I came across this in Wayne Dyer’s book The Shift. I think this is an accurate definition of a meaningful life.
The Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert talk about two “hungers”.
There is the Great Hunger and there is the Little Hunger.
The Little Hunger wants food for the belly;
But the Great Hunger,
The greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning.
There’s ultimately only one thing that makes
human beings deeply and profoundly bitter,
and that is to have thrust upon them
a life without meaning.
There is nothing wrong in searching for happiness.
But of far more comfort to the soul
Is something greater than happiness
Or unhappiness, and that is meaning.
Because meaning transfigures all.
Once what you are doing has for you meaning,
It is irrelevant whether you’re happy
Or unhappy. You are content—you are not alone
In your Spirit—you belong.
~Sir Laurens van der Post
Your Friend and Pep Pal,
Lauren
Yes I Can Pep Talks 