ROY BAUMEISTER

By focusing on your relationships with others, you can begin to make your life more meaningful. This doesn't only apply to intimate or profound relationships. Even the relationship that's formed when you smile at a stranger on the street is vital to fostering a wider sense of belonging in society...

The last time you went out for dinner, were people busy texting and Instagramming on their phones? If the answer is yes, that's no surprise - people are so preoccupied with technology nowadays that they've forgotten the importance of connecting with those around them.

Individualism contradi...

Purpose is found through self-reflection and helping others.

Have you ever considered what your purpose in life is?

Before you panic about the gravity of such a question, you should realize that purpose as a concept doesn't need to be so intense.

When you think about y...

Through storytelling, we create coherence and fresh interpretations.

You may think of yourself as a more reserved person who doesn't really enjoy being the center of attention in conversations. But guess what: You're still a natural storyteller. In fact, everyone's a storyteller - each pers...

A survey involving 2 million participants found that those who considered their jobs to be meaningful were involved in careers such as English teachers, radiation therapists, school administrators and other roles that involved serving others.

When you're in a transcendent state of mind, the barriers between yourself and the wider world around you dissolve. Oddly, you experience a paradox in which you feel connected to a higher power but also feel extremely insignificant at the same time.

This self-loss, as it were, is sometimes ...

Modern-day researchers have discovered the scientific reasoning behind this: chronic loneliness can compromise the immune system, which can lead to premature death.

That's why it's so important to honor belonging, the first pillar of meaning. Surveys often conclude that people consider clos...

Individuals create meaning from telling their life stories to other people in a certain way.

Psychologist Dan McAdam has been studying the concept of life stories and meaning for over 30 years. He believes that a person's narrative identity, or the story that they create about themselves, ...

In order to generate meaning through storytelling, it's best to reflect on how an important event has shaped who you are and the course of your life. The process of doing so is what academics refer to as counterfactual thinking. This is when you engage in “what-if" questi...

Don't worry - this doesn't mean that to have a purpose you have to attend every activist event in your city. As long as you have a goal and a make a meaningful contribution, you could live purposefully as a zookeeper or a parent.

Zookeepers, for instance, feel that they have a duty to fulfi...

You don't have to travel the world, end world hunger or quit your job to live a meaningful life. You can find fulfillment by guiding your everyday life in accordance with the four pillars of meaning: belonging, purpose, storytelling and transcendence.

Psychologist William James describes the mystical experience of transcendence as being uncontrollable, lasting no more than a few hours and not entirely possible to put into words. But transcendence has the power to reveal truths that will remain with you.

Another psychologist, David Yaden,...

It's easy to go through life with a general feeling of “blah."

Repetitive work and not enough social contact can make anyone's daily humdrum feel shallow and devoid of meaning.

Little do we realize that nowadays, we tend to isolate ourselves in our work and look inward rather tha...

you will learn about The Four Pillars Of Meaning and why they're important .

Purpose in creating these Stashes:

✓ to help p...

In order to start your journey toward living a more meaningful life, you should maintain these four pillars of meaning: belonging, purpose, storytelling and transcendence

Have you ever looked up at the stars at night and realized that you are just a tiny part of a large whole? Well, then you've experienced transcendence.

Transcendence can help dissolve the barriers between yourself and the world around you.

This is the fourth pillar of meaning, and it'...

Fundamentally, it's a human need to feel a sense of belonging either in relation to another person or a community. However, in modern society, many people live very isolated lives.

Back in 1945, the psychoanalyst René Spitz found that mortality rates in orphanages were unusually high becaus...