I am back for the final part of this series to share the message and my experience regarding “Meaning”!
I have started (and restarted) this blog a handful of times over the course of the last two weeks, and just haven’t felt like I am able to coherently relay the messages from the powerful women who shared their life experiences and meanings during the break-out session that I attended at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women this summer. This was a panel-style breakout titled: “Creating YOUR Meaningful Life: Avoiding Burnout & Finding Joy.”
This session included:
Thought Leader:
- Emily Esfahani Smith, Author, The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life that Matters
Panelists:
- Carol Lee Mitchell, SVP, Account Management, North America, Mastercard
- Jamila Payne, President & CEO, Ideas Action Design, and creator, Daily Success Routine
- Niharika Shah, VP, Head, Brand Marketing and Advertising, Prudential Financial
Because I don’t feel like I can do it justice, I am going to summarize and highlight just a few key messages, and then I encourage you all to listen to the podcast that was recorded during this session (link below).
To highlight and recap, this breakout session started with a reference to Viktor Frankl’s Book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Viktor summarizes Meaning as identifying and shifting your thinking to not what you expect from the world, but what the world expects from you. What long term impressions and impact can you have on others?
The Thought Leader, Emily Esfahani Smith started with a story from Viktor Frankl’s book where he shares his experiences while in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII. Viktor witnessed extreme suffering and loss but found that he was able to reverse one’s suicidal thoughts, and create meaning to their suffering.
He gave two examples:
- One man had a son that was waiting for him safely in another country. When Viktor spoke with this man, he helped him refocus his life’s worth with the idea of “maybe one day you can see your son again.” This man found that the meaning of his suffering, was to get out safely and raise his son!
- There was another man, a Scientist who had also given up and had lost hope. But, once Viktor got to speaking with this man, he learned that he had started writing a series of books. The topic of these books, were topics this Scientist believed no one else could write. He then found meaning to his life; he felt the world needed him to survive so he could educate us with his knowledge.
We as humans have a need for meaning. We live in a world where we seek happiness and instant self-gratification. But because of this, we are actually living a life with less meaning! Without meaning, we suffer. With Meaning one is able to hold onto hope through suffering and can move forward.
With all that being said… how do you create meaning for yourself? Frankl says the 3 must-haves for something to qualify as Meaning are as follows:
- You must think and believe that your life has value and worth.
- What can you give back to the world? What is your value?
- You must by driven by sense of purpose.
- There it is… the topic of my previous blog (purpose) and why these two are interrelated.
- Your long-term purpose drives your current activity.
- You must be coherent and aware.
- You cannot think of the world as random; life has narrative and order and is not accidental.
I want to highlight Carol Lee Mitchell, (SVP, account management, North America, Mastercard) because she shared things on a deep and personal level about what her “Meaning” is. I also loved what she shared, because her meaning is one like mine (although I don’t think I knew it before this session).
Carol, while sitting on the stage, pointed to her beautiful daughter in the audience. She shared that she is a huge influencer of her Meaning. Carol is also a huge advocate for community. She believes that one of the things she can give to the world is the creation of a greater community environment. How amazing is that? Carol knows that her life has meaning that can be created by involvement in these programs that benefit many people not just in that moment, but also in the future! She finds her meaning and purpose by also knowing that her daughter will likely be apart of that community. Community, charity and philanthropy are something I believe creates meaning for me. So, thank you Carol for sharing this with us. You undeniably helped me identify my meaning and for that I am grateful!!
As always, I hope that you all have been able to take just one small lesson from this blog that can help you to live a life filled with Positivity, Purpose and Meaning! Would love to hear your Meanings or thoughts!! Drop a comment below!
Link to the Session: https://cdn.conferencesforwomen.org/2017/PA/Creating-YOUR-Meaningful-Life-Avoiding-Burnout-Finding-Joy.mp3