The questions that a teenager may ask about the mysteries of their existence will not be the same ones of someone who is in their forties. Someone who finds themselves, according to Michael F. Steger, psychologist and director of the laboratory for the “Study of the Quality of Life”, in the most creative stage in their personal cycle. Each stage has its own troubles, there’s no doubt. Nevertheless, i t is these vital doubts which give our inner engines energy to keep growing, to keep transforming us.
Thus, another aspect we should reflect upon is how to find the answers to all of these existential doubts which are so common human beings. Is this all life has to offer me or does something more await me? Am I prepared to do bigger and better things or must I be content with what I have now? Is this the type of love I deserve? Why have I not yet found the perfect partner?
Questions like these are without a doubt the most common, the most familiar voids in each of our minds. The most common doubts in each heart that longs for the perfume of something more authentic, more profound. We urge you to reflect upon this.
All of the answers can be found in a quiet corner
Gregorio Marañón said that we will cure all of the diseases in the world, but hurries and rushes will be what ultimately kill us. Unfortunately, we live in an accelerated dimension. So much so that there are even parents who long for their children to skip certain stages of their lives, in order to introduce them to reading or math skills as soon as possible. They think, naively in many cases, that this way their academic performance will be enhanced. Therefore, they will have guaranteed their children’s future success. A path that will be perhaps a bit shallow in imagination, but more complicated in reality.
“We are so rushed to do, write and let our voice be heard in the silence of eternity, that we forget to do the only truly important thing: to live.”
On the other hand, an obsession with doing things quickly has also settled into our daily life. We anticipate the future without living the present. We live in a tomorrow that has yet to happen, ultimately because our here and now is terribly demanding. Rushing is already a style of existence that confers prestige and status. If you stop, it means you have no ideas. Hence, you are not productive or valid. When in reality, the only thing this acceleration gives us is a clear vital dissatisfaction and many more questions than answers.
Living focused on tomorrow forces us to be simple erratic souls who don’t have a full and authentic awareness of the present moment. In the midst of this detachment from the “here and now” we’ll never find the answers to our vital needs. Years pass marked by uncertainty and frustration. The mind, and we cannot forget this part, needs tranquility to connect to its roots, to its surroundings, and to our emotions…
That’s where we’ll find the best answers, in that lake of serenity that characterizes the relaxed mind. The one which understands that authentic excellence sometimes lies in knowing how to disconnect. If you haven’t achieved it yet this year, mark it as a goal for the year to come.
The meaning of life, a question of perspective
Viktor Frankl talked in his time about the need people have to acquire an intentional conscience. That is to say, the simple fact of having a purpose and fighting for it, of believing in something fully and significantly, this allows us to transform into beings who are more free, responsible and connected to the reality that surrounds us. Having a vital purpose offers us a meaning and, at the same time, more than one answer.
“He who gives the best answers is not the wisest, but rather he who asks the best questions.”
Sociologists, however, tell us that we are influenced by the context that surrounds us. Family,
the education we receive and our psychosocial environment are sometimes the things that inject us with that intentional conscience. Thus, understanding what window we look through to understand life will help us get to know ourselves much better. It will help us find the best answers to
our needs .
Here we will list a set of approaches that, in some way, serve to give meaning to many of the questions that we ask ourselves at some point:
Hedonism: life’s first priority is pleasure, focusing our existence on enjoying.
Materialism: one’s greatest purpose is to gather as many possessions as possible.
Altruism: offering ourselves to others is without a doubt the main need in this case.
Sensationalism: to live is to experiment as many things as possible, being what they may be.
Psychology: we aspire to our personal fulfillment according to Maslow’s pyramid of needs.
Theism: we focus on an existence based on a religious or spiritual code, from which we can understand life and our own existence guided towards a purpose.
Love: living is focused on loving and being loved.
Rationalism: we aspire to have vast and varied knowledge.
Militarism: life is a constant struggle to survive, sometimes against ourselves and sometimes against others.
This list is no more than a small example. We’re the ones who must find that transcendental and special meaning that will complete us. The meaning that will guide us towards the best answers. The one that will mobilize all of our psychological and motivational resources towards those purposes.
What is your purpose?
