What gives your life meaning? How often do you stop to think about it?
It can be really easy to just go along with your life without thinking about what is important to you in your life. What makes you cherish your life. In fact it is very normal for most people to be completely detached from what makes their life meaningful, or even that it does have meaning.
Who’s life is better because your paths have crossed?
What, when you do it, makes you feel really connected to yourself, to the world, to life, to others?
These are important questions to ask yourself and to write your answers to.
We all find meaning in different ways. In my video blog this week I suggested making and keeping a list of all of the ways that you find meaning in your life. I have a list and the things on it are varied. Work, family, pets, self care- these are some of the categories, but the list contains specific- I suggest this for you, too.
All of us will have a different list AND different categories. Right now some of us are engaged in meaningful work and others of us would not say that, so we are finding our meaning in other places. It’s actually really great to not have all of your meaning in one “basket”, so to speak. Intentionally build meaning into all of the areas of your life so that you your life will never be meaningless.
Just to give you an idea, here are some of the things on my list:
-Reading some part of a book each day.
-Connecting with a friend and being there to listen, empathize and celebrate- whatever is called for.
-Being listened to by a trusted someone.
-Creating my weekly newsletter.
-Talking to people about coaching.
-Coaching my clients.
-Walking my dogs.
-Being available to both of my kids should they have questions about how to do laundry? (LOL- both in the last week!) or whatever else they might like my support on.
-Connecting with my family members in a variety of ways.
-Helping someone when I am asked for help.
-Donating things I do not need.
-Enjoying a delicious treat, especially something seasonal.
-Writing in my journal.
-Meditation and prayer.
-Enjoying things that belonged to my grandmother, and pictures of my Dad.
And….. being in nature– I always feel connected to something bigger than myself in nature. If I am still and present, even for a moment, I can cultivate that feeling of being here for a reason and that my life has meaning- even if I can not express exactly how that is. It’s the feeling. So important.
I could keep going with this list, but hopefully you get the idea. Your list will be so personal- and never ending- write it out and then when you remember or discover something else keep adding.
If you ever start to forget how meaningful your life is, this list is your go-to!
Take the time to think the questions over, write your responses and start a list. And then start strategizing how you are going to weave more of these things into the tapestry of your life.