It's a wonderful life

I mentioned a new book by Arthur C. Brooks in a recent post (see "Magic Power"), called The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness.  Brooks argues that a meaningful life is built through four key pillars - faith, family, friendship, and meaningful work.  Brooks has previously suggested that happiness depends upon enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning (Happiness = Enjoyment + Satisfaction + Meaning) (see also my post "The mathematics of happiness"), meaning depends upon coherence, purpose, and significance (Meaning = Coherence + Purpose + Significance).  In other words, our happiness depends, at least in part, on having coherence, purpose, and significance in our life.

Brooks defines coherence as "how the events of your life fit together".  Through coherence, we understand that things happen in life for a specific reason.  When we think that things happen to us - either good or bad - more or less by random chance, our life can seem meaningless.  He defines purpose as "the existence of goals and directions in your life."  Lastly, Brooks defines significance as "the inherent value of your life to yourself and to others."  Think about Frank Capras's 1946 Christmas film, It's a Wonderful Life.  The main character, George Bailey (played by the actor Jimmy Stewart) feels that he has given up on his dreams and all is lost.  He tries to kill himself by jumping off a bridge on Christmas Eve, but he is stopped by his "guardian angel" Clarence.  Clarence shows him what would have happened to all of the people in his life had he never lived.  George's life had significance, and as a result, his life had meaning.

Frank Martela, a faculty member in the Department of Theology at the University of Helsinki in Finland wrote a review article in the Journal of Positive Psychology entitled "The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance".  Martela states that to have meaning in life, humans need three things:

1. They need to comprehend the world around them [Coherence]

2. They need to find direction for their actions [Purpose]

3. They need to find worth in their lives [Significance]

As I mentioned in a post last year (see "A life with meaning and purpose..."), Martela and his research team published a study ("Which predicts longevity better: Satisfaction with life or purpose in life?") in which they compared "satisfaction with life" (subjectively determined using a validated measure) or "purpose in life" (again, using a validated measure) with mortality.  Having a purpose in life was a much better predictor of living a longer life than simply being satisfied with life.  As the Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, author, and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl famously said in his classic book Man's Search for Meaning, "Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose."  He also said, "Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'."

In a similar study, a research team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that a greater purpose in life is associated with a significantly reduced risk of mortality!  The relationship between purpose and mortality persists even when controlling for other mortality risk factors, such as age, number of chronic medical conditions, history of depression, and presence of disability.

Meaning and purpose also makes it easier to navigate life's many challenges.  I came across an interesting study ("Leveling mountains: Purpose attenuates links between perceptions of effort and steepness") that found that having a sense of purpose in life makes performing difficult tasks easier.  In other words, when we are confronted with a challenge, having a sense of purpose inspires and drives us to push on and keep going.  In this particular study, the difficult task was walking up a steep hill.  Taking into account all of the factors that can affect whether an individual can successfully walk up a steep hill (age, whether someone exercises regularly, etc), the study's authors found that (1) people overestimate the steepness of a hill because their brains calculate how much physical effort it will take to climb (the more daunting the effort, the steeper the hill appears), but (2) having a strong sense of purpose alters this relationship, such that when individuals are focused on a meaningful goal, they no longer automatically link the effort required to the severity of the slope.  To borrow and flip an overly used cliché, having a strong sense of purpose makes molehills out of mountains!

In his book The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness, Brooks once again talks about the importance of (see "The Five Pillars of Happiness") of faith or transcendence (noting that it doesn't have to be a religious faith, but rather having a moral purpose, philosophy, or "North Star" that shifts your focus away from your own self to something bigger), family, friendship, and meaningful work.  He talks about how success almost never guarantees happiness.  Indeed, in some cases, success or achievement in life becomes a sort of addiction, where an individual is always looking for more achievement or more success rather than being satisfied with what he or she has in life.  He also talks about how suffering (for whatever reason - hardship, loss, or struggle) can deepen life's meaning.  Finally, he specifically states that finding meaning in life requires intention.  We actually have some control over whether our life has meaning, and we increase meaning and purpose through daily habits of gratitude, service, reflection, and developing strong relationships.

The book's overall message is that a good life (i.e. a meaningful life) is built through love, service, connection (and the kind of connection Brooks talks about is in-person connection not through technology), and transcendence, not through status, achievement, or pleasure alone.  He concludes with the following (and I am quoting him verbatim here) recommendations:

1. If any technology substitutes for in-person experiences, it should be used with extreme caution, like a dangerous and addictive drug.

2. If something makes you focus on yourself instead of others, shun it immediately.  It is poison.

3. If you are afraid of love in real life, it means you need to take more risks with your heart.

4. If the material world is crowing out your sense of the supernatural, rebalance your time and priorities.

5. If your work is not a calling, no matter what it pays, start plotting your exit.

6. If beauty is missing from your life, go outside in nature immediately.  Without your phone.

7. In the morning, as you start your day, say to yourself in the mirror: "The trials I face this day are evidence that I am living my life to the fullest."

Find your meaning.  Develop your sense of purpose.  Embrace transcendence.  It is a wonderful life.