5 Ways to Make Your Life Meaningful

Hello,

Welcome.

Thanks so much for letting me share with you today and for offering this premium track here on Insight Timer just for you.

My name is Lou Redmond and today we are going to be talking about how to make your life more meaningful.

If you go to a landmark forum,

Which is this intensive personal development workshop,

This is something that I went to in 2015,

And if you go to one,

Not to spoil and give away the ending,

But the punchline to the whole workshop is life is meaningless.

And you might say,

Lou,

That sounds terrible.

Yet people leave these workshops as if they saw Jesus.

It is this whole awakening and aha moment that people go through.

And again,

This was in 2015.

My experience wasn't really that strong at the time,

But that wisdom of life is meaningless remains.

Life's meaninglessness can cause existential angst or a radical empowerment because if the statement is true,

It means all the stories you're telling yourself are just that,

Stories.

All the rights,

Wrongs,

Limits,

Judgments,

All of them have no basis in reality because there is no objective reality.

If life is meaningless,

It gives us the power to create our subjective narrative.

And so that's why it's helpful to seek meaning,

Not happiness.

You know things are gonna happen that you don't want.

You can decide the meaning you attach and the lessons you find.

So today I'm gonna share with you five ways to make your life more meaningful.

Number one,

See life as your teacher.

If you want to grow spiritually,

Trust that life is giving you exactly what you need at every moment.

We need this lesson most during our low points.

Ram Dass said suffering is grace.

The biggest challenges hold the seed for the greatest opportunities.

Life's difficulties are meaningful because they shape us.

Like sharp glass getting battered by wave after wave,

We come out more beautiful than before.

To practice seeing life as your teacher,

Ask these questions.

What is life trying to teach me?

What am I learning?

How can I surrender?

How do I integrate this lesson?

The Stoics have a phrase,

Amor Fati,

Love of fate.

That captures the essence of finding meaning in each moment.

Can you love what is?

Even if you wouldn't choose it.

When you see life as your teacher,

There is nothing to hide from.

It's as if you have open arms to the universe,

Allowing its mystery to do whatever it wants with you.

This is what Jon Kabat-Zinn might call full contact living.

Number two,

Know what's important to you.

Knowing what matters,

It gives you an orientation to walk by.

As Nietzsche said,

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

As Nietzsche said,

If someone has a why to live,

They can bear almost any how.

What do you value?

Are you willing to take a stand and live by those values?

If you don't know what's important to you,

Here's some questions to journal on or reflect on.

What would you fight for?

Who do you admire?

What is it that you admire about them?

What were you doing when you lost track of time?

What is something you did that you are proud of?

What is one of the best decisions you've ever made?

What are you obsessed with?

If you don't know what's important to you,

Rewind this,

Listen to this again,

Write them down,

Take some time,

Reflect and find out.

Take some time to get clear on these because then you can use your values to gauge whether you are living in alignment.

The more you align with your values,

The more meaningful life becomes.

Number three,

Take risks.

Bear your soul.

Bring something out into the world.

Once you know what you stand for,

Find an edge and step toward it.

There's meaning in learning something new or doing something that you didn't think you were capable of.

About eight months ago,

I began working on a high school presentation and I had no idea what was going to come of it.

I just felt like there was this message that wanted to come out of me.

And after completing it,

I ended up doing some practice gigs at some local schools.

And then just recently I gave my first official paid assembly to a group of 300 students.

It was a huge risk to put myself out there.

Yet after I brought it to life,

I felt the fulfillment from stepping outside of my comfort zone,

Moving through the doubts,

Stepping into my power.

And I find that deeply meaningful.

I'm not saying you need to create a presentation and go give it in front of 300 people.

It doesn't have to be what I did.

Anything that elicits vulnerability is a risk.

So if you're asking,

What if no one likes it?

What if I get rejected?

What if they laugh at me?

What if it doesn't work?

That means you're on your edge.

Jump in.

Remember,

If life is your teacher and you're standing for your values,

It will be a meaningful experience.

Whether it works out or not.

Number four,

Ask how you can help.

Start your day by asking how you can have a positive impact on others.

There was someone I heard that made it a point every morning that the first thing she did in her day was for someone else.

Whether that was sending them an article or making an introduction.

She made it a point to start her day by giving.

In some way,

Our purpose helps relieve the suffering of others.

When we are helping others,

We feel a sense of at oneness.

We feel interconnected.

Knowing that you are playing a positive role in others' lives is meaningful.

It could be as small as smiling at a stranger or holding the door open for someone.

Even better when you ask,

How can I help someone who can do nothing back for me?

Number five,

Put yourself in the way of beauty.

This was the last lesson that Cheryl Strayed's mother would tell her about bringing creativity into her life.

Beyond creativity,

Beauty invokes the deep welling of meaning inside of us.

It isn't cognitive meaning like that sunset is beautiful.

The moment you speak about beauty,

You miss the experience of beauty.

Beauty is that quiet inner awe when you immerse in something moving.

It may be at a play in nature or while reading a great work of literature.

Paintings,

Movies,

Dancing,

Writing,

Athletic brilliance,

It all can have beauty.

Set up habits that allow more beautiful things in your life.

Decorate your home with art,

Books,

And plants and make it important to watch the sunset.

Surround yourself with beautiful people,

Not aesthetically but soulfully.

People who lift your spirits and are beacons of possibility.

The essence of beauty will seep in so that you are experiencing more of yourself as the ray of beauty that you are.

How much more meaningful can it get?

Quick recap to bring more meaning into your life.

Number one,

See life as your teacher.

Amor fati,

Love what is.

Suffering is grace.

Number two,

Know what's important to you.

Know your values.

Number three,

Take risks.

Bare your soul to the world.

Number four,

Ask how you can help,

How you can be of service.

Number five,

Put yourself in the way of beauty.

Thank you so much for listening.

Go out there and be your beautiful self.

Thank you so much for listening to me share.

I deeply appreciate your time and attention.

If you like some of these insights,

Check out more of my work on here.

I have lots of talks and meditations.

Specifically,

A few courses that I think could be really powerful for you is 21 Days of Morning Motivation and Inspiration and Develop Unshakable Confidence.

Those are my two three-week courses where I share some insights like these,

And then we do a little meditation and a practice.

So I encourage you to check that out if you're inspired to,

If you need a little boost in your life,

In your journey,

If you're really looking to bring some more of that meaning in.

Stay connected to the work that I do on here by joining my circle.

Just search Lew's Circle,

And it's a good place to keep up to date with new meditations and opportunities.

Also,

To stay connected on my newsletter where I share upcoming events and meditations and all the good things.

So you can find that through the About page and my website.

So it's a gift to share with you.

I hope you enjoyed this.

Leave a comment to let me know how this landed.

I love hearing from you,

And I'm sending you so much love.

Namaste.