) Meaning

[Jule Kue]

The18 SAM games are used to reinforce the meaning of symbols learned in natural environments and to expand the use of symbols to communication contexts, like books. In order to determine needs and plan instruction, SAM provides four assessments :

These are difficult questions to answer with research. If people believe that midlife is a significant time of change and reprioritization, then it is, even if there is no particularly good reason for it.

Research does not always find that meaning declines as we age. A quite large study in California found that meaning in life peaked at around age 60 in their participants. My own research suggests that meaning in life does not necessarily peak like this, but it is tricky (to say the least) attempting to pin down trajectories of a complex human experience like meaning in life based on surveys that are only taken at one point in time. Additional studies would help us better understand whether and why meaning in life peaks, for whom, and if it is mainly the purpose element that seems most challenging for us in midlife and beyond.

In the largest meta-analysis to date, Martin Pinquart reviewed 70 studies on purpose in life across the lifespan. This study concluded that there is a small drop in purpose that can be observed as people grow into old age. This was a study of the purpose element of meaning in life, and many of the instruments used to measure purpose ask people how much they have lots of goals or interesting things to look forward to. It seems somewhat logical that we have fewer future-oriented goals or activities as we get older, but that is not necessarily reassuring news. In fact, to many of us, having fewer goals can make it feel as if we have less to live for.

So, what do you do, if you find yourself in the midst of a crisis of meaning and purpose in midlife? Here are three suggestions based on the three elements of meaning in life, coherence, significance, and purpose:

One of the leading themes was the re-examination of whether the systems people had lived by were still working for them. For example, one accomplished coach and entrepreneur told me that in her late 40s she recognized that the success and opportunity she had earned in her life as an executive came at a serious cost to her health. She launched a second career as the leader of a coaching company that helps people live a healthier, happier life.

Similarly, another career-changing professional talked about recognizing her personal values were out of step with corporate values. She went on an around-the-world adventure, and shifted her skills and expertise away from optimizing the customer experience for profit, toward optimizing those experiences for well-being.

Michael F. Steger, PhD, is Founder and Director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose, and Professor of Psychology, Colorado State University. He provides keynotes on meaning and purpose and leads workshops and retreats around the world.

In his book, Kessler also gives examples of what meaning can look like after the death of a loved one. It may be helpful to review these examples as you think of what meaning may look like for you after your loss. Meaning is very personal, so you may think of other ideas that will be meaningful for you.

The shared mission of the Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making and Cornell United Religious Work is to nurture the human spirit by inviting our students to make meaning of themselves and the world.

Vision:

We envision a community whose commitment to the integration of moral and intellectual development forms graduates who are spiritually mature, aware of their ethical agency, and committed to action in service of the common good.

Pedagogy:

In service of our mission and vision, we utilize a process of holistic formation that integrates intellectual, social, spiritual, and vocational growth. Through both our presence and our programming, we invite students to:

To tackle this topic, Pew Research Center conducted two separate surveys in late 2017. The first included an open-ended question asking Americans to describe in their own words what makes their lives feel meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying. This approach gives respondents an opportunity to describe the myriad things they find meaningful, from careers, faith and family, to hobbies, pets, travel, music and being outdoors.

The second survey included a set of closed-ended (also known as forced-choice) questions asking Americans to rate how much meaning and fulfillment they draw from each of 15 possible sources identified by the research team. It also included a question asking which of these sources gives respondents the most meaning and fulfillment. This approach offers a limited series of options but provides a measure of the relative importance Americans place on various sources of meaning in their lives.

But after family, Americans mention a plethora of sources (in the open-ended question) from which they derive meaning and satisfaction: One-third bring up their career or job, nearly a quarter mention finances or money, and one-in-five cite their religious faith, friendships, or various hobbies and activities. Additional topics that are commonly mentioned include being in good health, living in a nice place, creative activities and learning or education. Many other topics also arose in the open-ended question, such as doing good and belonging to a group or community, but these were not as common.

People in a wide variety of social and demographic subgroups mention family as a key source of meaning and fulfillment. But there are some patterns in the sources of meaning that Americans cite, depending on their religion, socioeconomic status, race, politics and other factors.

Those answering the question were free to write as much as they wanted. The average respondent wrote 41 words; some wrote hundreds of words. Respondents who gave longer responses tend to be highly educated and are more likely to be women. The patterns highlighted in this report hold up even when controlling (in multiple regression models) for the length of the responses as well as the demographic characteristics of respondents.

The surveys find similar patterns with respect to being outdoors and experiencing nature, fitness activities, and creative hobbies (such as arts and crafts or making music). These are all cited as providing a great deal of meaning by much larger shares of respondents when they are reminded about them in the closed-ended question than when they are asked to express, in their own words, what makes their lives meaningful and fulfilling.

Different groups of Americans mention different topics when asked what gives them meaning in life. Those with high income levels are more likely to mention friends and being in good health. Evangelical Protestants are more likely than Christians in general to say that they find a great deal of meaning in religion. Those who identify as politically liberal mention creative activities more than Americans overall, while conservatives are more likely to bring up faith, even after controlling for differences in their religious identification. For the most part, these and other patterns are observed in both the open-ended and closed-ended questions (where direct comparisons are possible).

There are several sources of meaning that are mentioned much more often by Americans with high incomes and levels of educational attainment than by those with lower incomes and less education. For instance, the open-ended question finds that higher levels of education and income are associated with an increased likelihood that a respondent will cite friendships and good health. Furthermore, high levels of education also are associated with mentioning a sense of security or stability and recreational activities as key sources of meaning and fulfillment.

Regardless of their particular religious denomination, black Americans are more likely than others to mention faith and spirituality when describing (in the open-ended question) what gives them a sense of meaning.3 Fully three-in-ten black Americans (30%) mention spirituality and faith, compared with 20% of whites and 15% of Hispanics.

Race and ethnicity also are linked with a number of other sources of meaning, independent of socioeconomic factors. Specifically, white Americans are much more likely than black and Hispanic Americans to mention friends, stability and security, and a positive home environment as sources of meaning in their lives, even when controlling for education and income.

While 23% of white Americans mention friends when describing what gives their lives meaning, fewer black and Hispanic Americans do so (11% in each group). Furthermore, black and Hispanic Americans are much less likely than whites to mention enjoying where they live; 5% and 7% do so, compared with 16% of white Americans. And while 13% of blacks and 14% of Hispanics mention finances and money in some way, more white Americans (26%) mention the topic when describing what makes their lives meaningful.4

Analysis of the open-ended responses also shows that black Americans are less likely than others to mention being in good health (8%, compared with 15% of Hispanics and 18% of whites), and black Americans are notably less likely than whites to mention pets or animals or enjoying the outdoors and nature. While these topics were not brought up frequently in the open-ended responses by any group, hundreds of white respondents mentioned pets or animals and nature or the outdoors. In contrast, fewer than 10 black respondents mentioned either topic.

Spirituality is also a commonly mentioned topic among those in the historically black Protestant tradition, among whom 32% mention spirituality or faith as a source of meaning in their lives. Smaller shares of mainline Protestants (18%) and Catholics (16%) mention faith and spirituality as sources of meaning and fulfillment.

Just 10% of U.S. adults under age 30 mention spirituality, faith or God when describing (in the open-ended question) what affects their sense of meaning. By contrast, three-in-ten adults ages 65 and older mention religion when describing what makes their life meaningful and fulfilling.

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