Have You Written Your Life User Manual Yet?

On the search for meaning in life

The floor is made of intercalating black and white tiles and the temptation to not step on the white ones is too big. Even as grown-ups we can make games out of daily components of our lives — or keep playing the ones we have since we were kids. And what is a game but a set of rules with a purpose? Step on the white one, game over.

Our ability to make sense of things, be it for work, or be it for sheer playfulness, is immense. As we play an instrument, our ears know right away if the next key we play fits in or sounds weird.

Life is rich; it offers us the possibility of intrinsic and extrinsic meaning. These can be separated or combined depending solely on our individual perspective.

Dancing, listening to music, humor, the pleasure of togetherness can all be an end in themselves, for they are joyful. By intrinsic here I mean anything that is not an instrument to accomplish something else.

I could use my dance to impress the cute guy across the dance floor, to burn calories and/or to win a dance competition — all extrinsic. I can do my analytical work to make money and pay the bills (extrinsic), to solve a social problem that needs analytical support (extrinsic), or/and because I actually enjoy solving puzzles…