Paths to a Meaningful Life

Three main paths, according to neurologist, psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl:

1) "creating a work or by doing a deed";

2) "experiencing something or encountering someone; in other words, meaning can be found not only in work but also in love"; and

3) "even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself. He may turn a personal tragedy into a triumph."

Viktor E. Frankl. “Man’s Search for Meaning. An Introduction to Logotherapy.” ed 3, Simon & Schuster, NY, 1984.

Clearly the first path refers to people whose work is a vocation, a calling, whereby they are fully engaged, pouring what's best in them into the work, and through their work, blessing the world. The quality of heart-mind with which we approach work, whether we're neurosurgeons or street sweepers, is a moment-by-moment free choice that every one of us has, even WHILE starving, working & freezing to death in a concentration camp.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

“Be always mindful of what you are doing and thinking. So that you may put the imprint of your immortality on every passing incident of your daily life.” Abd’l-Khaliq Ghijdewani, 13th century Sufi

Or to paraphrase Forrest Gump's mamma: "Meaningful is, as meaningful does."