How to Make Life More Meaningful

12/22/22 • 18 min

3 Listeners

Chris Sharma is one of the greatest rock climbers of all time, and he's taking on some of the biggest challenges in life: becoming a parent and starting his own business. Chris tries a practice shown to help us craft our own path and purpose in life.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/pdtkffuv

Episode summary:

Chris Sharma spent his youth traveling the globe and becoming one of the greatest rock climbers of all time. His passion for climbing has filled his life with purpose, but now in middle age, he wants to also focus on other sources of meaning in life that are just as important to him. Chris joins us after trying a practice in life crafting — where you get clear on your values, imagine what your ideal life would look like, and make a plan to get closer to that vision. Later in the show, we hear from Michael Steger, a psychologist and director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose at Colorado State University, about the surprising places in our lives we can find meaning, and the different roads we can take towards living a more meaningful life.

Try the Life Crafting Practice:

Identify your deepest values and passions — what’s most important to you.
Reflect on your ideal future: Write a paragraph envisioning how you’d like your social life or your career path to turn out if you had no constraints.
Write down how you’ll attain those goals. Prioritize them, and write “if, then” plans for how you’ll overcome obstacles you’re likely to encounter.
Make a public commitment. Tell your community about your goals.

Learn more about this practice at Greater Good In Action:

https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/life_crafting

Today’s guests:

Chris Sharma is an elite rock climber known for traveling the world to find the most beautiful and challenging places to rock climb.

His new show The Climb premieres on HBO on January 12. Check out the trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/suz35w8y

Follow Chris on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris_sharma/

Check out his website: http://www.chrissharma.com/

Michael Steger is a professor of psychology at Colorado State University, where he is the director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose.

Learn more about Steger’s work: http://www.michaelfsteger.com/

Follow Steger on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/yc79d6mb

Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

Michael Steger: Why We Search for Meaning: https://tinyurl.com/2s469242

Here’s How to Find Meaning in Your Midlife Crisis: https://tinyurl.com/4kpcnr9c

What Our Photos Say About Us (Podcast): https://tinyurl.com/y56wvj42

Purpose in Life Quiz: https://tinyurl.com/yz4ztenp

Living with a Purpose Changes Everything: https://tinyurl.com/d3ea7afa

More On Meaning and Purpose:

The Atlantic - The Meaning of Life Is Surprisingly Simple: https://tinyurl.com/2yfucadj

Pew - Where Americans Find Meaning in Life: https://tinyurl.com/nek5j6tk

Scientific American - To Feel Meaningful Is To Feel Immortal: https://tinyurl.com/yuhe99m9

NPR - What's Your Purpose? https://tinyurl.com/465aknec

Harvard Business Review: What Is the Purpose of Your Purpose? https://tinyurl.com/43pjrc6j

Tell us a...

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/pdtkffuv

Episode summary:

Try the Life Crafting Practice:

Identify your deepest values and passions — what’s most important to you.
Reflect on your ideal future: Write a paragraph envisioning how you’d like your social life or your career path to turn out if you had no constraints.
Write down how you’ll attain those goals. Prioritize them, and write “if, then” plans for how you’ll overcome obstacles you’re likely to encounter.
Make a public commitment. Tell your community about your goals.

Learn more about this practice at Greater Good In Action:

https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/life_crafting

Today’s guests:

Chris Sharma is an elite rock climber known for traveling the world to find the most beautiful and challenging places to rock climb.

His new show The Climb premieres on HBO on January 12. Check out the trailer here: https://tinyurl.com/suz35w8y

Follow Chris on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris_sharma/

Check out his website: http://www.chrissharma.com/

Michael Steger is a professor of psychology at Colorado State University, where he is the director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose.

Learn more about Steger’s work: http://www.michaelfsteger.com/

Follow Steger on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/yc79d6mb

Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

Michael Steger: Why We Search for Meaning: https://tinyurl.com/2s469242

Here’s How to Find Meaning in Your Midlife Crisis: https://tinyurl.com/4kpcnr9c

What Our Photos Say About Us (Podcast): https://tinyurl.com/y56wvj42

Purpose in Life Quiz: https://tinyurl.com/yz4ztenp

Living with a Purpose Changes Everything: https://tinyurl.com/d3ea7afa

More On Meaning and Purpose:

The Atlantic - The Meaning of Life Is Surprisingly Simple: https://tinyurl.com/2yfucadj

Pew - Where Americans Find Meaning in Life: https://tinyurl.com/nek5j6tk

Scientific American - To Feel Meaningful Is To Feel Immortal: https://tinyurl.com/yuhe99m9

NPR - What's Your Purpose? https://tinyurl.com/465aknec

Harvard Business Review: What Is the Purpose of Your Purpose? https://tinyurl.com/43pjrc6j

Tell us a...

Previous Episode

Happiness Break: Finding Presence Through Your Senses, with Dacher Keltner

Sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste: all of our five senses provide unique pathways to presence and happiness. We spend a few minutes being mindful of each one.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/be39r98y

How to Do This Practice:

Find a comfortable place where you feel safe. Close your eyes or soften your gaze. Take a few deep breths, noticing the sensation of the air as it moves through your nose, into your lungs, and back out again.

Sound: For a few breaths, pay attention to the sounds around you. Notice where they are in space.
Touch: Put one hand on top of the other. Notice the sensations you feel in your hand as your fingers’ knuckles touch the other, like temperature and texture.. Shift your attention to your cheeks, noticing temperature and the feel of the air.
Taste: Now, pay attention to the taste you are experiencing on your tongue. There may be no taste or the taste of saliva.
Smell: Move your focus to the smell around you as you take a breath. See how many odors you can identify.
**Sight : Finally, focus your gaze on a point eight inches in front of you for a few seconds and see what colors, forms, light, and shadow you notice there.
Take a few more deep breaths here and notice if any of your senses feel heightened.

More resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

Listen to our Happiness Break on body scan meditation: https://tinyurl.com/bd6x8ba5
How to Focus Under Pressure (podcast) https://tinyurl.com/mxpd6mtd
Coming to Our Senses: https://tinyurl.com/3d4jkprr
Hands-On Research: The Science of Touch: https://tinyurl.com/y79vpbre
10 Steps to Savoring the Good Things in Life: https://tinyurl.com/2zwb5y8v

We love hearing from you! Tell us about your experience with the five senses meditation. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcast: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break!

Leave us a 5-star review and copy and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

Next Episode

Happiness Break: An Affirmation Practice for the New Year, with Chris Murchison

This New Year, affirm the wonderful qualities you already possess with this meditative writing practice called "I Am."

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/mswzp9jz

How to Do This Practice:

Take a moment to sit still and take a few deep breaths, and notice how you’re feeling right now.
Open your eyes, and on a sheet of paper, write “I am ____,” and then fill in that blank.
Set a timer for 1 minute, and repeat step 2 until the time is up.
Take a moment to observe what you’ve written. Where did you begin? Where did you end? What can you glean about how you’re showing up today, from what you’ve written? Look for patterns.
Take a few more mindful breaths. Consider how what you’ve just written might influence what you’ve just written and the rest of your day.

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Chris Murchison is an artist and meditation teacher.

Check out Chris’s website: https://chrismurchison.com/

Follow Chris on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrismarcellmurchison/

Follow Chris on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.m.murchison

More resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

How to Be a Remarkable Boss During Lockdown (by Chris Murchison): https://tinyurl.com/yypps3aw

Can Self-Awareness Help You Be More Empathic? https://tinyurl.com/eefds36s

Do You Have a True Self? https://tinyurl.com/3xasurwp

Ten Habits of Highly Creative People https://tinyurl.com/yt83udz6

Make Self-Compassion One of Your New Year’s Resolutions https://tinyurl.com/ymn6m5pp

The Dark Side of Self-Help: https://tinyurl.com/4jajdfum

We love hearing from you! Tell us about your experiences with self-insight or self-affirmations. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave us a 5-star review and copy and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap