How to Find Purpose: Do We Find or Create Meaning? (Exploring with Sartre and Frankl)

Do you ever wish you knew what your purpose was? Does your life ever feel void of meaning? In this episode we explore the idea of meaning through the lens of positive psychology, logotherapy, and existentialist philosophy. We learn from Dr. Viktor Frankl and Jean-Paul Sartre as well as from the Oxford Handbook on Positive Psychology.  Also in this episode:  -- How to recenter when we get off track so that we come back to what matters to us.  -- The difference between purpose and significance (or meaning and mattering)  -- The 5 Whys or what I like to call The Russian Doll of Goals  -- We hear a voicemail from a friend on the idea of humans being natural meaning makers and how to make the process more conscious  -- A more Zen approach when we want to simply live with meaning rather than analyze it  Does living with purpose make us feel more fulfilled? And if so, how do we find it in a world that makes us feel like it is so far from our reach?  Let's dive in! Timestamps  00:00 Situational meaning vs meaning for our entire lives 01:32 Two approaches to meaning: Sartre and Frankl 05:23 Dereflection from logotherapy 07:07 What are the main areas people derive meaning from? 07:42 Do purpose and meaning make us happier? 10:09 What is meaning? How do we define it? 12:53 Do we find or create meaning? 17:37 The Five Why's 20:02 How to recenter on what matters to us 21:41 Hedonic vs. Eudaimonic happiness 26:19 A Zen approach 27:47 Connection to positive psychology 30:50 Voicemail from a friend: Making this more conscious Resources & Further Reading:  - Man's Search for Meaning - Book by Viktor Frankl - Interview with Frankl: Viktor Frankl: Self-Actualization is not the goal - Sartre and Frankl comparison article/ https://philosophynow.org/issues/162/Frankl_and_Sartre_in_Search_of_Meaning - Blog by Dr. Michael Levin https://thoughtforms.life/what-advice-do-i-give-to-my-students/ hat tip to Tim Ferriss for putting this in his 5 bullet Friday  - UPenn on Meaning - https://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/learn-more/perma-theory-well-being-and-perma-workshops - Logotherapy: https://viktorfranklamerica.com/what-is-logotherapy/ Photography credit:  - Frankl photo: Source Deutsch: Prof. Dr. Franz Vesely Viktor-Frankl-Archiv - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viktor_Frankl2.jpg - Sartre photo:  Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANEFO), 1945-1989 bekijk toegang 2.24.01.04 Bestanddeelnummer 917-9600 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean_Paul_Sartre_1965.jpg Leave a voice message here [https://www.speakpipe.com/pamelacarey] Newsletter sign up [https://www.pamcarey.com/subscribers] YouTube - channel  [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjptoOwpT_auMHKf0akGexw] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/immersion_podcast/] - we will be posting here soon