Science of a Meaningful Life
“You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”- Jon Kabat-Zinn
My friend Jayne sent me a wonderful link the other day. It is so full of wonderful info that it kept me busy reading and listening for days! Thank you Jayne! It's from one of my very favorite sites that I have talked about before, Greater Good out of Berkeley.I often talk about happiness in my blog, as a matter of fact, it is one of my favorite subjects. But it's not as simple as saying "Be Happy and your life will be grand."
Happiness is good for you, but not all the time; empathy ties us together, and can overwhelm you; humans are born with an innate sense of fairness and morality, that changes in response to context. This has been especially true of the study of mindfulness and attention, which is producing more and more potentially life-changing discoveries.
One of the key points in the article is that:
A meaningful life is different—and healthier—than a happy one.
So what's the difference between a happy life and a meaningful life? A recent study in the Journal of Positive Psychology explains a few of the differences:
Feeling good and having one’s needs met seem integral to happiness but unrelated to meaning. Happy people seem to dwell in the present moment, not the past or future, whereas meaning seems to involve linking past, present, and future. People derive meaningfulness (but not necessarily happiness) from helping others—being a “giver”—whereas people derive happiness (but not necessarily meaningfulness) from being a “taker.” And while social connections are important to meaning and happiness, the type of connection matters: Spending time with friends is important to happiness but not meaning, whereas the opposite is true for spending time with loved ones.
One of the most significant findings to have emerged from the sciences of happiness and altruism is that altruism boosts happiness. Spending on others makes us happier than spending on ourselves. The emotional benefits of altruism suggest that it is a product of evolution, perpetuating behavior that “may have carried short-term costs but long-term benefits for survival over human evolutionary history." And mindfulness meditation makes people more altruistic. Greater Good hosted a conference called “Practicing Mindfulness & Compassion,” where speakers made the case that the practice of mindfulness—the moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and surrounding—doesn’t just improve our individual health but also makes us more compassionate toward others.The article is full of wonderful information. In my opinion it is well worth the read.Embedded within the article are several videos from the conference. I will include one here called Mindfulness and Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff. I hope if you have the time and the inclination that you will watch all of the videos. They are uplifting and inspirational. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqQHhF4CaKQ] Please let me know what you thought of the article and the videos, I'd love to hear from you. And as always, thank you for taking the time to visit. I appreciate it.