Brian S. Lowery

Play a supporting role in other people's lives.

That's number one.

Two, accept that the pursuit of meaning may not generate happiness.

pursuit of meaning might not generate happiness.

In fact, it might be uncomfortable.

It turns out that meaning is more associated with the self-providing for others than providing for you or yourself.

And that's sometimes a hard thing to do, expending effort,

emotional energy on behalf of something that is not going to return happiness is not something that we tend to think of as a good use of our time.

But it turns out it does produce meaning.

So let me say just a couple more things.

One, I think the human need and pursuit of meaning is both beautiful and profound because when you have meaning in your life, that means that someone else gave you the opportunity to participate in the story that is not your own.

And for that, for the meaning you have in your life, you should feel a deep gratitude, a deep gratitude for the people who have allowed you to participate in the story that was not your own.

On the other side, when you allow people to participate in your life, you're giving them the opportunity to generate meaning.

And so in that way, the deep, deep human need for meaning connects us in a circle, I think a beautiful and profound circle of generosity and gratitude.

And so right now here, I'm deeply grateful that you all have let me participate in your stories.

That's deeply meaningful for me.

Thank you for that.

The theme of this conference is the brave and the brilliant.

I think that one way that we can experience or be brave is by accepting the fact

that our personal achievements, what we're capable of, the things that we've done, pale, pale in comparison to the effect we have on other people and what that does in the world.