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Find the Meaning of Your Life Part 2: How Meaning Affects Your Brain

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Don’t miss The Meaning of Your Life Virtual Experience my free live global book launch event this Friday (3/27), where I’m joined by an extraordinary lineup of guests to dive into all things meaning. Learn more at  themeaningofyourlife.com. 

This is Part Two of my series on meaning, where I explore the science behind the meaning crisis, a central theme in my upcoming book, The Meaning of Your Life (out March 31). 

In the last episode, we looked at boredom. Today, I dive into the link between a lack of meaning and rising anxiety and depression—and why avoiding life’s biggest questions may be part of the problem. Why do we avoid the questions that matter most? Easy: These questions are uncomfortable—they don’t have clear answers and can’t be solved “once and for all.” However, the process of asking these unanswerable, ineffable questions changes the way we understand our lives, even if we cannot neatly articulate that understanding. As always, I share practical steps to get you to the “right” side of your brain, so that you can start building a life with greater meaning.

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Referenced:

• The Meaning of Your Life Virtual Event

• The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness

• Why Your Perfect Life Feels So Empty (Sneak Peek)

• The Happiness Scale

• The Pursuit of Happiness with Arthur Brooks

• Zen in the Art of Archery

• Hakuin Ekaku: What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?

• Carl Jung’s quote

• The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

• Dostoevsky in Context: 20 - The Crystal Palace

• What is Analytical Meditation

• Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt

• Loving kindness meditation

• My 6-Step Morning Protocol for a Better Day

• My 9-Step Evening Protocol for More Happiness and Better Sleep

• 5 Habits for Healthier Phone Use

guest appearing in this episode

(00:00) Intro

(04:59) The link between meaning and well-being

(07:04) Lessons from Zen Buddhism

(13:44) Two big questions for meaning

(16:00) Hemispheric lateralization

(19:43) Complicated vs. complex problems

(25:33) Why left-brain logic fails for complex problems

(26:54) Using questions to find meaning

(33:20) Step #1: Schedule your mental workout

(34:50) Step #2: Go for a long walk

(37:25) Q&A: Combating contempt

(39:55) Q&A: Travel protocols

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