Explore Meaning and Values to Provide Direction in Uncertainty

3:24:35

2024-09-06

1658

Many individuals may be experiencing a heightened sense of vulnerability from multiple sources of world stressors, including regional wars and political polarization. These cumulative sources of stress can lead to feelings of powerlessness, groundlessness, and being adrift.

As Alice Walker eloquently stated, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking that they don’t have any.” A psychotherapeutic focus on meaning of life and living one’s core values provides an anchor and compass for navigating life’s turbulent waters.

Meaning in Life

Clara Hill (2018) describes five components of meaning in life (MIL) including:

A felt sense of meaning, which involves the sense that one has led a purposeful life.
Mattering or significance: Reflecting on whether you have made a difference in the world.
Purpose, goals, and engagement in life: Meaning is a by-product of committed action, creativity, and helping others (Yalom, 1980).
Coherence or comprehensibility: Developing a comprehensive and coherent narrative about the past, present, and future, including an awareness of an underlying “thread” that gives life its structure, meaning, and cohesion (Buechler, 2019).
Valuing and enjoying the experience of reflecting on meaning, including the ability to trust the unknowable and the wisdom of uncertainty. “Finding meaning does not require us to live differently, it requires us to see our lives differently” (Remen, 2000).
Victor Frankl, a renowned psychiatrist, observed that humans do not get to choose their difficulties, but they do have the freedom to select their attitudes and responses and maintain a sense of dignity. Attitudes toward adversity and uncertainty can be experienced and created throughout every moment in life no matter the circumstances (Frankl, 1986, 1992).
Meaning-centered psychotherapy (MCP), developed by William Breitbart (2016), is an intervention inspired by Frankl's work which focuses on addressing existential distress for patients facing terminal illness. The experience of loss and uncertainty in our lives can be a source of great suffering. When we experience suffering, we feel disconnected from certain elements of our identities, including our work, relationships, hobbies, and values.
“Meaning is a form of strength…[and] is the language of the soul” (Remen, 2000). Compared to happines, meaning is more associated with “being yourself” and integrating the past, present, and future (Baumeister, 2013).

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