485 - What Is the Meaning of Life? 3 Keys to Lasting Fulfillment

Today's episode is all about how to create a meaningful life. Now, I know that is a big,

big topic, but I think this is a very important discussion to have. I think this conversation

needs to happen a lot more often. And hopefully, what we talk about today can help you start the

conversation both for yourself and for the people that you love. Now, the best framework that I've

ever found comes from one of my favorite books of all time. It's Victor Frankl's Man's Search

for Meaning, this book right here. So if you're not familiar with this book, you need to get it,

you need to read it ASAP. It's a memoir of Frankl's life and the spiritual lessons that he learned

in order to survive Nazi concentration camps during World War II. This book is heartbreaking,

it is inspiring, it is riveting, and in my opinion, it is a must read. Now, one insight that I

want to share right off the bat. According to Frankl, he believed that one component of well-being

is based on a certain degree of tension between what one has already accomplished and what one has

yet to achieve. So in other words, who you are today and who you hope to become tomorrow. So if

you're worried or ever have those thoughts that somehow you're a failure because you haven't

achieved all of your dreams quite yet, listen to me when I say this, you are not a failure. That

tension is a really good thing. So embrace that drive that you have, embrace your ambition and the

gap between where you are and who you are today and where you want to go and who you want to

become over the next year and 10 years and so on. So when it comes to making meaning in our lives,

Frankl shares three simple avenues. The first avenue is creating work or doing a deed. In other words,

having a project that you're working on that requires your skills and abilities. One of the most

powerful stories in the book for me was when Frankl arrived at Auschwitz and he had the manuscript

for a book that he was working on and he had it in his coat pocket. And when he arrived,

they confiscated it from him, just like everything else. And he was heartbroken. But what he did

throughout his time there is he started looking for these little scraps of paper and he was collecting

them so he couldn't start recreating his manuscript and that really helped keep him focused.

And there was this other thing that he shared that I really related to, you know, while I have a

stepson and I have a fur baby, I don't have any biological children. And he was talking about

this book being his mental child and having the ability to focus on that mental child and how

important it was for him to nurture it and bring it to life and put that manuscript back together

was really a key in helping him survive that experience. The second avenue by experiencing

something or someone. So in other words, experiencing beauty or truth or goodness or love, whether that's

through nature or by loving someone else. You know, Frankl shares these moments throughout the book,

for example, when he was being transferred from Auschwitz to a Bavarian camp by train, how he

and everyone was in this crowded train and they were crowding around this tiny barbed window

just to catch a glimpse of the mountainside and the beautiful sunset. And in Frankl's own words,

he said, we were carried away by nature's beauty, which we had missed for so long. Or the other

thing that really stood out to me in the book was how much Victor connected with his wife through

his thoughts and his imagination and how much his love for her kept him fueled and really kept him

going. And there was one passage that I want to read which sums it up. He wrote,

then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and

belief have to impart. The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man

who has nothing left in this world still may no bliss be it only for a brief moment in the

contemplation of his beloved. The third and final avenue is the attitude that we take towards

unavoidable suffering. In other words, our human capacity to transform personal tragedy into triumph.

And this is probably the biggest message that I took away from the book. You know, Victor

discovered through surviving what is arguably one of the most horrific experiences you could ever

imagine that he was able to find meaning and growth and a deeper sense of who he was as a human

being as a result. And there was one really incredible insight that he shared which was this.

In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering. At the moment, it finds a meaning. We hear stories

about this every day, right? I mean, where people face unimaginable challenges that could break

them, but somehow they wind up growing stronger and more resilient and even more fulfilled as a result.

So while there are many different schools of thought around meaning and fulfillment,

I've found Victor Frankl's three-part framework really speaks to my heart. One of the reasons

that I love it so much is because I think many of us can get lost looking outside of ourselves

for how to create a meaningful life. And what Victor Frankl so beautifully teaches us is that

each of those three avenues is completely within our control. So whether you're feeling a little

down or you're feeling a little empty, I want you to remember this.

Rather than searching for life's meaning, remember that you always have the power to create it.

And before we wrap up, I want you to know something that you watching the show and being a part

of everything that we do is truly meaningful to me. So thank you for that.

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