Happy Life or Meaningful Life?

All these time, I had only known that our life must be filled with happiness. The ideal expectation from life of each individual is ‘happiness’. But recently in these lockdown days, I read some study done by Florida University mentioning about another aspect of life which is called “meaningful life”. I want you to realize that there are two ways of living our lives, happy life and/or meaningful life.

These two are bit confusing and overlap. One might wonder both are same. But they aren't. There are subtle differences between happy life & meaning full life.

Happiness is about having one's needs and desires fulfilled. It may be about small things and/or big thing. You can be happy about finding a lost book, you can also be happy that the India won cricket match. You can be happy about meeting your old friend after a long gap. Happiness is largely rooted in the present and about here and now.

Meaningfulness is more complex. It is about the long term. Purpose is a very important component of a meaningful life. Happiness is more short-lived. One can be happy in the morning and sad in the evening. But meaningfulness is considered more lasting and permanent.

Friends and family play an important role in shaping a happy and meaningful life. At its heart is the fact that happiness is positively related to one receiving benefits and being a taker. Meaningfulness is about giving. This also means that helping others boosts the meaningfulness of life but has little impact on happiness.

There is a subtle difference in the way friends and family affects our lives. According to the study, spending more time with friends is positively related to happiness but not to the meaningfulness of life. Spending more time with one's family is significant to the meaningful quotient but not so to the happiness level.

Here's an example: taking care of children requires one to downplay one's self and devote oneself to caring for them. For parents, the more time they spend with children the more meaningful their lives are, but this does not have much relation to happiness. If anything, it tends to reduce happiness. It throws light on the parenthood paradox: most people want to be happy and want to be parent but these two goals are often in conflict, says the study.

In this modern era, where money has become like breathing air, it is not difficult to earn sufficient money and lead a happy life .We can all do that and that’s what we all are doing right now. We are choosing happy life. We are not bothering for the meaning. Just being happy is what has become important for us. But truth is happiness doesn't lasts for long time. So choose for the meaningful life.

Again, the meaning of the ‘meaningful life’ varies from each & every individual and bit hard to figure out. But if you give a deep thought on it, you can work it out to realize what makes your life meaningful.

Keep in mind; Healthy people are happier than sick ones. But healthy and sick people can have equally meaningful lives! Think about it and figure out the difference between happy & meaningful life. So beware, it may so happen that you might be happy with someone/something/some stuff but before committing/enjoying/using just think, whether it makes life meaningful!