How do you create a life of meaning?

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Rather than what is the meaning of life? How do you create a life of meaning?

What does that even mean? Is my idea of meaning better, different, or more relevant than yours?

Do you have to find meaning?

Does a meaningful life have a scorecard that has to be ticked:

• child or children
• homeowner
• income level
• marriage
• job title
• no job
• no home
• travel
• money in the bank
• car/s in the driveway

Are we all hungry for meaning, or are some of us content with where we are and what we have?

For me

I grew up in a very poor household. Poor financially but also poor emotionally.

As an adult, I had to decide to do things differently to live a different life than I had experienced as a child.

This meant:

• ensuring I was never going to make the same choices
• choosing to work hard to earn enough money to pay my bills and have nice things
• reminding myself that things don’t buy happiness
• being grateful for a wonderful husband and daughter
• choosing to parent differently from how I was parented
• not being distracted by the ‘perfect lives’ of others
• deciding what a meaningful life means for me.

It is about being content with wherever you are. So you are not looking for something more; you are not running away from something else and are not looking to escape or self-medicate.

Wherever you go, there you are by Jon Kabat-Zinn is a good book for anyone who is constantly running.

For you

It is a well-worn line, but gratitude can help you have a meaningful life.

This means:

• take the time each evening to think about what went well for you today
• ask your children what went well for them each day
• do something for someone else with an expectation of something in return
• volunteer your time with others who are less fortunate
• don’t worry about ticking boxes
• don’t be distracted by thinking everyone else has a more perfect life than you
• be unashamedly yourself at all times
• realize it is not what others think; it is what you think and feel about yourself
• work on feeling content within yourself
• Knowing where you are right now is exactly where you are supposed to be so you can decide what a meaningful life is.

So what is meaningful in your life?

Have you created a life of meaning?

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Thanks, Kelly

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