Happiness and Spiritual Awakening

Spirituality & Kids are What Make Our Life Happy & Meaningful

A 20-year survey of Americans shows how important spirituality is in our lives.

by Seattle Parks and Recreation (Flicker.com, cc-by)

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A Happy & Meaningful Life

I think most of us desire to live a happy and meaningful life. But that seems to be a challenge for the vast majority of us. The chart below (Figure 1) is not the total answer, but it gives clues that might be helpful to some.

Which daily life activities make Americans happiest? And which do they find most meaningful? Like everything in life, there is a survey that answers that question.

In the bubble diagram below, the happiest activities are on the right and the most meaningful activities are at the top. Maximum happiness and meaningfulness is in the top-right corner.

Fig. 1 — Most meaningful is at the top; Happiest is at the right. Bubble size is the amount of time on an activity. By Nathan Yau on his Flowing Data website — click here to view the full interactive diagram (data source: 228,000 interviews from 2001 to 2023 in the American Time Use Survey, US Bureau of Labor Statistics)

You can go to the full interactive diagram here and click on each bubble to see what activity it represents. Below, I summarize the bubbles in the upper right…