One of the things I ask myself often is about the meaning of life. Over the years, the meaning has changed for me. Even today, as a parent, that definition continues to change even. Though I do have an easy way of viewing life and how to create meaning, I still wonder what goes on in the minds of other people in the world. What I do as a mindset coach is more than just repairing a person’s mind. I research society’s current mindset and lay out multiple courses of action to where society will move. That helps me get a clear understanding of who I will work with today and in the future.

The learning of life can be described as making your life worth living. We are living in a world where we can go after what we love, do things we hate to live the life we fell into, and then struggle each week to keep the ease we have created as a species. I believe that people can do as much or as little. What meaning is to one person might not be it for the next. This is because any action, no matter how big, affects the world. Often people do not see their actions as something worth it, and thus they take no action.

When we are about to take massive action to create something meaningful in life, we have to be in the proper mindset. We will have people who operate under limiting beliefs that will only do so much because of the set limitations we give ourselves. We tell ourselves unhelpful things almost every day. To get rid of that way of thinking, we have to have a concise vision of how we want our life to be and then develop a mindset that will help us get that life. What I see many people do is the opposite. Many people will focus on what they want in life, but they will not formulate a mindset to help them get there.

This is where failure often lies in the life of the 8 billion people walking around the world. We might have different circumstances than the next person, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to be more each day. One of the things I try to do to ensure I am creating meaning in life is to make sure my yesterday is not the same as today. I look for growth each day, and I understand that it will not come easy. I can keep the same life that I have until the day I die, and I will have certainly reached some degree of happiness. However, what I am looking for in life is not a specific destination. That is where the meaning of life comes in.

I often share this story of a boy and the starfish with many people who ask if I can make an impact on the world. I first heard this story at my college commencement. There was a speaker who shared this story with me, and I remember listening intently to him as he told the story. Perhaps I knew he would share something with me that I would remember for my entire life, or I was relishing in the moment of my graduating and doing something that required an immense amount of focus and dedication. Here is the story:

Boy and the Starfish Story

Once, an older gentleman would go for a morning walk on the beach every day. This morning was particular because a massive storm washed many things onto the beach the night before. There was thrash, seaweed, sea creature, etc., sprawled out on the beach.

As the old man walked down the steps to get onto the beach, he noticed a young boy bending down and throwing something into the ocean. He kept doing this, which stoked the old man’s curiosity. As he walked toward the young boy, he noticed that what he was picking up and throwing into the ocean were the starfish that washed up on shore.

The old man asked the young boy what he was doing, and the young boy responded he was throwing the starfish back into the ocean because if he didn’t, they would die. The old man looked up and down the beach, and he saw 10’s thousands of starfish stranded on the shore. The old man told the boy that there were too many starfish for him to rescue and that no matter what he did, he would not be able to make a difference. 

The young boy looked at the old man and smiled as he bent down to pick up another starfish. The boy wound up his arm and through the starfish as far as he could into the ocean and then looked at the old me and said, “I made a difference for that one.”

What is the reason we do the things we do?

In life, we fail to see the meaning behind what we do. We think that a simple action or a helping hand will not make a difference, but what you put out into the world has a compounding effect. You can do a simple task, but it can have a significant impact. Like the boy in the story, he had the option to believe the work he was doing was for not or that he was making a difference. Many people acclimate to the realm of their actions that do not mean anything to them.

Imagine you are at the grocery store, and you see someone struggling to reach for an item on the shelf. Maybe you are that person who is working because you are short, but in any event, a random stranger comes by and helps give you the item. The person doesn’t want anything in return, and to that person, it is no big deal. However, you will think about that moment or person longer than the person. We can significantly impact the world, but many people will not because they do not pay attention.

This is where the meaning of life comes in. What we do each day has meaning; we just have to be able to see it. We typically do some action that will make someone’s life better. Of course, there will be those who do nothing with their life and waste it away, but that is the minority of people. Most people will take action because the brain understands that some course of action is needed to maintain the life they created, and they do not want to lose that way of living because that is their comfort zone.

I often say that life doesn’t necessarily have any meaning. You are born, live life, and then die; however, there is something more to life than just life in death. Somewhere between being born and dying, we have an opportunity to do something unique with that life. Life has no meaning, but we have the chance to create sense with life. I find that many people do not make themselves aware of this factor, and thus why many people walk through life living in their comfort zone and complacency.

If you can devote your mindset to living your life out and using it to create meaning, you are on the right track to life and meaning. There is no wrong or right way to live. You can live however you want, but many people ignore their purpose, passion, and gift and wonder why they are not happy in life. There is a crazy amount of people who are overly stressed and unhappy when that doesn’t have to be the case. People have the option to create meaning, happiness, and purpose; the problem is awareness.

In conclusion, life has no meaning, but it creates the opportunity to develop a sense. I used to think that every life had a purpose, but that would go against science and development. I believe that destiny in the universe contradicts what I spoke about today, but I love to dance around those ideas. Those ideas will help open up your mind to think in a more powerful way, which will drive action. What we are missing right now are action and critical thinking. I believe if people could apply those two things to their life, they would begin to find more happiness, joy, and meaning in life.

 

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of Reven Concepts