Finding Purpose and Meaning: Intentional Living Workshop

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Finding Purpose and MeaningIntentional Living

• Gleb Tsipursky, PhD
• President, Co-Founder and Chief Insights Officer
• Intentional Insights
• www.intentionalinsights.org

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Program Overview

• Research and thinkers on finding purpose and
  meaning
• Purpose and meaning from an evidence-based
  perspective
• How do you as an individual find purpose and
  meaning in life?

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What is the Meaning of Life?
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Research Shows

• People who can give a clear answer have better
  lives
• with higher mental and physical
• well-being
• Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness (2002)

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Research Shows

• Clear and strong sense of meaning
• correlates with religion
• A. Okulicz-Kozaryn (2010). Religiosity and life
  satisfaction across nations, Mental Health,
  Religion Culture, 13, 155-169.

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Research Shows

• The important thing is simply to
• have a sense of purpose,
• not the source of the purpose
• M. F. Steger, (2012). Making meaning in life,
  Psychological Inquiry, 23, 381-385.

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Research Shows

• People who live in societies
• with less religious predominance
• than the contemporary US
• do not necessarily experience
• a lesser sense of meaning and purpose.
• Darrin M. McMahon, Happiness A History, (2005).

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• 2011 World Happiness Report (http//www.earth.col
  umbia.edu/sitefiles/file/Sachs20Writing/2012/Worl
  d20Happiness20Report.pdf)

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Why does Purpose in Life Correlate with Religion
in the US?

• Strong community connections
• Opportunities for serving others
• Venues to reflect on meaning and purpose
• Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence The New
  Science of Human Relationships (New York Bantam
  Dell, 2006).

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What About Less Religious Societies?

• In other societies, non-religious venues often
  offer opportunities for
• Community connections
• Serving others
• Reflecting on meaning and purpose
• Gleb Tsipursky, Having Fun in the Thaw Youth
  Initiative Clubs in the Post-Stalin Years, in the
  series, The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East
  European Studies, No. 2201 (Pittsburgh
  University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012)

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Research Shows

• Sense of meaning is strongest when
• it comes from
• individual reflection and self-work
• NOT when its simply adopted
• from outside prescriptions
• P. T. P. Wong, The human quest for meaning
  (2012) M. F. Steger, (2009). Meaning in life.
  In S. J. Lopez (Ed.), Oxford handbook of positive
  psychology (2nd Ed.) (pp. 679-687). Oxford, UK
  Oxford University Press.

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Evidence-Based Ways to Gain Sense of Life
Purpose and Meaning

• Reflecting on ones sense of meaning and purpose
• Doing so in a social setting
• Helping others find meaning and purpose in life

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• How do you as an individual
• find purpose and meaning in life?

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Strategies Evaluation

• Purpose and Meaning Questionnaire (PMQ)

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Strategies Highest-Order Goals

• What is the meaning of life for me?

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Strategies Purpose

• What is my purpose in life?

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Strategies Person I Want to Be

• To live my purpose,
• what kind of person
• do I want to be?

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Strategies Living Intentionally

• To become the person I want to be,
• what steps can I take
• in my everyday life
• to live intentionally?

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Strategies 3 Steps to Gaining Agency

• Agency Living Intentionally
• How can I optimize my ability to
• Evaluate reality clearly, to
• Make effective decisions, that
• Achieve my short and long-term goals

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Strategies

• Individual Reflection
• Group Discussion
• Revision (at home)

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Strategies

• Workshop Feedback
• Feedback Form
• Video