The Meaning Of Life

Growth

Addressing Pushback on the Growth-Centric View of Meaning

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, May 4 2022

As discussed in The Meaning of Life: A guide to finding your life’s purpose, growth underlies humans’ sense of meaning and purpose in their lives.  Whether it’s helping others grow, growing themselves, or developing relationships through fun and excitement, growth is key to meaning.

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Growth

Take People on the Journey

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, April 20 2022

Everyone knows that people love a good story.  It helps them learn, remember things, and stay engaged in a presentation or conversation.  But why is it such a more impactful way to convey information than simply stating facts, such as “2+2=4”?  Because the story is a journey, and effective engagement, influence, and relationship-building follows th...

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Meaning

To Find Greater Meaning in Life, Help Others

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, April 13 2022

This might seem like one of the most profound questions anyone ever asked themselves: “How do I find greater meaning in life?”  After all, it sounds like a grand mystery that will never be solved.  Yet it has one of the simplest, most straightforward answers: help others.  How can this be, and why is that the only possible answer that could ever ex...

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The Meaning of Life

Happiness is NOT the Meaning of Life

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, April 6 2022

Being the most controversial assertion in The Meaning of Life: A guide to finding your life’s purpose, this blog post is probably long overdue.  There is a long-standing belief that the meaning of life is to be happy, and much of positive psychology is focused on maximizing happiness as a result.

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Meaning

Why Do You Even Need to Find Meaning in Life?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, March 16 2022

When people are busy with school, work, extracurricular activities, and keeping a roof over their heads, they might not have time for much else.  Consequently, they might wonder what people are doing being reclusive and pondering their existence.  After all, why do people think about the meaning of life instead of simply living?  Well, there are tw...

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Suffering

Life Sucks, and Then You Die (Not)

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, February 23 2022

When you’re feeling cynical, miserable, or pessimistic, you are likely to say words to this effect: “Life sucks, and then you die.”  What causes this?  Well, all life situations are a result of nature and nurture: so some of your life outlook is built in your genetics, and some of it comes as a result of your life experiences.

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Support

Life’s 8 Major Fallacies

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, January 5 2022

Mistakes People Make in Their Search for Meaning When people are looking for their meaning in life, they will have trouble finding it if they make erroneous assumptions about how life works or what they’re supposed to do with the one that they’ve been given.  Unfortunately, such fundamental assumptions are held sometimes without people having thoug...

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Meaning

The Purpose of The Meaning of Life Blog

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, October 20 2021

The Meaning of Life Blog has a clear mission: To help individuals understand the primary drivers of humans' sense of meaning in life so that they can foster a greater sense of purpose in their own lives. Why is this so important, and what is different about how I help people with meaning and purpose compared to people who have been writing or speak...

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Suffering

What Is Causing Your Existential Crisis?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 11 2021

Humans have advanced cognitive abilities that allow them to think about themselves and the world around them.  That gives them greater survival capabilities, but it also allows them to wallow in despair.  The question is, what causes the latter to occur?  In other words, why are you questioning your existence?

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Planning

You Didn’t Choose to Be Born...But Should You Act Like You Did?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, July 28 2021

You might not have chosen to be born, but you're surprisingly better off acting as if you had. You know the scenario: a parent and child get into an argument.  There's usually some sort of pressure on the child to behave in some way or meet some set of expectations that results in the now-cliché response, "I didn't choose to be born!"  What is caus...

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