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Villarreal. Love the way. This is optimal living daily episode 1306. Two tips for finding meaning where there is none.
By Christine Kloosmin of ChristineKloosmin.com and I'm just a molecular personal narrator and the guy that reads to you every single day of the year. It's kind of like an ongoing audiobook but free. For now let's get right to it as we optimize your life. Two tips for finding meaning where there is none.
By Christine Kloosmin of ChristineKloosmin.com. One of the most important skills in our quest to infuse more meaning and joy into your life is being able to make meaning, especially in activities we don't see as meaningful. Our brains are primed to notice and remember negativity, things we don't like or want to do, while barely registering the positive. This is called a negativity bias, which evolved as an adaptive mechanism to protect ourselves from threats in the environment.
Because of this bias, we had to make a special effort to get our brains to notice, register, and savor the good. It's the same as meaning. All too often we assume activities and tasks like cleaning, cooking, commuting, responding to emails are meaningless. It's not that these are inherently negative activities, but because most people view them as necessary evils, they don't obviously offer a chance at a meaningful experience.
They seem totally devoid of value in the bigger picture, but as with so many things in life, perspective is everything. Here are two techniques that can help you transform your meaning deserts into rich sources of fulfillment. Try the opposite emotion. This classic cognitive behavioral technique is very effective at reframing your most banal, least enjoyed activities.
Here's how it works. We assume that you, like most people, ordinarily wash dishes on autopilot, and maybe even a little begrudgingly. Now interrupt that emotion in line of thinking by pushing yourself to feel the opposite, grateful, proud, fulfilled. Force yourself to think of reasons that it is a privilege and a pleasure to be washing the dishes.
You have dishes to wash, unlike many people in the world. There was enough food to serve your family, unlike many more people in the world. You are personally contributing to your family's well-being by cleaning up the home you are lucky enough to live in. You have indoor plumbing and a functioning sink, and don't have to carry dishes to the river to wash outside at the mercy of the elements.
Come up with as many reasons as you can. Don't worry if it feels at first that you're faking it. Expand your mind as much as possible, looking for every reason that this is a worthy task. You might surprise yourself how easy it turns out to be once you get going.
Take snapshots of meaning. This was one of the most profound meaning-hunting expeditions I have ever done. It started as a photo experiment to try and photograph things throughout my day, my house, and my life that moved my needle in any way. I was craving a way to capture and collect a meaning clues that was easier and more immediate than journaling.
I was also tired of the normal criteria I used to take pictures, i.e. it needs to be worthy of a photograph, and excited for permission to photograph nonsensical and mundane things that would only make sense to me. I decided to use my son's Polaroid camera for immediate gratification. There's something so satisfying about the way it spits out little pictures on demand.
The activity felt like an Easter egg hunt. At first I walked around my house looking for things I loved with just one question in mind. Does this person, place, or thing feel meaningful to me? At first I took photos of the usual suspects, my family, the animals in our house.
But then something interesting started to happen, and my photos expanded into richer and more subtle territory. I took a photo of the hammock I left a lion, a favorite meal I made for the kids. A thank you card, my TEDx youth kids made for me. And a picture of a picture of me holding my sister as a baby that stirs deep feelings of love.
My photographs of flowers growing in the garden, the kids' clubhouse in the backyard, the kale I love to grow and eat, the plant in my office. My kids sitting on the kitchen floor watching the pizza dough rise in the oven right before their eyes, the chapter book we are obsessively reading together, My favorite coffee cup, the friendly receptionist at my co-working space makes me smile every day. The rapid acceleration of my awareness of meaning was incredible. At the start I felt awkward in this experiment.
I worried about wasting expensive Polaroid film, taking stupid pictures of things that would seem meaningless to others. At all kinds of small resistances, and was convinced I wouldn't be able to think of anything meaningful and or that I'd quickly run out of subjects. But half a day into the project, suddenly I was on fire. I was noticing things that held deep meaning for me everywhere.
My favorite tree in the front yard. The remnants of a family board game from the prior night. The stuffed animals on my son's bed. A sweet reminder note my partner left on my computer.
The empty bottle of wine we enjoyed while comparing notes about our day. When I looked at the collection of photos I had amassed, I was amazed at my emotional response to them. What it seemed like unworthy objects of photography had coalesced into a beautiful collage of my life. A small treasure chest of cherished moments and beloved encounters that would normally be forgotten.
But we're now memorialized to be savored again and again. I pasted these photos into a notebook. Every time I look at them, I'm amazed how profoundly they capture the essence of who I am, what matters to me, and where I derive my greatest sources of meaning. This quirky photo essay was created in just one day of looking under rocks for meaning.
And it grew from being something I was not sure I would bother to keep when I was done, to one of the few objects in my house I would absolutely grab in a fire. You just listened to the post titled Two Tips for Finding Meaning Where There Is None by Christine Kloosman of ChristineKloosman.com I'm constantly thinking about how to optimize my health, what supplements to take, hours of sleep, what my diet should focus on. Superpower finally takes the guessing out of it. One simple lab test covers over 100 biomarkers, and their app gives you a complete picture of your heart, liver, hormones, metabolism, even environmental toxins.
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Hope you're having a great day, and I'll be back tomorrow reading to you where your optimal life awaits.