felt they led meaningful lives and the Netherlands came out last.
Liberia is a very poor country with lots and lots of problems – but people there are trying hard to address those problems. There is a strong sense of community, and a feeling that many people are trying to address the problems together.
Friedrich Nietzsche said: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Those who have something to be “about” that seems worthwhile are those who will find fulfillment.
In the same vein, Viktor Frankl beleived that: “Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.” Frankl’s life work, after surviving Dachau, was to teach that happiness and fulfillment come from living meaningfully, no matter one’s external circumstances. If you focus on a personal interest in happiness, it will always outrun you – captured in this famous Frankl quote: “It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.” Following the work of Frankl, well-known psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman said: “In a meaningful life you use your highest strengths and talents to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self.”
Meaning has to do with expectations about where you are going, with being “about” something that seems worthwhile. It arises from a sense that your efforts are worth making and are toward an end in which you believe – whether that be your connection with others, creating something, serving a valuable cause, or pursuing a spiritual path.
What gives you life meaning?