Emily Esfahani Smith

And I just remember at the time that those messages really didn't resonate with me because reflecting on my own life, I wasn't miserable, but I wasn't kind of happy all the time.

And so I began to think, oh, is there something wrong with me that I'm not happy all the time?

And so I started to look more deeply into the research in psychology.

And I saw that there was this distinction between living, you know, building your life around happiness and then building your life around meaning.

And happiness, you know, if we think about happiness, especially the way that it's sold to us in our culture, it's it's defined, you know, within psychology principles.

research in this way too.

It's a positive mental and emotional state.

If you feel good, you're happy.

If you feel bad, you're unhappy.

And it comes and goes.

So, you know, maybe you are, you know, you're having a good day and you're feeling good.

And then you get a phone call with some bad news.

Well, that happiness can evaporate.

Meaning though, is more of a stabilizing force.

So

The defining feature of a meaningful life is connecting and contributing to something beyond yourself.

So that could be your family, the work that you do, for people who have spiritual, religious commitments to God or something larger, the universe.

So meaning is all about kind of stepping beyond yourself.

It's not just about how you feel, but it's stepping beyond yourself to connect

to something bigger.