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Dublin, Ireland Storytelling Workshop Events | Eventbrite

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Lining up plans in Dublin? Whether you're a local, new in town, or just passing through, you'll be sure to find something on Eventbrite that piques your interest.

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Seven Keys to Good Storytelling | Josh Campbell | TEDxMemphis

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Just 18 months before Diane von Furstenberg was born, her mother was a prisoner at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, DVF vowed from a young age to be in control of her own destiny, to create her own freedom.

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Using design thinking to prioritise your life goals

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Writing Your Life Story: Get Started with this Exercise

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What part of your story do you want to be told after you are gone? What do you want your loved ones to remember about you? Is there anything that you wish someone had told you? Whatever your answers to these questions, you can be assured that someone will want to know.

You have a legacy to leave behind.

Most of us think of people with a legacy as screen stars who had exemplary television and/or film careers, musicians whose compositions touched the souls of billions of people, business executives who rose to the top of their prospective industries, and inventors and entrepreneurs who forever changed the face of our everyday lives. Yes, those people have created legacies on a national and, perhaps, global scale.

You don't have to be famous to record your life story. Legacies aren't necessarily meant to touch the masses. Most people create a legacy on a more modest scale-with the people they touch throughout their lives.

So many treasures lie within the ordinary experiences of your everyday life. The impact of your legacy can be deeply felt by those close to you: those to whom you imparted words of wisdom and those who learned first-hand by your daily examples. Your legacy can be known by a handful of people or by just one person.

Passing on your possessions is not the only way to be remembered. Passing on your memoir, your real-life story, can be the most treasured gift to your loved ones.

When everything is said and done, what will people remember about you? And how long will those memories stay alive?

Before you get started, understand that this guide is not meant to provide a cookie-cutter approach. Your legacy is truly different than anyone else's-and it deserves to be told in its own unique way.

This guide is meant to be a jumping-off point for you to loosen the reigns on your inner critic and free yourself to tell the stories that lie within.

Whether you use Lastly.comTM to permanently organize your life memories or simply use pen and paper, you will find value in the easy path to writing in the pages ahead.

Whether you start today or tomorrow, next month or next year, it's time to get yourself ready to record your life's legacy.

This is your forever gift to everyone you have touched.

Who Are You?

"You make your mark by being true to who you are and letting that be your staple."
-Kat Graham
music artist, actress, producer

Maybe you've never really sat down and thought about who you are. It's a big question, and one that's hard to answer in just a sentence or two. So perhaps it's not meant to be answered in brief. After all, how can you sum up a lifetime of experiences, success, failures, highs, lows, disappointments, and accomplishments in a mere paragraph?

Your Purpose

Throughout your life, you have probably asked yourself these questions more than once. And the answer to these questions may very well have changed, depending on how your life path has changed from time to time.

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Where have I come from?

Where am I headed?

What is my purpose?

The things that make up a person and what they leave behind are far more complex. Or are they? Truly, who you are consists of a wide array of events, thoughts, and experiences-too much to sum up on even a few typed pages.

Your Life Journey

Who you are includes many elements that differ greatly from one person to the next; your Life Review might cover:

Life Experiences

Life Events

Turning Points

Life Lessons

Family

Friendships

Romantic Relationships

Parenthood

Military Service

Grandparenthood

Personality

Spirituality

Successes

Failures

Hardships

Victories

Disappointments

Accomplishments

Thoughts

Values

Opinions

The journey you take throughout this progression of recording the meaningful events, thoughts, and lessons throughout your life will be a true journey of self-discovery. You may not even be the same person you are now when you reach the end of writing your autobiography. And that's OK.

Crafting your life story can enable you to appreciate where you have been and where you are today. Looking back on your life can be a healing process, leaving you feeling more fulfilled than ever.

Thoughtful Questions

You may ask yourself more questions along the way.

What makes me unique?

What inspires me?

What have I learned?

How have I changed?

What are my strengths?

What are my weaknesses?

Have I been a good friend, spouse, partner, family member?

What do others think of me?

Have I created anything?

Have I challenged myself?

What have my priorities been?

Who you are is ever evolving. And your identity from one phase of your life to the next is also in continuous transition.

We invite you to take this opportunity to leave a cherished gift behind.

Now it's time to get organized!

Getting Organized

"Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you."
-Shannon L. Alder
author

The first step in getting started is to get organized. Fortunately, there's no right or wrong way of preparing to write or record your life story. And there are many ways that you can do it.

Perhaps you love to write. If you're not a writer, it's not a big deal. You may communicate better verbally. Maybe you're more comfortable in front of a camera or with a voice recorder. Maybe you like to write with a pen or type on a keyboard. You can also have a close friend or family member transcribe your stories if needed. Where your comfort level lies can determine how you approach your story telling.

Get Your Supplies

Here are some supplies and other items you may want to gather before you get started:

Pens

Pencils

Paper

Notebook or binder

File separators

Computer

Digital Audio Recorder

Video Recorder

Several backup methods

No matter how you decide to keep a record of your stories, be sure to have several backup methods. If you are writing by hand, be sure to make copies as you go along and store them in several different places. If you are using the computer or digital audio or video recorder, be sure to use two or three different backup methods as you go (e.g., computer, laptop, flash drive, cloud, etc.) so that your work is never lost.

When it comes to telling the story of your life, you may not know where to start. The good news is that you don't have to start at the beginning or at any point thereafter. And you certainly don't have to tell your stories in chronological order. In fact, that's not how you would tell your stories if you were speaking to someone else. You would first tell whatever comes to mind. So we encourage you to start somewhere... anywhere. Tell what comes to mind, then go to the next story you want to tell after.

In addition to gathering your supplies, you may want to gather some items that may inspire you as you go. Mementos and other keepsakes may help spark your memory and help your stories to flow.

Find Some Mementos

Try gathering some personal items before you get started.

Photographs

Postcards

Event tickets

Transportation tickets

Notes and letters

Travel brochures (from places you've visited)

Gifts

Prizes / awards

School memorabilia

Keepsakes

Mementos

And much more!

Schedule Time

Plan to create your story consistently, and in at least 30-minute blocks of time. Anything shorter and you won't make much progress. It may take a few minutes to warm up each time you begin. Even experienced writers use a warm-up exercise or two to get started.

If you record your life journey in time blocks of 30 minutes or more, you will walk away each time feeling like you have accomplished something. And you'll be more apt to return to the process. Once you start, you should keep the momentum going. Plan to write at least every other day or every day for your predetermined length of time.

Read

Before you get started writing, you may want to look for inspiration by reading one or more autobiographies. Select someone you are genuinely interested in, and take the time to read their book. Get inspired, and then get writing yourself!

Listen

Listen to the life stories of others. While we all share common experiences throughout our lives, how we interpret those events and how they ultimately shape us, help in developing our stories. This amazing podcast from a few years ago provides plenty of listening opportunity to help you get ready to develop your own story.

Photographs

Another great source of inspiration is photographs. We all have them, but some may have been forgotten. Some may be tucked away in the attack or in a shoebox buried in the closet. Pull those photographs out and take a jog down memory lane. Photographs are one of the best ways possible to jog your memory and recall some of those epic stories over your lifetime that were photo worthy.

Telling Your Stories
"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
-Benjamin Franklin
We've all head the saying, 'One man's trash is another man's treasure.' In the case of recording your life story, this may be true. It can also be true that one person's treasure is yet another person's treasure as well. We're all a product of our past, and that's what has brought us to where we are today.

Start Small

Where do you start your storytelling? What will people want to know? It doesn't matter where you start. It just matters that you start. And the starting point can be anything you want: it could be your first childhood memory, the greatest thing to every happen to you or something that happened just last week.

You may want to assign a page in your notebook for every year of your life. Depending on your age, some years will need two or more pages.

You may want to start with stories surrounding you most cherished photos. Keep a writer notebook handy so you can easily jot down ideas and stories from your past.

Let Go of Perfection

Get your story out... in your words and in your voice.

Not everyone is a writer or is adept at story telling. You don't have to be a professional to tell your own life story. You've lived it, so no one knows it better than you. It's not going to be perfect as you write it, and it may not even be perfect when you're done.

Don't be self-critical. Don't worry about spelling or punctuation or grammar.

Remember to keep your end reader in mind: your children, your grandchildren, your friends, and your family members who will come into this world long after you are gone. None of them will be worried about perfection, so it's best to let go of it yourself.

Don't edit as you write. And don't toss anything out if you don't think it's perfect. Just concentrate on getting your stories out. You can always go back later and revise. But when you're creating your life story, it's best to just let the stories flow and stay in your creative mode.

You may want to start a story now and go back to it later. If that's your process, then allow yourself that pace.

Some stories may require cutting. Many professional writers find themselves writing several pages before they get to the true beginning of their story. Sometimes those beginning words need to come out before you get to the heart of the matter. So this is not the time to worry about cutting or editing. We'll get into that later. For right now, just write or talk. Get your story out first.

Be Detailed

What's obvious to you may not be so obvious or familiar to someone else. Maybe they've heard the story before, but from someone else's point of view. You may have a different perspective. Or you may tell the story differently now than you did 10 years ago.

It's OK to Be Selective

Your life story doesn't have to be a tell-all book. Perhaps you had a difficult childhood. Maybe you endured some painful incidents in your past. There may be some parts of your past that you don't want to record in any form. That's completely OK.

What you include-and how much you include-is completely up to you. You decide what you want to tell and what you want to hold private. If there's a memory you'd rather not revisit, then allow yourself the freedom to move onto something else.

Be Honest

There's no need to embellish here. Being honest and sticking with the truth is really the best policy. Those who come after you will want to know how to apply the real events and meaning in your life to what they may be going through in your life. You don't do yourself-or them-any favors by creating falsehoods or by making things seem better or worse than they were.

Your life experiences have created your character in all of its glory. So be comfortable with you and simply be yourself. Don't try to dress up the language.

Stories Come in All Shapes and Sizes

Everything doesn't have to be a complete story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Maybe you just want to communicate a thought about a particular moment in time. Or perhaps you have just a fleeting memory to share. Be open to the fact that some stories may take pages to tell, yet other stories just a few sentences.

Check Facts

Yes, our memories sometimes fail even the best of us-especially after many years have passed. Take the time to check your facts after you write. You may want to check with other family members to fill in the blanks or consult a local historian.
"No legacy is so rich as honesty."
-William Shakespeare
How to Write

Many people go through the same events in their lives, but each person experiences it differently. For example, lots of people get married, have children, get divorced, and lose jobs. But no two people experience these events in the same fashion, nor do they occur in the same way. These are the life experience and points of view that are unique to you.

Your life story is more than an accounting of events. It's also a memoir about your thoughts and your feelings surrounding the events, as well as how those specific events changed you.

Get Comfortable

First find a comfortable place to get started... a chair, a sunny spot, inside, outside. Make sure you have all of your supplies at your side so you can focus on getting your life story on paper, audio or video.

Then get comfortable with yourself. Instead of being self-conscious about your writing skills, speaking voice or being recorded on video (whichever you should choose), simply pretend that you are writing a letter (or speaking) to a friend. Make it conversational as if you were both sitting on the couch and chatting over tea or a beer or a glass of wine.

Tell How You Were Changed

Authors begin their stories on the day that is different for the main character... the day that set a whole set of unforeseen events into place. In that spirit, we invite you to tell your stories on the days that you became changed... the days that flipped your previous way of thinking. Sure some regular everyday stories are great to throw in, too. They provide balance for the big, life-changing events.

Set the Scene

Setting the scene is another opportunity to keep your reader in mind. The person reading your life story likely won't have lived in your time. Your reader may even be a family member whom you will never meet-someone who never knew you outside of a photograph.

Use names, dates, and places whenever possible. These details will be important to others down the line. If needed, check with others to confirm these details.

It's important to share the context around your story and not just repeat a series of events. Share a little about the events going on in the world at the time, in your family or in your familiar circle. Use the five senses to describe the scene: sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes.

Will the reader understand you and the characters in your stories by their description? Will they be able to relate to the emotion and circumstances? Detailed description will put the reader right in your shoes in that very place and time.

Draw Ties between the Past and the Present

History created the ties that bind. And the stories that are passed down from one generation to the next create continuity in the world around us. These are the ties that bind, and how future generations will know where their family has come from. And even though the life experiences you share won't be their individual experiences, they will still weave themselves into the fabric of their lives. Everyone wants to know where they came from and what their ancestors endured in order to allow these stories to add to their own personal strength and story.

How has the world changed during your lifetime? What has become important? And what has fallen by the wayside? How has technology changed? Values? Communication?

What to Write About

The stories you can write about our limitless. From time periods in your life to historical events to family circumstances, there are probably hundreds of events that changed the course of your life. Segmenting your life story into themes an also be a great way to simplify what may seem complex.

Below is a simple list of life topics to get your started. Some events may have occurred in a different part of your life, or may have occurred more than once. Your life experiences and events are unique only to you.

Use Humor and Wisdom

You don't always have to be serious. In fact, just be yourself. Let your personality shine through your writing. Can others learn from your mistakes and missteps?

Life Story Writing Ideas

Childhood

Earliest memories

Things you were told

Stories passed down by other family members

Adolescence

Fitting in

Rights of passage

Highs and lows

Finding your place

Early Adulthood / Middle Adulthood

Older Adulthood

Grandparenthood

Retirement

Important dates in history

Religion / Spirituality

Relatives

Family Gatherings

Holidays / Traditions

Politics

Pets

Famous encounters

Sports

Interests / Hobbies

Recognitions / Awards

Failures

Successes

Turning points

Life lessons

Something you never did again

Life influences or influencers

Work / Career

Volunteering

Military

Moving

Friends / Family

Community

Funny moments

Embarrassing moments

And much, much more!

The topics and possibilities are endless. Depending on the particular event in your life, the story may be brief or extended. Either way, take the time to tell it honestly and from the heart. This approach will mean the most to your readers and tell them more about who you are.

When you tell your stories, you'll create value for those who come after you. You'll provide them with the fabric of their family history, which then sets the tone for their own personal history.
"I think the whole world is dying to hear someone say, 'I love you.' I think that if I can leave the legacy of love and passion in the world, then I think I've done my job..."
-Lionel Richiesinger, songwriter
And when you're done writing or recording your stories, it will be time for the last step-pulling it all together!

Pulling It All Together

Now You Can Revise

So you've written all of your stories. You've allowed yourself the freedom to write freely without that internal editor looking over your shoulder. And you can't think of anything else to say.

Congratulations! You're ready for the final step in the process.
Gather Other Points of View
Now it's time to look at your writing with a more critical eye. What is your goal in writing this life book? Are you meeting that goal? However, be sure not to be too critical. This is not the time to scratch out all of those great memories and lessons that you've imparted.

Here are some thoughts to keep in mind as you are revising:

If you are recording audio or video, can any parts be edited out?

If you have written or typed your story, perform a quick spelling check. Read through and check for any grammar issues or awkward punctuation.

Is there a better way to present any of your stories?

Have you taken the time to provide details like names, dates, places, time periods, current events, family events, and so forth?

Have you taken the time to convey your thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, happiness, disappointments, and so forth?

Have you created a true story, or has your writing morphed into a fictional story?

Mark your stories with a sticky note if any are missing information. Perhaps it's a date, name, place, dialogue or other detail. Write the name of a person who can help clarify the details of that story on each sticky note. Then make a point to get in touch with that person-either by phone or face to face. Most people will be glad to fill in the blanks for you. You may even want them to contribute their point of view to some of the stories you've told.

Rearrange Your Stories

Now that each story is as complete as you can get it, you can start rearranging your stories.

If you've been recording your stories on audio or video, you'll need editing software to piece together your stories in order. If you've been typing your stories on the computer, then some simple cutting and pasting will get everything in order.

If you've been writing your stories by hand, then create a separate pile for each decade of your life. Sort your stories by decade. Then take each pile and sort those stories in order of occurrence. In no time, you'll have your stories in the perfect order.

If you plan on uploading your handwritten stories online, then you'll want to type them and save them in a designated computer file.

It's Time to Publish!

Now you're ready for the last step!

You can add music, images, and text to your video or audio life story. Digital audio files can run along with family photos for an entertaining story line. And if your stories are all written, you can now choose to have it printed, bound, and published for future generations to enjoy.

Of course, you can always upload your audio, video or written stories directly to Lastly.comTM. Your stories will generate a unique timeline just for you-complete with any photos, audio or video files. We'll even help you create a family tree as a part of your permanent family records.

Perhaps There's More...

Now that you've compiled all of your stories and uploaded them to Lastly.comTM or with another software tool, you're done, right? Maybe not.

You're still alive. That means you still have life to live, stories to tell, and wisdom to impart. Continue writing even past the completion point. Schedule a time to sit down once a week or once a month and add anything important or noteworthy to your tales.

You've Left an Incredible Gift!

We hope that since you've been through the complete process of writing your life story that you are somehow changed. We hope you've discovered a full life... a life well lived... a life full of love and promise and peace and good. We hope that you've been able to come to terms with anything negative in your past and see how that event(s) worked to shape you into the person you are today.

The relatives who remain after you are gone will receive a lasting gift from you. Your stories will live on-not just for a few years after you are gone, but for generations to come. Your descendants, especially those whom you will never meet, will take great treasure in knowing where they come from. They will know the trials and tribulations of the family members who came before them. And they will understand who you are and be able to take your wisdom and apply it to their own lives.

Thank you for instilling peace in those around you by taking the time to record your own personal history. You've left an incredible gift!

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How to Write Your Life Story: 5 Easy Steps to Leave a Legacy

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What part of your story do you want to be told after you are gone? What do you want your loved ones to remember about you? Is there anything that you wish someone had told you? Whatever your answers to these questions, you can be assured that someone will want to know.

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Andrew Peek: How your personal narrative limits your future

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We all love to tell personal stories of adversity and triumph, but how do they prepare us to navigate an unpredictable future? Entrepreneur Andrew Peek believes that our life stories limit us. "Are we wrapped in the warmth of the story we've been writing for decades?

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Bill Burnett: 5 steps to designing the life you want

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Designers spend their days dreaming up better products and better worlds, and you can use their thinking to re-envision your own life, says design professor Bill Burnett. He shares five tips to try, whether you're at the start of your career or contemplating your next act.

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A moment of kindness can make someone’s day. Try out these ideas during random acts of kindness week or any time.

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International Arts + Mind Lab: The Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics

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In a village on the east coast of China, a farming couple and their "rural-style shuffle dance" has gone viral on TikTok. Their dancing is joyful and upbeat, sometimes taking place in front of fields of corn or grazing cows. And it has been therapeutic.

The husband, Fan Deduo, had fallen into a depression following a severe car accident. His wife, Peng Xiaoying, suggested that he learn to dance to help him feel better.

"When the music starts, my mind goes empty, and I feel totally different," said Dedua in a video for South China Morning Post.

The dancing soon became part of their daily routine, bringing joy to both the couple and the millions of people who have watched their videos worldwide during quarantine. "I hope everybody can dance along and be healthy like us," said Xiaoying.

Their videos are a testament to the power of dancing to heal and improve mental health regardless of style or setting. They're also a reminder that shaking it off can feel really good-even in these times of extraordinary stress and uncertainty.

Feeling Good on the Dance Floor

Dancing-and its requisite movement and aerobic activity-is obviously good for your physical health, but it's good for your mental health, too. The science shows that dance helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression.

In one survey of non-professional dancers, mood improvement was their main motivation for dancing, followed by socializing and escapism. A meta-analysis of 23 studies involving over 1,000 subjects suggests that dance movement therapy and the therapeutic use of dance are particularly effective for increasing quality of life and decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Another recent meta-analysis of 41 studies and over 2,300 participants confirmed those findings and also found that dance improves mood and emotional affect. For example, adults who dance non-professionally report having more positive emotions and less negative ones on days they dance than ones they don't. And there is growing evidence that dancing improves people's self-image and self-expression, whether they are young or old.

Dancing also relieves stress. A series of randomized controlled studies found that ten sessions of dance and movement training improved participants' stress management and reduced their feelings of distress. The stress-busting power of dance may lie in its ability to reduce levels of cortisol. This stress hormone helps us respond to threatening situations but can become problematic when chronically elevated.

The Democracy of Dance

My parents are 75 and 84. My son & I do frequent drive-by visits to make sure they have what they need. Today, I guess they needed to party. pic.twitter.com/1jmaQCtGvy

- Alisa Reneé (@AuthorAlisa) April 15, 2020

One of the more appealing aspects of dance is that its mood-lifting properties apply to many different demographics, including more vulnerable populations that are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

For patients with psychiatric disorders like anxiety or depression, dancing helps reduce their clinical symptoms like feelings of distress, anxiety, or the blues. Dance therapy reduces depression and anxiety symptoms for patients both on or off antidepressant medication, possibly due to its ability to modulate levels of serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters important for mood regulation. Dancing also improves sleep and decreases insomnia, which in turn helps improve one's mood.

And for the elderly, senior dancers had superior sensory, movement, and cognitive capabilities compared with non-dancers, suggesting that regular dancing could slow the declines that come with aging.

Moving the Body Moves the Mind

Dancing is a non-verbal artform, which helps us uniquely express our emotions through our bodies. By forming this link between the body and mind, dancing may help us become more embodied-increasing awareness of our body's sensations and how specific emotions relate to those sensations. This practice of noticing and connecting physical sensations to your emotions is linked to mindfulness and can help combat repetitive negative self-talk, a hallmark of depression.

Creating these mind-body connections through dance has been shown to help people deal with the emotional burdens of depression by drawing them out of cycles of brooding or emotional numbness.

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun

The power of dance also lies in its synergistic combination of aerobic exercise and music, both of which are known to activate different brain circuits involved in emotion, reward and memory.

The aerobic activity of dance increases blood flow to the brain and releases endorphins, which are natural opioid-like hormones that can reduce pain. Aerobic exercise also stimulates the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus. This brain area shrinks during depression, leading affected individuals toward an unhealthy pattern of overgeneralizing negative experiences. But the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, spurred by aerobic exercise like dance, may help the brain course-correct and form more balanced memories.

Music is also a big driver of the enjoyment people find in dance-and its health benefits, too. Music activates a diverse network of brain structures involved in mood, cognition, and sensory perception and increases the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter essential to the feeling of pleasure.

It's no surprise that music by itself can improve mood. But by pairing music with movement, dance becomes greater than the sum of its parts and provides more benefits than music or exercise alone. One study found that patients with depression who participated in a group dance circle improved significantly more in their depression symptoms than patients who either just listened to dance music or exercised. The dancers also reported feeling more energetic and strong.

By combining music and exercise, dance is double the pleasure and double the fun. For a mental boost to your day, dancing is a great place to start.

How to Get Started with Dancing at Home

Dancing feels good and is good for you regardless of your skill level and whether you do it by yourself or with loved ones. Below are suggestions for dance classes and dance parties for when you get the urge to move it.

Try your hand at modern dance or channel your inner Fosse with online classes:

Show off your freestyle moves with a virtual dance party:

Host your own family dance-off:

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This is article is a part of IAM Lab's regularly updated COVID-19 NeuroArts Field Guide. Be sure to check the Guide for the latest, evidence-based tips on how the arts can support our wellbeing during the pandemic. We would also like to hear from you: Are you, your loved ones or colleagues dealing with specific issues and want to learn more about art-based solutions? Are you already using the arts to help you cope? Please share your thoughts, ideas and concerns with us at covid19arts@artsandmindlab.org. Be well and stay safe. Lead Image: Xinhua / Zheng Mengyu Written and reported by IAM Lab Communications Specialist Richard Sima. Richard received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins and is a science writer living in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Just Dance: A Prescription for Mental Health

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Thanks to COVID-19, some of our favorite sources of joy and stress relief are off-limits. Still, there is an easy and familiar mood-boosting prescription available to almost everyone-dancing.

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5 steps to designing the life you want  | Bill Burnett | TEDxStanford

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Spending just one day a week on a reset can turn your week into a well-oiled machine. Save yourself some willpower by following these five steps on a Sunday.

1. GO SCREENLESS

Just for Sunday, turn off the phone. Unplug the TV to short-circuit the reflex of turning it on whenever you sit down. Take some time away from the video game system. When is the last time you spent an entire day without technology? By going screenless, it's going to feel like your day doubles in length. And that's going to give us time to go through the rest of the reset.

2. EXECUTE A MIND-BODY-LIFE REVIEW

If you haven't been CNQR'ing for a while, you might not have much to review at this point. As a quick refresher, we practice mind-body-life balance here. These pillars require constant tending and management if you want them to grow!

Take a blank sheet of paper, and create a heading for each pillar. Now, start thinking back over the past week. What activities do you complete that fit into each of those pillars? Getting to work, following a budget, and trying new things contributes to your life. Meditation, reading, and being grateful improve the health of your mind. Taking the stairs, biking to work, hitting the gym, or stretching at your desk all help build a body machine. Your opportunities to level up are endless!

Go ahead and give yourself a 1-10 score for each pillar this week, and examine the results. Are you happy with your progress? Do you feel accomplished? You may even notice that you are severely lacking in one pillar, and over-investing in another. Start brainstorming ways to calibrate, which brings us to our next step.

3. BUILD THE GAME PLAN

You've got exactly one week until your next mind-body-life review. So, maybe we should set some simple goals that can get your numbers onto the higher end of the scale. Your goals have to come from a powerful mission, or else you won't stick to them.

Start placing mind-body-life activities in each day. If you are a rookie here, make it stupid simple. One chapter of a book, 25 pushups in the morning, a text to a friend. If you are kicking butt in your CNQR journey, you may want to start a new passion project, break a fitness record, or meditate for a full 30 minutes for some incredible results. We almost don't care what you do at this point. We just want you to do something. Taking action works, period.

4. GET YOUR FUEL SCHEDULED

If you are serious about performing at a high level, you need to fuel yourself correctly. The foods you eat have an incredible effect on your daily energy, mood, and intelligence. Don't sabotage yourself!

If you want to quit the endless binges and last-minute junk food choices, you have to plan ahead. There's no other way. Sunday is a fantastic day to go grocery shopping, just one week at a time. Each meal should be scheduled. Your fridge should be void of bad choices. Save yourself a little willpower. Pick things from the CNQR fuel grid, if you want to do this perfectly.

A word of warning when seeking perfection: It is much better to be able to stick to a plan, instead of ditching your quinoa dinner and hitting up Taco Bell because you are miserable. So, find foods like homemade Chipotle or chili, stuff you actually look forward to eating that bring you closer to the proper fuel.

For example, an omelet for breakfast, a turkey wrap for lunch, and steak or fish for dinner is something we can all get behind (and much less expensive than you think). Once you've built the habit of being aware of your food choices, you can start swapping in better and better fuel to reach your body goals. After returning from the grocery store, meal prep. Cook meats before hand and separate meals into Tupperware. Do whatever it takes to make this effortless.

5. ORGANIZE YOUR SPACE

If you are going to come out of the gate swinging on a Monday, you've got to get your ducks in a row. Get all of your laundry done today, and pick out your outfits for the week. Clean the kitchen, and do all of the dishes. Throw all of the garbage out of your car that's accumulated over the week. You may even want to spend some time purging your digital space too!

If you still have some free time this Sunday, congratulations. Stay off the technology, and read a book or practice a hobby. This is your one day a week where you deserve to be human again. Be present in this moment, and experience the day to the fullest. As the sun sets, you are going to feel calm, prepared, and ready to dominate the rest of the week. Because of the time you spent today, you just have to wake up and execute your master plan. We'll see you on the other side!
Leave a comment: What are other exercises you think we could all benefit from on a reset day?

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How to Execute A Sunday Reset Day and Dominate Your Week

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Spending just one day a week on a reset can turn your week into a well-oiled machine. Save yourself some willpower by following these five steps on a Sunday. Just for Sunday, turn off the phone. Unplug the TV to short-circuit the reflex of turning it on whenever you sit down.

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In the novel, Sophie’s World, Albert Knox is a philosopher who teaches Sophie Amundsen that identity in life is very essential as it gives the real meaning of life. Albert Knox argues that questioning identity and existence is critical for one to achieve the full meaning of life.

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1. Categories:

2. Contemporary Fiction

3. Children's General Story Books

Description

The international bestseller about life, the universe and everything.

When 14-year-old Sophie encounters a mysterious mentor who introduces her to philosophy, mysteries deepen in her own life. Why does she keep getting postcards addressed to another girl? Who is the other girl? And who, for that matter, is Sophie herself? To solve the riddle, she uses her new knowledge of philosophy, but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined.

An addictive blend of mystery, philosophy and fantasy, Sophie's World is an international phenomenon which has been translated into 60 languages and sold more than 40 million copies.
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Product details

For ages 14+

Format Paperback | 464 pages

Dimensions 130 x 196 x 30mm | 325g

Publication date 08 Oct 2015

Publisher Orion Publishing Co

Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom

Language English

Edition Statement 20th anniversary edition

ISBN13 9781474602280

Bestsellers rank 472

Review Text

A simply wonderful, irresistible book DAILY TELEGRAPH
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Review quote

A simply wonderful, irresistible book * DAILY TELEGRAPH * A unique popular classic * THE TIMES *
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About Jostein Gaarder

JOSTEIN GAARDER was born in Oslo in 1952.
SOPHIE'S WORLD, the first of his books to be published in English, has been translated into 60 languages and has sold over 40 million copies.
He is the author of many other bestselling, beloved novels and children's books.
He lives in Oslo with his family.
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Rating details

228,956 ratings

Book ratings by Goodreads

Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers with over 50 million reviews. We're featuring millions of their reader ratings on our book pages to help you find your new favourite book. Close X

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Sophie's World : Jostein Gaarder : 9781474602280

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We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies. Categories: Contemporary Fiction Children's General Story Books The international bestseller about life, the universe and everything. When 14-year-old Sophie encounters a mysterious mentor who introduces her to philosophy, mysteries deepen in her own life.

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Today's practice is Breath Awareness.

The breath is a terrific tool we have at our disposal to create more calm in ourselves. Stress makes our breathing faster and shallower which leads to tension in our bodies and also our minds. Allowing yourself space to breathe is wonderful gift that will reward you in untold ways. Attending to the breath has an extraordinary way of slowing down the breath and soothing the autonomic nervous system. It's as though the breath says "Oh, Thank you for noticing me, Now I can relax!". Sitting with your breath and following it in and out of your body can be difficult because the mind wants you to follow it instead. By noticing when your attention has gone somewhere else, and coming back to the breath again, you are 'flexing your awareness muscle' and strengthening your ability to focus. Informally, you can avail of opportunities during the day to pause with your breath.

Notice any insights form practicing breath awareness that arise for you.

You are invited to join us for another Mental Health Ireland's Mindful Moment Guided Practice Live Stream on Facebook at 1.30 pm .

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Today's practice is Breath Awareness. The breath is a terrific tool we have at our disposal to create more calm in ourselves. Stress makes our breathing faster and shallower which leads to tension in our bodies and also our minds. Allowing yourself space to breathe is wonderful gift that will reward you in untold ways.

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If you're like most people, time management can be a challenge.

Odds are you're bombarded with work tasks, personal projects, lengthy to-do lists and constant emails flooding your inbox.

So, how do you get it all done in the most efficient manner?

One possible solution is to use a popular time blocking system called the Pomodoro Technique.

In this article, I'll talk about how the 25-minute Pomodoro technique can help you laser-focus on important tasks, while avoiding the distractions that are common with the modern work experience.

Let's get to it...

(Side note: Want to level up your productivity and time management skills? Then watch this free video about the 9 productivity habits you can build at work.)

Why is Effective Time Management Important?

A few years back, I discovered a simple truth called Parkinson's Law. It states:

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. (Click to ReTweet!)

Put succinctly, this rule means that the more time you "give" a project, the longer you'll take to complete it. Have a deadline a week from now? Odds are you'll take the full week to do it.

The best way to combat Parkinson's Law is to manufacture strict deadlines with yourself and to literally have a ticking clock in the background as you work on each task. Not only will this help you become more productive, you'll also "get more time" that can be spent doing the fun things in life.

Think of it this way:

There are only 675,450 hours in the average human life. Every hour that's wasted is an hour you won't get back. If you're working hard every day but not getting measurable results, then you're wasting your life-one hour at a time.

The solution is simple:

Stop randomly working on projects. Instead, create a plan for the important tasks and work on each with a completely focused mindset. And the best tool for doing this is through the Pomodoro Technique.

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

Simply put: The Pomodoro Technique is a time management technique where you break down all of your tasks into 25 minute focused blocks of time.

Between each time block, there is a five minute break. And after completing four Pomodoros you take a longer break-usually 15 to 30 minutes.

In the late 1980's, Francesco Cirillo first came up with the Pomodoro System ( you can check out his site for more information.) Cirillo came up with the name (which is an Italian word for "tomato") because he utilized a tomato-shaped egg timer when managing his time.

In theory, this strategy works because you completely focus on one task (like writing) without shifting focus or multitasking. When the clock is ticking, you ignore the urge to check email, hop on Facebook, answer text messages or do any other distracting activity. You're in the zone and completely focused.

I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about the Pomodoro Technique. I used to work on tasks whenever I felt like it. Sometimes that meant two hours of uninterrupted work and other times it was for a few minutes while watching television.

However, after using this technique for over three years, I can honestly say it's been a "game-changer" when it comes to improving my personal productivity. It doesn't matter what task I'm doing-writing, answering email, social media or marketing-the ticking clock in the background keeps me focused on the task at hand.

If you decide to implement this system you'll be able to:

That just a taste of what your life could be like by using the Pomodoro technique. So let's talk about to develop this time-blocking habit.

5 Steps for Using the Pomodoro Technique

Here is an overview of the 5-step process for implementing the Pomodoro technique:

1. Choose your task and total time to work on it.

2. Set a timer to 25 minutes (either with an egg timer or with an app).

3. Work on the task for 25 minutes. Avoid all distractions and urges to multi-task.

4. Take a 5-minute break for energy renewal, start another Pomodoro.

5. Take a 20-30 minute break after completing four Pomodoros.

Simple, but very effective. When you use this technique you'll see a dramatic improvement in your productivity and ability to get things done.

Optional: My 4 Rules for the Pomodoro Technique

Like any system, there are rules to follow and rules to ignore. That's why I recommend an optional variation on the above system. Here are four guidelines that can maximize your results:

When that buzzer rings, stop work, get up and take a break. You need this time for your mind to relax and to get energized for that next task. Use it to: Do simple exercises, grab a snack, go to the restroom, stretch or make a cup of tea. It really doesn't matter what you do, just as long as you're taking a break.

Rule #2: Time Length = Challenge of Task

What I'm about to suggest breaks the primary rule of the Pomodoro Technique... so use it at your own discretion:

My suggestion is to work in multiples of the 25-minute block.

The actual amount of time I spent fully-focused on a task depends on its level of difficulty.

Easy tasks (i.e.; a low level of concentration) can be completed in 50-minute (2 Pomodoros) or 1 hour and 15-minute (3 Pomdoros) blocks of time.

Harder tasks (i.e.; a high level of concentration) can be completed using the standard 25-minute block of time.

Really, the number of Pomodoros you do should relate to how long you can focus on a task without feeling distracted.
EXAMPLE:
Writing isn't an easy task for me because it requires a high level of concentration. So whenever I'm writing, I'll do it in 25- or 50-minute blocks of time (1 to 2 Pomodoros).

On other hand, answering email and corresponding over social media are simple easy to complete. So, I'll often set my clock for 3 Pomodoros (1 hour and 15 minutes) and get a whole lot of correspondence completed in a short burst of time.

Again, I'm about to recommend a strategy that doesn't align with the rules of the Pomodoro Technique. One thing that Francesco Cirillo is adamant about is that half-completed Pomodoros don't count. Let's say you get interrupted 10 minutes into a task, then that means you get no "credit" for the task and have to start over.
I completely disagree with this statement.
In my opinion, 10 minutes of work is still work. If you get interrupted, all you have to do is record your time and then add it to the next Pomodoro. Once you've completed that Pomodoro, you'll get credit for doing two Pomodoros.

Here's how this works:

I'll admit this process would probably piss off many "hard-line Pomodoro fanatics," but I feel it's important to develop the mindset that you can do quality work in small blocks of time (like 5- to 10-minutes).

When you give yourself "credit" for making an effort-even in a minuscule amount of time-you'll be more likely to maximize those small blocks of time that you get throughout the day.

Tasks that take less than 25 minutes should be grouped together instead of being done separately.

For instance, I have a task that's labeled " social media communication," which includes talking to people through email, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Facebook. Each site might only take five minutes of my time, so I've developed a system where I run a few back-to-back Pomodoros and go through all of them at once.

Pomodoro Technique Apps and Tools

The great thing about the Pomodoro method is you don't need a fancy tool or guide to get started. Really, the only "requirement" is to use an app or a simple egg-timer. So let's go over the benefits of both.

Why an egg-timer?

There are two reasons why an egg timer works well for a Pomodoro. First, the physical act of winding a timer gives you that mental commitment to start working on the task. Second, the "tick-tick-tick" sound of the egg-timer creates a sense of urgency and makes you stay committed to the task.

Egg timers can be a bit "old school" for some, so an alternative solution is to use apps that are designed for your computer and/or mobile phone. There are lots of good ones out there-some even have that audible ticking sound that's great for Pomodoros. Here are a few of my favorite:

If you want to learn more, read our review of the latest and best pomodoro apps to help you increase your productivit y!

I recommend you test and experiment with a few different Pomodoro apps before settling on one. It took me a few months before I settled on the simple ticking clock app that I use on a daily basis.

Start Time Blocking Using the Pomodoro Method-Today!

Your life is ticking away-one hour at a time.

Would you rather:

(A) Spend your time waffling around from project to project?

OR...

(B) Spend your time completely focused on each task to maximize your results?

Hopefully you picked option B.

With the Pomodoro Technique, you can quickly "get in the zone" and do your best work in the most efficient manner. While you might think it's too regimented, this method is considered, by many entrepreneurs to be a secret to achieving work/life balance. When the clock is ticking you're working hard and when it stops, you get to do fun things and enjoy life.

Now, if you'd like to discover additional resources related to time management and productivity, then I recommend checking out the other articles we've published on this site:

Finally, if you want to level up your productivity and time management skills, then watch this free video about the 9 productivity habits you can build at work.

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The Pomodoro Technique: How to Master Your Time in 25-Minute Blocks

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If you're like most people, time management can be a challenge. Odds are you're bombarded with work tasks, personal projects, lengthy to-do lists and constant emails flooding your inbox. So, how do you get it all done in the most efficient manner?

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Tweek Calendar - Minimal To Do list and Weekly Task Planner App

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Tweek is a FREE personal and shared to do list app to organize your tasks and collaborate on them online with your team or family. It provides a weekly calendar view mode and a reminder app. Tweek is an online daily and weekly planner that boosts your productivity to the best level.

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Looking after yourself never looked so easy (or cheap).

Everyone's talking about self-care ideas right now, and rightly so. There's a reason they were a standout 2021 fitness trend - experts are adamant that self-care is one of the best ways to boost both your physical and mental health.

Let's face it - it's been a stressful few years. Do know that it's only normal to feel stressed after several rounds of lockdowns, restrictions, and rule-changing.

Long Covid, chronic stress, and post-pandemic stress disorder are all very real, and all three could be making you feel apprehensive about Covid-rearing its head again after a period of what felt like things returning to normality.

So, what's the definition of self-care?

According to the renowned healer, emotional trauma expert, and founder of Divine Empowerment Antonia Harman, self-care covers any time you take to nourish yourself. "It can be a huge range of things, from bubble baths, to meditation, to doing your favourite activities - you know, truly taking time for yourself," she expands.

There's a whole spectrum of self-care needs: from the most basic, like making sure you're eating healthy food, cleaning, and making your bed, to more advanced self-care, like practicing mindful movement, skipping the latest fitness trend for a lower impact workout that suits you, or studying so you can move up the corporate ladder, Antonia explains. "Self-care is anything that improves your quality of life," she goes on.

Not sure where to start? We've asked a healer and emotional trauma expert, a yoga teacher, and a Headspace exec for the most simple ways you can practice self-care - totally for free - from home. Never underestimate the importance of self-care - especially at current.

33 totally free self-care ideas you can do from home

1. Get outside into nature

Fresh air and even sunlight will do you the world of good, shares Antonia. "A walk in the park or woods is good for you. Nature will ground you and make you feel more at peace," she shares. Check out our favourite UK hiking trails, now.

2. Get your body moving

An obvious pick, but an important one. There are countless home workouts, Joe Wicks YouTube workouts (and other YouTube sweat sessions), and Instagram lives at current which will make exercising from home fun, rather than a chore. "Even ten minutes of exercise will get your endorphins pumping," the expert reckons.

3. Get your groove on

In other words, dance. Sounds mad, feels great, and there's a reason dance classes ranked in the top ten ClassPass workouts last year for the first time ever. Antonia recommends cranking up your favourite tune and dancing around your living room. You won't regret it.

4. Breathe in, and breathe out

Yep, remembering to breathe is actually super important, according to the healer. "Breathe in for seven seconds, hold for five, breathe out for seven, hold for five, and repeat," she advises. Once you have that mastered, she recommends extending the seconds. Not sure what we're on about? Our guide to breathwork training will help.

5. Take a cold shower

You've likely read about the benefits of cold water therapy, so this one's another obvious pick. "It's invigorating and will elevate your mood - a great way to start your day!", Antonia explains.

6. Have a bubble bath

There's nothing more relaxing than running a hot bath, adding your favourite bubble bath or bath oil, and lighting a candle, to go with. And... breathe.

7. Read a book

Another of the self care ideas that's simple yet seriously effective? Carving out some time to actually sit down and read one of those books you've had on the shelf for months. "It can count as really precious 'me' time," Antonia shares.

Our book ed's pick of the best books to read RN might held.

8. Practice positive self-talk

Didn't change out of your pyjamas all day? Made a mistake at work? Said the wrong thing to the wrong person?

We've all been there, says Chatty Dobson, yoga teacher, and owner of FLEX Chelsea. "But we've all come out the other side, too", she adds. "Cutting out your inner negative talk is one of the ultimate forms of self-care. Try giving it a go", she advises.

9. Try meditating

If you've tried meditation but aren't so sure it's for you, know this: meditation is brilliant for improving mental clarity, shares Chatty.

"Sure, if you've not done it before, it can be daunting, so an easy way to start is using this method. Set a timer for two minutes, sit comfortably, and close your eyes. Count your breath in for four, out for four, or simply just sit there, if you'd prefer. Your thoughts come and go, but that's part of it, it's fine, no one sits there with a totally clear head. When your two minutes are up - not before - see how it felt for you," she explains.

The mental fitness app Calm is a good place to start, if you've never meditated before.

10. Cook a nourishing meal

We mentioned above that self-care ideas encompass nutrition, too, and the simple act of cooking a delicious meal that will nourish your body and in turn, mind, from the inside out, is a great form of self-care. Sure, you cook every day, but do you really take the time to enjoy the process and think about what you are putting into your meal and body?

"Try and include as many different coloured foods as you can, to make it more fun," advises Chatty. Our round-up of vitamin D recipes may help.

11. Try a new dish

Or, if you want to get a little inventive, why not try introducing a new food once a week, asks Chatty? "If you're not a big cook, you could try to cook a whole meal from scratch once a week, or alternatively, pay attention to incorporating slightly different ingredients into your food here and there," she shares.

12. Get your energy flowing

Moving your body is one of those self-care ideas that's really effective at making you feel good about yourself. Think about it: you spend all day at a desk or lounging around. "The energy in your body becomes stagnant and pools in certain areas," explains Chatty.

Her advice? Get up and move - be it in the form of walking, dancing, yoga, star jumps, or anything else you fancy. "Get the energy flowing around your body and you'll feel invigorated and alive." We're in.

13. Get dressed up

You'll likely have tried this one before, but don't underestimate how good trying on a shirt you haven't worn for ages or applying your favourite lipstick can make you feel. "Making an effort with your appearance is simple but effective self-care. Why? Well, when you look good on the outside, you feel better on the inside," shares Chatty.

Just because you're not in an office, doesn't mean you shouldn't feel great from home.

14. Listen to an audiobook

Give your eyes a break and put your ears to work, instead. "Put on your comfiest clothes, sit on the sofa with a blanket and a cup of tea and listen to a good old audiobook," Chatty recommends. She shares that you likely won't find it easy just to sit and do nothing for thirty minutes, but that your mind and body will thank you for it later. "Remember: you don't need to be doing something every waking minute," she emphasises.

15. Practice daily gratitude

Another much raved about self-care idea, but studies have found practicing gratitude is actually a really important part of maintaining a positive mindset. So, how can you get into the habit of practicing gratitude?

"Have a notebook by your bed, and each morning write down three things you're grateful for," Chatty advises. "It can be anything, from the love of your family, to the fact the sun's shining. Humans are designed to look for the negative as cavemen had to constantly lookout for danger to survive, but it's not impossible to rewire your brain to focus on the positive," she concludes.

16. Smash some goals

Completing a to-do list is a pretty good feeling, right? So give yourself three small goals for every day, Chatty advises. "Ticking things off a list is hugely satisfying, so try practice this regularly. The tasks can be big or small - it really doesn't matter - but it's a great routine to get into." Hear, hear.

17. Reflect on your day

Being reflective generally is one of the easiest self-care ideas. Remember to congratulate yourself for what you've done well with your day. But taking two minutes every evening to reflect could solidify it as a more regular practice.

"Think, did I achieve my goals today? Even if I didn't, what was the highlight of my day? You should always be able to find one shining positive, despite everything else going on, so try spend a moment enjoying that," Chatty recommends.

18. Drink, drink, drink

... Water, that is. Making sure you're hydrated and drinking two litres of water a day is good for a whole plethora of things - your skin, gut, brain function, and energy levels being just a few, so get sipping.

19. Watch a movie

Snuggling up and watching one of your favourite classics, or even a new film, could be a nice way to carve out some time for your brain to relax. Put your phone out of reach and try to find calm. Scary movies not advised..

20. Turn your phone off

We're sure you sometimes leave your phone on the other side of the room, but do you ever actively turn it off to give your brain some respite from the 101 notifications popping up left, right, and centre?

Give it a try, recommends Jolawn Victor, Chief International Officer at Headspace. "Make sure you remove your smartphone from your calm space or switch it to silent. Trying to do too many things at once decreases your ability to switch between tasks and makes you less able to focus on one activity," she explains. Self care ideas never looked so simple.

21. Try a new hobby, like baking

Cooking doesn't have to be a rushed experience or something you do on auto-pilot, Jolawn explains. "Mindfully creating dishes with leftover ingredients can be the perfect way to invest in your own self-care without spending any extra money. This time in the kitchen can be used as a moment to wind down, calm your mind, while even learning new skills at the same time," she shares.

Cooking or baking are grounding, therapeutic activities as the sensory and engaging nature of the process help us to remain present in the moment, according to the Headspace exec. "The repetitive motions and actions, such as mixing, chopping, or weighing, can give you an anchor to concentrate on, allowing stressful thoughts to leave the mind."

Top tip: try to use your senses as much as possible. Think about how the ingredients look and feel through the process of turning them into a meal. What aromas fill the air, and what sounds can you hear as you break ingredients apart, sizzle them in a pan, or crunch them together? Notice what texture the food is, and the different forms it's taken from start to finish. Self-care, sorted.

22. Challenge yourself to learn a new skill

Think learning a new language, knitting, or macrame: the possibilities really are endless.

"Self-care can involve upskilling. With the extra time at home, why not try learning a new skill that gives you a daily task and is part of your routine? This allows you to take time out in your day for your own self-improvement, even if it's just for ten minutes," she says.

She recommends free resources, such as Kitchen Stories Recipes, which provides thousands of new recipes to try, Elevate, which offers brain training exercises, or Duolingo, which can help you learn a new language with over 98 courses.

23. Write a self-care journal

Self-care journals are all the rage at current, with search up a whopping 800% on Google Trends. While you can buy specific journals with self-care prompts and mantras, journaling, at its essence, is free. All you need is paper, a pen, and some time to scribble your innermost thoughts onto paper.

"Journaling is an easy, free way for you to spend time checking in with yourself," Jolawn explains.

We love the following notepads:

24. Enjoy your silence

Ever done it before? You know, sat in silence, and actually taken time to appreciate that silence and stillness all by yourself?

"Taking time to just simply be present in silence to savour your morning coffee before your family wakes up can be a form of self-care. This increased awareness of your feelings can help you gain clarity, make better decisions, and stay grounded, she shares.

Plus, a reminder: if you speak, treat, and judge yourself with gentleness and kindness, you are far more likely to take that into the outside world and how you interact with, and think about, others.

25. Improve your sleep quality

Again, obvious but really important: nailing your sleep hygiene is one of the more simple self care ideas that's vital for smashing your day ahead, according to Jolawn.

"Getting a good night's rest is one of the most valuable things we can do for our self-care; it costs nothing, but its benefits are priceless. Quality of rest and sleep is more important than quantity, and troubled sleep is rooted in a thinking and busy mind," she explains. Hear, hear.

Top tip from Chatty: don't try everything all at once - no one needs that sort of pressure. Over the course of a week, try one or two self-care practices a day until you find what works for you. If you really dislike something, remember, you never have to do it again.

Struggling to sleep? Our guide to insomnia treatment might help.

26. Enjoy a massage

Simple, but oh-so-effective at helping you to wind down and de-stress after a busy day at work. Either rope your housemate or partner in, if you're on a budget, or if you're feeling boujee, book an at-home session.

We love the treatments available from URBAN, and they offer a range of at-home beauty and wellness options, too.

27. Go for a picnic

Hear us out - sometimes, immersing yourself in nature and enjoying some fresh air can be the perfect soothing slice of self care, right? Take your book or some headphones and watch the world go by - or, pack a picnic and invite some friends. Just remember layers and, more importantly, gloves.

28. Listen to a podcast

Whether you're plugging into a podcast to fuel a passion, learn something new, or laugh alongside your favourite comedians, you can't go far wrong.

Not sure where to start? Head to Spotify and browse your options - there are whole podcast channels dedicated to helping your mental wellbeing and self-love. Our favourites are Fearne Cotton's Happy Place, Radio Headspace, and doctor Rangan Chatterjee Feel Better, Live More.

29. Try daily affirmations

Ever heard of daily affirmations? They're a simple form of self-care where each morning, you repeat positive thoughts for the day ahead. Anything goes - from "I am strong", to "Today, I will be productive", to "Gratitude is my main focus today."

They won't be for everyone - a bit like manifesting, they're a New Age approach to wellness that encourages you to motivate yourself into more positive thinking. But by taking two minutes each day, you could reframe negative thoughts and replace them with a more positive narrative, instead.

Experts maintain that consistently repeating daily keeping affirmations as part of your self-care routine can help you to access a new self-belief system. Neat.

30. Practice being present with mindfulness

Another of our self care ideas? Being mindful. It's all too easy to forget to enjoy the moment we're currently in such a fast-paced, forward-thinking world. Mindfulness simply means taking time to truly enjoy the present moment.

Try this: a bit like meditation, if you feel your mind wandering, pause for ten seconds, focus on your breathing technique, and root yourself in the current moment. (Read our guide to breathwork training, here).

31. Take time with your skincare

Taking plenty of time to enjoy your daily skincare routine is bound to boost your mood (and skin, too). While skincare won't be for everyone, the premise remains: taking the time to do or whatever makes you happy is really key for self care.

Try this: pop on a face mask, Gua Sha your face, and whack on a good playlist. Self-care at its finest.

32. Reduce screentime

You all know screentime isn't great for mental health - one 2018 study published in Prev Med Rep even found a direct link between improved mental health and reduced screen time.

Try this: If you can't commit to turning your phone off due to work or family commitments, then take advantage of the iPhone's screentime option. It allows you to set limits for how long you spend on certain apps each day and will tell you when your time is up. Bye, bye, mindless Insta scrolling.

33. Declutter and clean your space

Tidy room, tidy mind - or so the saying goes. Cleaning might not be your first thought when it comes to self-care, but hear us out here.

Experts have long maintained that decluttering your space and tidying your room, kitchen or cupboards will not only give you a sense of productivity but help you relax thanks to your new more in a clutter-free, clean space. Self care ideas? Sorted.

So what do you reckon - which self-care practices will you be taking into your day-to-day?

Remember here: self-care looks different on everyone, as no two people are the same. What one person sees as nourishing, another might find boring. "What matters is what nourishes your soul," Antonia stresses. "So focus on doing what makes you feel calm, connected, and happy," she concludes.
Additional reporting by Georgia Rhodes

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Self care ideas: 33 totally free ways to practice self-care from home

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Looking after yourself never looked so easy (or cheap). Everyone's talking about self-care ideas right now, and rightly so. There's a reason they were a standout 2021 fitness trend - experts are adamant that self-care is one of the best ways to boost both your physical and mental health.

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The Honest Guys - Meditations - Relaxation

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Mindfulness Meditation - Guided 10 Minutes

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Many world champion athletes, business people, and spiritual teachers all cite self-reflection as an essential key to success. This is also true for 'everyday people' who are fulfilled and happy with their lives.

So why is self-reflection so important? I'm going to tell you why self-reflection matters to you and how you can do it to lead a more successful and fulfilling life.

What Is Self-Reflection?

Self-reflection is defined as "meditation or serious thought about one's character, actions, and motives." It's about taking a step back and reflecting on your life, behavior and beliefs.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of hearing triathlete Craig (Crowie) Alexander speak at a conference in Sydney, Australia. Craig is a five-time Ironman World Champion and all around inspiring human being. One of the things he emphasized was the amount of time he took for self-reflection and the impact that had on his confidence and performance.

After each race, he and his team would reflect to understand what went well and what could be improved for next time. They picked apart every tiny detail, from the shape of his helmet, to when he took a salt tablet, to his emotional state throughout the race.

In practice, he did the same. The time he took to stop and reflect on all the details of his performances shaved seconds off his racing time, which was often the difference between winning - or not.

Now you might be thinking, of course he did! That's his job. But, what if after every race he just kept moving? What if he never stopped to think about what he could do differently? Seems crazy, right?

Yet that's what many of us do with the very thing that's most important - our lives.

What Happens When You Don't Reflect

We keep moving. We push through. We don't stop to reflect. We stay in jobs that are (literally) killing us, relationships that zap our energy, circumstances that leave us stressed, unhappy, frustrated and tired.

We keep running on the treadmill of life thinking we don't have time to waste. So we keep moving in order to keep up. But too often, we just crash and burn. That's because the only way to keep up with the pace of life is to STOP. To hop off the treadmill. To reflect on what's working and what's not. To identify what to keep and what needs to change.

You may have heard the saying:

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again but expecting different results."

Yet that is what so many of us do - continue on through life doing the same things and wondering why we aren't getting a different outcome.

When a project or something doesn't go well at work, what do you do? You take a moment to step back and see what went wrong and what you could do differently next time. The same should be true with life, yet we don't often take time to reflect. Why not?

I've heard many reasons over the years. Maybe you feel you don't have time and there is just too much else on your plate. Or maybe you don't have the energy. You're tired and feel like it's just one more thing to do. Perhaps you don't realize the significant and how it can positively transform your life. Or maybe you just feel like it's too hard. Many of my clients feel they don't know where to start or what to consider.

This is often why people hire a coach or consultant. To provide time and space they aren't giving themselves. To ask the right questions and give space for the answers.

The good news is, you don't need to hire anyone to reap the enormous benefits of self-reflection. All it requires is awareness, commitment and dedicating time.

The Importance of Self-Reflection

Many people find doing self-reflection difficult or troublesome. They don't understand why they need it, and they don't see the benefits doing self-reflection. Why is self-reflection important for you? Here I will reveal the benefits of self-reflection:

Improve Self-Awareness

It's essential to understand yourself at a deeper level. Self-awareness and a little soul searching is critical to success in all areas of life.

Taking time for self-reflection about life leads to greater self-awareness which in turn leads to self-improvement. In addition, having a strong sense of self improves your confidence and level of self-esteem.

Provide Perspective

Self-reflection allows you to understand and see things from a different point of view. When you take a step back from a situation, you gain a new understanding. You can see the whole picture, not just the piece of the puzzle. You become more open minded.

Ever hear the saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees"? This is an expression that highlights someone who is so involved in the details of a situation that they can't see the whole picture.

This is the benefit of self-reflection. You can zoom out and see the whole forest.

Allow You to Respond, Not React

Ever say or do something in the moment that you wish you could take back? When you react, you're not thinking about the potential ramifications of your actions. However, when you spend time to reflect on a situation, you can respond more thoughtfully and change your behavior for next time.

Early in my career, a boss made a recommendation about this very thing. He advised me to wait 24 hours before addressing something I was upset about. This forced time of self-reflection allowed me to take stock of my feelings and emotions. I was then better able to approach the situation or issue with a level head and greater perspective.

Facilitate a Deeper Level of Learning

Many studies share the common conclusion that self-reflection facilitates a deeper level of learning and understanding. It's a critical part of the education process. I've found this to be true in my own work as a facilitator and trainer.

When people are given time to reflect, digest and integrate, they are better able to make abstract connections, as well as retain and recall information. In fact, whenever I'm facilitating a group training and I introduce a new concept, I provide time for self-reflection about life. Even 5 minutes to integrate and think about what you've learned can make a critical difference.

Think about this for yourself. If, after you read this article, you move right on to the next thing, how much do you think you will remember?

However, if you read this article and take five minutes afterward to think about your learnings, how much more will you retain?

Improve Confidence

When you reflect, you gain a better understanding of what's working and what's not. This in turn, allows you to make better decisions and change your actions.

Each time you improve, it helps build your confidence with increased knowledge and perspective.

Challenge Your Assumptions

What you believe to be true is not always the truth. One of the best ways to tackle a limiting belief is to step back and debate the validity of that belief.

Self-reflection allows you to challenge beliefs and assumptions that are getting in your way.

How to Self-Reflect (A Step-By-Step Guide)

Ok, so you understand the benefits and you're ready to do get started? Here's how:

The Process of Self-Reflection

This is a simple guide to the process of self-reflection:

STOP: Take a step back from life or a particular situation.

LOOK: Identify and get perspective on what you notice and see.

LISTEN: Listen to your inner guide, the innate wisdom that bubbles up when you give it time and space to emerge.

ACT: Identify the steps you need to take moving forward to adjust, change or improve.

What to Reflect On

There are two important components for self-reflection.

1. Reflect on YOU

This includes who you are and what you want for your life. This is the self-awareness piece we talked about earlier.

Many ancient philosophers from Aristotle to Socrates and Pythagoras touted the benefits of "knowing thyself".

Here are some questions to 'ponder' when you reflect on YOU:

What are my core values? What are the beliefs, guiding principles or ideas that are deeply important to me? What are my priorities?

What are my unique gifts, skills, strengths or talents?

What are the weaknesses or blind spots I need to watch out for?

Who do I want to be?

What energy do I want to bring to everything I do?

What is the impact or difference I want to make? How do I want to serve, contribute or add value?

What are my passions? What do I love? What gets me engaged, motivated and excited?

Are there any beliefs that I have that are limiting me?

What do I want for my life? (after all, if you don't know what you want, how do you expect to get there?)

When am I at my best?

2. Reflect on the Areas of Your Life That Are Important to You

This might include your relationships, home and family, career, health and well-being, finances, goals, spirituality and person growth, and fun and recreation.

A great tool that many coaches and those in the personal development space have used for years is called the "The Wheel of Life". While the original wheel of life dates back to Buddhism, the modern wheel of life was created by Paul Meyer, a pioneer in the life coaching and self-improvement industry.

The purpose of the wheel is to look at areas of your life which are important to you. In each area, you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10. This gives you an idea of where you are in - or out of balance - and what areas you need to pay more attention to. It gives you perspective on the whole of your life.

If you google 'wheel of life' you'll get hundreds of different options to choose from. But here I recommend you the following examples. I prefer to use ones that have YOU or a space for YOU in the middle. I've also included a blank template where you can fill in the areas of your life which are most important to you right now.

Questions to Ask Yourself in Self-Reflection

Here are some questions to ask yourself in the self-reflection process:

How do I feel overall about this area of my life? On a scale of 1-10, how would I rate my levels of satisfaction and success?

What's working? What's not working?

What do I want more of - or less of?

What are my accomplishments/wins/successes? (People often default to what's wrong or hasn't worked - it's just as important to focus on what's going right!)

What do I want? What are my hopes or goals?

What am I grateful for?

How would I improve this area of my life? What actions can I take?

When to Self-Reflect

The more you can make self-reflection a habit and part of your routine, the greater the impact will be. Below are some ideas to get you started. Identify which ones will work for you. Then grab your calendar or phone and schedule a reminder to make it happen!

New Years - There's a reason New Years resolutions became a tradition. It's a great time to reflect on the year that has passed and identify what you want (your intentions, goals, desires) in the year ahead.

Milestones - I have a friend that uses her birthday every year as a time for self-reflection. You can also choose an anniversary, the Spring equinox, a religious holiday or any date that has significance or importance to you.

Monthly or Weekly - Maybe you'd like to schedule time at the beginning of the month, or choose a day of the week, like Sunday to reflect on the week before.

Daily - A daily practice of self-reflection is probably one of the best ways to create a habit. I have many clients that like to get up early and reflect on the day before and the day ahead. Some prefer to journal in the evening before bed.

After an 'Event' - Just had a terrible work meeting? A bad interaction with your kids or spouse? Take a minute to step back and reflect on what happened. Doing this now will help you understand what happened and prevent future incidents similar to this one.

When You're Off Track - Whenever you feel like you're off track, unhappy, stressed or demotivated, it's time to take a step back, reflect and regroup.

Bonus Self-Reflection Tips

Here are some extra tips for you to do self-reflection:

Grab a Journal - If you don't have one, head to the store and find one you love. Writing has been proven to facilitate new levels of understanding and significantly reduce levels of stress. Moreover, when you see something, you are able to process it in a different way. And once it's tangible, you then have a greater ability to tackle it, or let it go.

Schedule Time - Schedule uninterrupted time where you have space, feel quiet and can focus., whether that be 5 minutes a day or half a day once a quarter. If you think it's just going to happen, it's not. You have to do something to make it happen.

Accountability - Join a group, get a coach, find a buddy, tell your spouse - find someone to do this with. I was talking with a client of mine last week and she said the most valuable part of hiring me was the fact that she had someone she had to report back to weekly. It forced her to do the work that she wouldn't have done otherwise on her own.

Be a fly on the wall - When you're reflecting on something, especially relationships, it's helpful to take the stance of a neutral observer. When you step back from a situation and view things as if you were a fly on the wall, it's incredibly insightful. Try this with something in your life you're having a hard time resolving. Take a step back and view the situation as if you were a fly on the wall, or as if you were watching the entire scene on a movie screen. Notice what you see, hear and feel about what you 'observe'. It will give you a perspective that you hadn't seen before!

Meditate - There are hundreds of studies that show the benefits of meditation. Something powerful happens when you don't 'think' about something. Things bubble up. You have incredible, innate wisdom inside of you and meditation allows it to break through. Again, it's just a matter of giving time and space to tap into it. Here is a simple guide to meditation: 5-Minute Guide to Meditation Anywhere at Anytime

Final Thoughts

If self-reflection isn't a regular part of your life right now, this is your wake-up call. It's time for you to take a step back. Time to hop off the treadmill of life. Time to reflect.

Whichever step you take next is perfect. There's no 'right' or 'wrong' way to do this. It's only what works for you.

If I've learned anything from working with thousands of clients over the years, different things work for different people. There's no one size fits all approach to self-reflection, just like there's no one size fits all approach to life.

So, how are you going to get started?

More About Self-Reflection

Featured photo credit: Unsplash via unsplash.com

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How Self-Reflection Gives You a Happier and More Successful Life

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Many world champion athletes, business people, and spiritual teachers all cite self-reflection as an essential key to success. This is also true for 'everyday people' who are fulfilled and happy with their lives. So why is self-reflection so important?

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It's time for volunteer abroad programs that really leave a lasting impact. We offer the gold standard in international volunteer placements, with safe, sustainable, hassle-free, and life-changing projects.

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It's time for volunteer abroad programs that really leave a lasting impact. We offer the gold standard in international volunteer placements, with safe, sustainable, hassle-free, and life-changing projects. We've paired more than 100,000 volunteers with international projects they're passionate about, so they can help us make a genuine difference in the world.

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How to Figure Out What You Really Want | Ashley Stahl | TEDxLeidenUniversity

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Dont Follow Your Passion, Follow Your Effort

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I hear it all the time from people. "I'm passionate about it." "I'm not going to quit, It's my passion". Or I hear it as advice to students and others "Follow your passion". What a bunch of BS. "Follow Your Passion" is easily the worst advice you could ever give or get.

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Few Protestant writers today can match the influence of Parker Palmer on American spirituality, contemplative practice, and Quaker values. Palmer, who is founder and senior partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal, a non-profit organization that provides support for people in the service professions, has published dozens of poems, essays, and seven books, including the bestselling A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey toward an Undivided Life.

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1. The Meaning of "Meaning"

One part of philosophy of life's meaning consists of the systematic attempt to identify what people have in mind when they think about the topic or what they mean by talk of "life's meaning." For many in the field, terms such as "importance" and "significance" are synonyms of "meaningfulness" and so are insufficiently revealing, but there are those who draw a distinction between meaningfulness and significance (Singer 1996, 112-18; Belliotti 2019, 145-50, 186). There is also debate about how the concept of a meaningless life relates to the ideas of a life that is absurd (Nagel 1970, 1986, 214-23; Feinberg 1980; Belliotti 2019), futile (Trisel 2002), and not worth living (Landau 2017, 12-15; Matheson 2017).

A useful way to begin to get clear about what thinking about life's meaning involves is to specify the bearer. Which life does the inquirer have in mind? A standard distinction to draw is between the meaning "in" life, where a human person is what can exhibit meaning, and the meaning "of" life in a narrow sense, where the human species as a whole is what can be meaningful or not. There has also been a bit of recent consideration of whether animals or human infants can have meaning in their lives, with most rejecting that possibility (e.g., Wong 2008, 131, 147; Fischer 2019, 1-24), but a handful of others beginning to make a case for it (Purves and Delon 2018; Thomas 2018). Also under-explored is the issue of whether groups, such as a people or an organization, can be bearers of meaning, and, if so, under what conditions.

Most analytic philosophers have been interested in meaning in life, that is, in the meaningfulness that a person's life could exhibit, with comparatively few these days addressing the meaning of life in the narrow sense. Even those who believe that God is or would be central to life's meaning have lately addressed how an individual's life might be meaningful in virtue of God more often than how the human race might be. Although some have argued that the meaningfulness of human life as such merits inquiry to no less a degree (if not more) than the meaning in a life (Seachris 2013; Tartaglia 2015; cf. Trisel 2016), a large majority of the field has instead been interested in whether their lives as individual persons (and the lives of those they care about) are meaningful and how they could become more so.

Focusing on meaning in life, it is quite common to maintain that it is conceptually something good for its own sake or, relatedly, something that provides a basic reason for action (on which see Visak 2017). There are a few who have recently suggested otherwise, maintaining that there can be neutral or even undesirable kinds of meaning in a person's life (e.g., Mawson 2016, 90, 193; Thomas 2018, 291, 294). However, these are outliers, with most analytic philosophers, and presumably laypeople, instead wanting to know when an individual's life exhibits a certain kind of final value (or non-instrumental reason for action).

Another claim about which there is substantial consensus is that meaningfulness is not all or nothing and instead comes in degrees, such that some periods of life are more meaningful than others and that some lives as a whole are more meaningful than others. Note that one can coherently hold the view that some people's lives are less meaningful (or even in a certain sense less "important") than others, or are even meaningless (unimportant), and still maintain that people have an equal standing from a moral point of view. Consider a consequentialist moral principle according to which each individual counts for one in virtue of having a capacity for a meaningful life, or a Kantian approach according to which all people have a dignity in virtue of their capacity for autonomous decision-making, where meaning is a function of the exercise of this capacity. For both moral outlooks, we could be required to help people with relatively meaningless lives.

Yet another relatively uncontroversial element of the concept of meaningfulness in respect of individual persons is that it is conceptually distinct from happiness or rightness (emphasized in Wolf 2010, 2016). First, to ask whether someone's life is meaningful is not one and the same as asking whether her life is pleasant or she is subjectively well off. A life in an experience machine or virtual reality device would surely be a happy one, but very few take it to be a prima facie candidate for meaningfulness (Nozick 1974: 42-45). Indeed, a number would say that one's life logically could become meaningful precisely by sacrificing one's well-being, e.g., by helping others at the expense of one's self-interest. Second, asking whether a person's existence over time is meaningful is not identical to considering whether she has been morally upright; there are intuitively ways to enhance meaning that have nothing to do with right action or moral virtue, such as making a scientific discovery or becoming an excellent dancer. Now, one might argue that a life would be meaningless if, or even because, it were unhappy or immoral, but that would be to posit a synthetic, substantive relationship between the concepts, far from indicating that speaking of "meaningfulness" is analytically a matter of connoting ideas regarding happiness or rightness. The question of what (if anything) makes a person's life meaningful is conceptually distinct from the questions of what makes a life happy or moral, although it could turn out that the best answer to the former question appeals to an answer to one of the latter questions.

Supposing, then, that talk of "meaning in life" connotes something good for its own sake that can come in degrees and that is not analytically equivalent to happiness or rightness, what else does it involve? What more can we say about this final value, by definition? Most contemporary analytic philosophers would say that the relevant value is absent from spending time in an experience machine (but see Goetz 2012 for a different view) or living akin to Sisyphus, the mythic figure doomed by the Greek gods to roll a stone up a hill for eternity (famously discussed by Albert Camus and Taylor 1970). In addition, many would say that the relevant value is typified by the classic triad of "the good, the true, and the beautiful" (or would be under certain conditions). These terms are not to be taken literally, but instead are rough catchwords for beneficent relationships (love, collegiality, morality), intellectual reflection (wisdom, education, discoveries), and creativity (particularly the arts, but also potentially things like humor or gardening).

Pressing further, is there something that the values of the good, the true, the beautiful, and any other logically possible sources of meaning involve? There is as yet no consensus in the field. One salient view is that the concept of meaning in life is a cluster or amalgam of overlapping ideas, such as fulfilling higher-order purposes, meriting substantial esteem or admiration, having a noteworthy impact, transcending one's animal nature, making sense, or exhibiting a compelling life-story (Markus 2003; Thomson 2003; Metz 2013, 24-35; Seachris 2013, 3-4; Mawson 2016). However, there are philosophers who maintain that something much more monistic is true of the concept, so that (nearly) all thought about meaningfulness in a person's life is essentially about a single property. Suggestions include being devoted to or in awe of qualitatively superior goods (Taylor 1989, 3-24), transcending one's limits (Levy 2005), or making a contribution (Martela 2016).

Recently there has been something of an "interpretive turn" in the field, one instance of which is the strong view that meaning-talk is logically about whether and how a life is intelligible within a wider frame of reference (Goldman 2018, 116-29; Seachris 2019; Thomas 2019; cf. Repp 2018). According to this approach, inquiring into life's meaning is nothing other than seeking out sense-making information, perhaps a narrative about life or an explanation of its source and destiny. This analysis has the advantage of promising to unify a wide array of uses of the term "meaning." However, it has the disadvantages of being unable to capture the intuitions that meaning in life is essentially good for its own sake (Landau 2017, 12-15), that it is not logically contradictory to maintain that an ineffable condition is what confers meaning on life (as per Cooper 2003, 126-42; Bennett-Hunter 2014; Waghorn 2014), and that often human actions themselves (as distinct from an interpretation of them), such as rescuing a child from a burning building, are what bear meaning.

Some thinkers have suggested that a complete analysis of the concept of life's meaning should include what has been called "anti-matter" (Metz 2002, 805-07, 2013, 63-65, 71-73) or "anti-meaning" (Campbell and Nyholm 2015; Egerstrom 2015), conditions that reduce the meaningfulness of a life. The thought is that meaning is well represented by a bipolar scale, where there is a dimension of not merely positive conditions, but also negative ones. Gratuitous cruelty or destructiveness are prima facie candidates for actions that not merely fail to add meaning, but also subtract from any meaning one's life might have had.

Despite the ongoing debates about how to analyze the concept of life's meaning (or articulate the definition of the phrase "meaning in life"), the field remains in a good position to make progress on the other key questions posed above, viz., of what would make a life meaningful and whether any lives are in fact meaningful. A certain amount of common ground is provided by the point that meaningfulness at least involves a gradient final value in a person's life that is conceptually distinct from happiness and rightness, with exemplars of it potentially being the good, the true, and the beautiful. The rest of this discussion addresses philosophical attempts to capture the nature of this value theoretically and to ascertain whether it exists in at least some of our lives.

2. Supernaturalism

Most analytic philosophers writing on meaning in life have been trying to develop and evaluate theories, i.e., fundamental and general principles, that are meant to capture all the particular ways that a life could obtain meaning. As in moral philosophy, there are recognizable "anti-theorists," i.e., those who maintain that there is too much pluralism among meaning conditions to be able to unify them in the form of a principle (e.g., Kekes 2000; Hosseini 2015). Arguably, though, the systematic search for unity is too nascent to be able to draw a firm conclusion about whether it is available.

The theories are standardly divided on a metaphysical basis, that is, in terms of which kinds of properties are held to constitute the meaning. Supernaturalist theories are views according to which a spiritual realm is central to meaning in life. Most Western philosophers have conceived of the spiritual in terms of God or a soul as commonly understood in the Abrahamic faiths (but see Mulgan 2015 for discussion of meaning in the context of a God uninterested in us). In contrast, naturalist theories are views that the physical world as known particularly well by the scientific method is central to life's meaning.

There is logical space for a non-naturalist theory, according to which central to meaning is an abstract property that is neither spiritual nor physical. However, only scant attention has been paid to this possibility in the recent Anglo-American-Australasian literature (Audi 2005).

It is important to note that supernaturalism, a claim that God (or a soul) would confer meaning on a life, is logically distinct from theism, the claim that God (or a soul) exists. Although most who hold supernaturalism also hold theism, one could accept the former without the latter (as Camus more or less did), committing one to the view that life is meaningless or at least lacks substantial meaning. Similarly, while most naturalists are atheists, it is not contradictory to maintain that God exists but has nothing to do with meaning in life or perhaps even detracts from it. Although these combinations of positions are logically possible, some of them might be substantively implausible. The field could benefit from discussion of the comparative attractiveness of various combinations of evaluative claims about what would make life meaningful and metaphysical claims about whether spiritual conditions exist.

Over the past 15 years or so, two different types of supernaturalism have become distinguished on a regular basis (Metz 2019). That is true not only in the literature on life's meaning, but also in that on the related pro-theism/anti-theism debate, about whether it would be desirable for God or a soul to exist (e.g., Kahane 2011; Kraay 2018; Lougheed 2020). On the one hand, there is extreme supernaturalism, according to which spiritual conditions are necessary for any meaning in life. If neither God nor a soul exists, then, by this view, everyone's life is meaningless. On the other hand, there is moderate supernaturalism, according to which spiritual conditions are necessary for a great or ultimate meaning in life, although not meaning in life as such. If neither God nor a soul exists, then, by this view, everyone's life could have some meaning, or even be meaningful, but no one's life could exhibit the most desirable meaning. For a moderate supernaturalist, God or a soul would substantially enhance meaningfulness or be a major contributory condition for it.

There are a variety of ways that great or ultimate meaning has been described, sometimes quantitatively as "infinite" (Mawson 2016), qualitatively as "deeper" (Swinburne 2016), relationally as "unlimited" (Nozick 1981, 618-19; cf. Waghorn 2014), temporally as "eternal" (Cottingham 2016), and perspectivally as "from the point of view of the universe" (Benatar 2017). There has been no reflection as yet on the crucial question of how these distinctions might bear on each another, for instance, on whether some are more basic than others or some are more valuable than others.

Cross-cutting the extreme/moderate distinction is one between God-centered theories and soul-centered ones. According to the former, some kind of connection with God (understood to be a spiritual person who is all-knowing, all-good, and all-powerful and who is the ground of the physical universe) constitutes meaning in life, even if one lacks a soul (construed as an immortal, spiritual substance that contains one's identity). In contrast, by the latter, having a soul and putting it into a certain state is what makes life meaningful, even if God does not exist. Many supernaturalists of course believe that God and a soul are jointly necessary for a (greatly) meaningful existence. However, the simpler view, that only one of them is necessary, is common, and sometimes arguments proffered for the complex view fail to support it any more than the simpler one.

2.1. God-centered Views

The most influential God-based account of meaning in life has been the extreme view that one's existence is significant if and only if one fulfills a purpose God has assigned. The familiar idea is that God has a plan for the universe and that one's life is meaningful just to the degree that one helps God realize this plan, perhaps in a particular way that God wants one to do so. If a person failed to do what God intends her to do with her life (or if God does not even exist), then, on the current view, her life would be meaningless.

Thinkers differ over what it is about God's purpose that might make it uniquely able to confer meaning on human lives, but the most influential argument has been that only God's purpose could be the source of invariant moral rules (Davis 1987, 296, 304-05; Moreland 1987, 124-29; Craig 1994/2013, 161-67) or of objective values more generally (Cottingham 2005, 37-57), where a lack of such would render our lives nonsensical. According to this argument, lower goods such as animal pleasure or desire satisfaction could exist without God, but higher ones pertaining to meaning in life, particularly moral virtue, could not. However, critics point to many non-moral sources of meaning in life (e.g., Kekes 2000; Wolf 2010), with one arguing that a universal moral code is not necessary for meaning in life, even if, say, beneficent actions are (Ellin 1995, 327). In addition, there are a variety of naturalist and non-naturalist accounts of objective morality--and of value more generally--on offer these days, so that it is not clear that it must have a supernatural source in God's will.

One recurrent objection to the idea that God's purpose could make life meaningful is that if God had created us with a purpose in mind, then God would have degraded us and thereby undercut the possibility of us obtaining meaning from fulfilling the purpose. The objection harks back to Jean-Paul Sartre, but in the analytic literature it appears that Kurt Baier was the first to articulate it (1957/2000, 118-20; see also Murphy 1982, 14-15; Singer 1996, 29; Kahane 2011; Lougheed 2020, 121-41). Sometimes the concern is the threat of punishment God would make so that we do God's bidding, while other times it is that the source of meaning would be constrictive and not up to us, and still other times it is that our dignity would be maligned simply by having been created with a certain end in mind (for some replies to such concerns, see Hanfling 1987, 45-46; Cottingham 2005, 37-57; Lougheed 2020, 111-21).

There is a different argument for an extreme God-based view that focuses less on God as purposive and more on God as infinite, unlimited, or ineffable, which Robert Nozick first articulated with care (Nozick 1981, 594-618; see also Bennett-Hunter 2014; Waghorn 2014). The core idea is that for a finite condition to be meaningful, it must obtain its meaning from another condition that has meaning. So, if one's life is meaningful, it might be so in virtue of being married to a person, who is important. Being finite, the spouse must obtain his or her importance from elsewhere, perhaps from the sort of work he or she does. This work also must obtain its meaning by being related to something else that is meaningful, and so on. A regress on meaningful conditions is present, and the suggestion is that the regress can terminate only in something so all-encompassing that it need not (indeed, cannot) go beyond itself to obtain meaning from anything else. And that is God. The standard objection to this relational rationale is that a finite condition could be meaningful without obtaining its meaning from another meaningful condition. Perhaps it could be meaningful in itself, without being connected to something beyond it, or maybe it could obtain its meaning by being related to something else that is beautiful or otherwise valuable for its own sake but not meaningful (Nozick 1989, 167-68; Thomson 2003, 25-26, 48).

A serious concern for any extreme God-based view is the existence of apparent counterexamples. If we think of the stereotypical lives of Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, and Pablo Picasso, they seem meaningful even if we suppose there is no all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good spiritual person who is the ground of the physical world (e.g., Wielenberg 2005, 31-37, 49-50; Landau 2017). Even religiously inclined philosophers have found this hard to deny these days (Quinn 2000, 58; Audi 2005; Mawson 2016, 5; Williams 2020, 132-34).

Largely for that reason, contemporary supernaturalists have tended to opt for moderation, that is, to maintain that God would greatly enhance the meaning in our lives, even if some meaning would be possible in a world without God. One approach is to invoke the relational argument to show that God is necessary, not for any meaning whatsoever, but rather for an ultimate meaning. "Limited transcendence, the transcending of our limits so as to connect with a wider context of value which itself is limited, does give our lives meaning--but a limited one. We may thirst for more" (Nozick 1981, 618). Another angle is to appeal to playing a role in God's plan, again to claim, not that it is essential for meaning as such, but rather for "a cosmic significance....intead of a significance very limited in time and space" (Swinburne 2016, 154; see also Quinn 2000; Cottingham 2016, 131). Another rationale is that by fulfilling God's purpose, we would meaningfully please God, a perfect person, as well as be remembered favorably by God forever (Cottingham 2016, 135; Williams 2020, 21-22, 29, 101, 108). Still another argument is that only with God could the deepest desires of human nature be satisfied (e.g., Goetz 2012; Seachris 2013, 20; Cottingham 2016, 127, 136), even if more surface desires could be satisifed without God.

In reply to such rationales for a moderate supernaturalism, there has been the suggestion that it is precisely by virtue of being alone in the universe that our lives would be particularly significant; otherwise, God's greatness would overshadow us (Kahane 2014). There has also been the response that, with the opportunity for greater meaning from God would also come that for greater anti-meaning, so that it is not clear that a world with God would offer a net gain in respect of meaning (Metz 2019, 34-35). For example, if pleasing God would greatly enhance meaning in our lives, then presumably displeasing God would greatly reduce it and to a comparable degree. In addition, there are arguments for extreme naturalism (or its "anti-theist" cousin) mentioned below (sub-section 3.3).

2.2. Soul-centered Views

Notice that none of the above arguments for supernaturalism appeals to the prospect of eternal life (at least not explicitly). Arguments that do make such an appeal are soul-centered, holding that meaning in life mainly comes from having an immortal, spiritual substance that is contiguous with one's body when it is alive and that will forever outlive its death. Some think of the afterlife in terms of one's soul entering a transcendent, spiritual realm (Heaven), while others conceive of one's soul getting reincarnated into another body on Earth. According to the extreme version, if one has a soul but fails to put it in the right state (or if one lacks a soul altogether), then one's life is meaningless.

There are three prominent arguments for an extreme soul-based perspective. One argument, made famous by Leo Tolstoy, is the suggestion that for life to be meaningful something must be worth doing, that something is worth doing only if it will make a permanent difference to the world, and that doing so requires being immortal (see also Hanfling 1987, 22-24; Morris 1992, 26; Craig 1994). Critics most often appeal to counterexamples, suggesting for instance that it is surely worth your time and effort to help prevent people from suffering, even if you and they are mortal. Indeed, some have gone on the offensive and argued that helping people is worth the sacrifice only if and because they are mortal, for otherwise they could invariably be compensated in an afterlife (e.g., Wielenberg 2005, 91-94). Another recent and interesting criticism is that the major motivations for the claim that nothing matters now if one day it will end are incoherent (Greene 2021).

A second argument for the view that life would be meaningless without a soul is that it is necessary for justice to be done, which, in turn, is necessary for a meaningful life. Life seems nonsensical when the wicked flourish and the righteous suffer, at least supposing there is no other world in which these injustices will be rectified, whether by God or a Karmic force. Something like this argument can be found in Ecclesiastes, and it continues to be defended (e.g., Davis 1987; Craig 1994). However, even granting that an afterlife is required for perfectly just outcomes, it is far from obvious that an eternal afterlife is necessary for them, and, then, there is the suggestion that some lives, such as Mandela's, have been meaningful precisely in virtue of encountering injustice and fighting it.

A third argument for thinking that having a soul is essential for any meaning is that it is required to have the sort of free will without which our lives would be meaningless. Immanuel Kant is known for having maintained that if we were merely physical beings, subjected to the laws of nature like everything else in the material world, then we could not act for moral reasons and hence would be unimportant. More recently, one theologian has eloquently put the point in religious terms: "The moral spirit finds the meaning of life in choice. It finds it in that which proceeds from man and remains with him as his inner essence rather than in the accidents of circumstances turns of external fortune....(W)henever a human being rubs the lamp of his moral conscience, a Spirit does appear. This Spirit is God....It is in the 'Thou must' of God and man's 'I can' that the divine image of God in human life is contained" (Swenson 1949/2000, 27-28). Notice that, even if moral norms did not spring from God's commands, the logic of the argument entails that one's life could be meaningful, so long as one had the inherent ability to make the morally correct choice in any situation. That, in turn, arguably requires something non-physical about one's self, so as to be able to overcome whichever physical laws and forces one might confront. The standard objection to this reasoning is to advance a compatibilism about having a determined physical nature and being able to act for moral reasons (e.g., Arpaly 2006; Fischer 2009, 145-77). It is also worth wondering whether, if one had to have a spiritual essence in order to make free choices, it would have to be one that never perished.

Like God-centered theorists, many soul-centered theorists these days advance a moderate view, accepting that some meaning in life would be possible without immortality, but arguing that a much greater meaning would be possible with it. Granting that Einstein, Mandela, and Picasso had somewhat meaningful lives despite not having survived the deaths of their bodies (as per, e.g., Trisel 2004; Wolf 2015, 89-140; Landau 2017), there remains a powerful thought: more is better. If a finite life with the good, the true, and the beautiful has meaning in it to some degree, then surely it would have all the more meaning if it exhibited such higher values--including a relationship with God--for an eternity (Cottingham 2016, 132-35; Mawson 2016, 2019, 52-53; Williams 2020, 112-34; cf. Benatar 2017, 35-63). One objection to this reasoning is that the infinity of meaning that would be possible with a soul would be "too big," rendering it difficult for the moderate supernaturalist to make sense of the intution that a finite life such as Einstein's can indeed count as meaningful by comparison (Metz 2019, 30-31; cf. Mawson 2019, 53-54). More common, though, is the objection that an eternal life would include anti-meaning of various kinds, such as boredom and repetition, discussed below in the context of extreme naturalism (sub-section 3.3).

3. Naturalism

Recall that naturalism is the view that a physical life is central to life's meaning, that even if there is no spiritual realm, a substantially meaningful life is possible. Like supernaturalism, contemporary naturalism admits of two distinguishable variants, moderate and extreme (Metz 2019). The moderate version is that, while a genuinely meaningful life could be had in a purely physical universe as known well by science, a somewhat more meaningful life would be possible if a spiritual realm also existed. God or a soul could enhance meaning in life, although they would not be major contributors. The extreme version of naturalism is the view that it would be better in respect of life's meaning if there were no spiritual realm. From this perspective, God or a soul would be anti-matter, i.e., would detract from the meaning available to us, making a purely physical world (even if not this particular one) preferable.

Cross-cutting the moderate/extreme distinction is that between subjectivism and objectivism, which are theoretical accounts of the nature of meaningfulness insofar as it is physical. They differ in terms of the extent to which the human mind constitutes meaning and whether there are conditions of meaning that are invariant among human beings. Subjectivists believe that there are no invariant standards of meaning because meaning is relative to the subject, i.e., depends on an individual's pro-attitudes such as her particular desires or ends, which are not shared by everyone. Roughly, something is meaningful for a person if she strongly wants it or intends to seek it out and she gets it. Objectivists maintain, in contrast, that there are some invariant standards for meaning because meaning is at least partly mind-independent, i.e., obtains not merely in virtue of being the object of anyone's mental states. Here, something is meaningful (partially) because of its intrinsic nature, in the sense of being independent of whether it is wanted or intended; meaning is instead (to some extent) the sort of thing that merits these reactions.

There is logical space for an orthogonal view, according to which there are invariant standards of meaningfulness constituted by what all human beings would converge on from a certain standpoint. However, it has not been much of a player in the field (Darwall 1983, 164-66).

3.1. Subjectivism

According to this version of naturalism, meaning in life varies from person to person, depending on each one's variable pro-attitudes. Common instances are views that one's life is more meaningful, the more one gets what one happens to want strongly, achieves one's highly ranked goals, or does what one believes to be really important (Trisel 2002; Hooker 2008). One influential subjectivist has recently maintained that the relevant mental state is caring or loving, so that life is meaningful just to the extent that one cares about or loves something (Frankfurt 1988, 80-94, 2004). Another recent proposal is that meaningfulness consists of "an active engagement and affirmation that vivifies the person who has freely created or accepted and now promotes and nurtures the projects of her highest concern" (Belliotti 2019, 183).

Subjectivism was dominant in the middle of the twentieth century, when positivism, noncognitivism, existentialism, and Humeanism were influential (Ayer 1947; Hare 1957; Barnes 1967; Taylor 1970; Williams 1976). However, in the last quarter of the twentieth century, inference to the best explanation and reflective equilibrium became accepted forms of normative argumentation and were frequently used to defend claims about the existence and nature of objective value (or of "external reasons," ones obtaining independently of one's extant attitudes). As a result, subjectivism about meaning lost its dominance. Those who continue to hold subjectivism often remain suspicious of attempts to justify beliefs about objective value (e.g., Trisel 2002, 73, 79, 2004, 378-79; Frankfurt 2004, 47-48, 55-57; Wong 2008, 138-39; Evers 2017, 32, 36; Svensson 2017, 54). Theorists are moved to accept subjectivism typically because the alternatives are unpalatable; they are reasonably sure that meaning in life obtains for some people, but do not see how it could be grounded on something independent of the mind, whether it be the natural or the supernatural (or the non-natural). In contrast to these possibilities, it appears straightforward to account for what is meaningful in terms of what people find meaningful or what people want out of their lives. Wide-ranging meta-ethical debates in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language are necessary to address this rationale for subjectivism.

There is a cluster of other, more circumscribed arguments for subjectivism, according to which this theory best explains certain intuitive features of meaning in life. For one, subjectivism seems plausible since it is reasonable to think that a meaningful life is an authentic one (Frankfurt 1988, 80-94). If a person's life is significant insofar as she is true to herself or her deepest nature, then we have some reason to believe that meaning simply is a function of those matters for which the person cares. For another, it is uncontroversial that often meaning comes from losing oneself, i.e., in becoming absorbed in an activity or experience, as opposed to being bored by it or finding it frustrating (Frankfurt 1988, 80-94; Belliotti 2019, 162-70). Work that concentrates the mind and relationships that are engrossing seem central to meaning and to be so because of the subjective elements involved. For a third, meaning is often taken to be something that makes life worth continuing for a specific person, i.e., that gives her a reason to get out of bed in the morning, which subjectivism is thought to account for best (Williams 1976; Svensson 2017; Calhoun 2018).

Critics maintain that these arguments are vulnerable to a common objection: they neglect the role of objective value (or an external reason) in realizing oneself, losing oneself, and having a reason to live (Taylor 1989, 1992; Wolf 2010, 2015, 89-140). One is not really being true to oneself, losing oneself in a meaningful way, or having a genuine reason to live insofar as one, say, successfully maintains 3,732 hairs on one's head (Taylor 1992, 36), cultivates one's prowess at long-distance spitting (Wolf 2010, 104), collects a big ball of string (Wolf 2010, 104), or, well, eats one's own excrement (Wielenberg 2005, 22). The counterexamples suggest that subjective conditions are insufficient to ground meaning in life; there seem to be certain actions, relationships, and states that are objectively valuable (but see Evers 2017, 30-32) and toward which one's pro-attitudes ought to be oriented, if meaning is to accrue.

So say objectivists, but subjectivists feel the pull of the point and usually seek to avoid the counterexamples, lest they have to bite the bullet by accepting the meaningfulness of maintaining 3,732 hairs on one's head and all the rest (for some who do, see Svensson 2017, 54-55; Belliotti 2019, 181-83). One important strategy is to suggest that subjectivists can avoid the counterexamples by appealing to the right sort of pro-attitude. Instead of whatever an individual happens to want, perhaps the relevant mental state is an emotional-perceptual one of seeing-as (Alexis 2011; cf. Hosseini 2015, 47-66), a "categorical" desire, that is, an intrinsic desire constitutive of one's identity that one takes to make life worth continuing (Svensson 2017), or a judgment that one has a good reason to value something highly for its own sake (Calhoun 2018). Even here, though, objectivists will argue that it might "appear that whatever the will chooses to treat as a good reason to engage itself is, for the will, a good reason. But the will itself....craves objective reasons; and often it could not go forward unless it thought it had them" (Wiggins 1988, 136). And without any appeal to objectivity, it is perhaps likely that counterexamples would resurface.

Another subjectivist strategy by which to deal with the counterexamples is the attempt to ground meaningfulness, not on the pro-attitudes of an individual valuer, but on those of a group (Darwall 1983, 164-66; Brogaard and Smith 2005; Wong 2008). Does such an intersubjective move avoid (more of) the counterexamples? If so, does it do so more plausibly than an objective theory?

3.2. Objectivism

Objective naturalists believe that meaning in life is constituted at least in part by something physical beyond merely the fact that it is the object of a pro-attitude. Obtaining the object of some emotion, desire, or judgment is not sufficient for meaningfulness, on this view. Instead, there are certain conditions of the material world that could confer meaning on anyone's life, not merely because they are viewed as meaningful, wanted for their own sake, or believed to be choiceworthy, but instead (at least partially) because they are inherently worthwhile or valuable in themselves.

Morality (the good), enquiry (the true), and creativity (the beautiful) are widely held instances of activities that confer meaning on life, while trimming toenails and eating snow--along with the counterexamples to subjectivism above--are not. Objectivism is widely thought to be a powerful general explanation of these particular judgments: the former are meaningful not merely because some agent (whether it is an individual, her society, or even God) cares about them or judges them to be worth doing, while the latter simply lack significance and cannot obtain it even if some agent does care about them or judge them to be worth doing. From an objective perspective, it is possible for an individual to care about the wrong thing or to be mistaken that something is worthwhile, and not merely because of something she cares about all the more or judges to be still more choiceworthy. Of course, meta-ethical debates about the existence and nature of value are again relevant to appraising this rationale.

Some objectivists think that being the object of a person's mental states plays no constitutive role in making that person's life meaningful, although they of course contend that it often plays an instrumental role--liking a certain activity, after all, is likely to motivate one to do it. Relatively few objectivists are "pure" in that way, although consequentialists do stand out as clear instances (e.g., Singer 1995; Smuts 2018, 75-99). Most objectivists instead try to account for the above intuitions driving subjectivism by holding that a life is more meaningful, not merely because of objective factors, but also in part because of propositional attitudes such as cognition, conation, and emotion. Particularly influential has been Susan Wolf's hybrid view, captured by this pithy slogan: "Meaning arises when subjective attraction meets objective attractiveness" (Wolf 2015, 112; see also Kekes 1986, 2000; Wiggins 1988; Raz 2001, 10-40; Mintoff 2008; Wolf 2010, 2016; Fischer 2019, 9-23; Belshaw 2021, 160-81). This theory implies that no meaning accrues to one's life if one believes in, is satisfied by, or cares about a project that is not truly worthwhile, or if one takes up a truly worthwhile project but fails to judge it important, be satisfied by it, or care about it. A related approach is that, while subjective attraction is not necessary for meaning, it could enhance it (e.g., Audi 2005, 344; Metz 2013, 183-84, 196-98, 220-25). For instance, a stereotypical Mother Teresa who is bored by and alienated from her substantial charity work might have a somewhat significant existence because of it, even if she would have an even more significant existence if she felt pride in it or identified with it.

There have been several attempts to capture theoretically what all objectively attractive, inherently worthwhile, or finally valuable conditions have in common insofar as they bear on meaning in a person's life. Over the past few decades, one encounters the proposals that objectively meaningful conditions are just those that involve: positively connecting with organic unity beyond oneself (Nozick 1981, 594-619); being creative (Taylor 1987; Matheson 2018); living an emotional life (Solomon 1993; cf. Williams 2020, 56-78); promoting good consequences, such as improving the quality of life of oneself and others (Singer 1995; Audi 2005; Smuts 2018, 75-99); exercising or fostering rational nature in exceptional ways (Smith 1997, 179-221; Gewirth 1998, 177-82; Metz 2013, 222-36); progressing toward ends that can never be fully realized because one's knowledge of them changes as one approaches them (Levy 2005); realizing goals that are transcendent for being long-lasting in duration and broad in scope (Mintoff 2008); living virtuously (May 2015, 61-138; McPherson 2020); and loving what is worth loving (Wolf 2016). There is as yet no convergence in the field on one, or even a small cluster, of these accounts.

One feature of a large majority of the above naturalist theories is that they are aggregative or additive, objectionably treating a life as a mere "container" of bits of life that are meaningful considered in isolation from other bits (Brännmark 2003, 330). It has become increasingly common for philosophers of life's meaning, especially objectivists, to hold that life as a whole, or at least long stretches of it, can substantially affect its meaningfulness beyond the amount of meaning (if any) in its parts.

For instance, a life that has lots of beneficence and otherwise intuitively meaning-conferring conditions but that is also extremely repetitive (à la the movie Groundhog Day) is less than maximally meaningful (Taylor 1987; Blumenfeld 2009). Furthermore, a life that not only avoids repetition but also ends with a substantial amount of meaningful (or otherwise desirable) parts seems to have more meaning overall than one that has the same amount of meaningful (desirable) parts but ends with few or none of them (Kamm 2013, 18-22; Dorsey 2015). Still more, a life in which its meaningless (or otherwise undesirable parts) cause its meaningful (desirable) parts to come about through a process of personal growth seems meaningful in virtue of this redemptive pattern, "good life-story," or narrative self-expression (Taylor 1989, 48-51; Wong 2008; Fischer 2009, 145-77; Kauppinen 2012; May 2015, 61-138; Velleman 2015, 141-73). These three cases suggest that meaning can inhere in life as a whole, that is, in the relationships between its parts, and not merely in the parts considered in isolation. However, some would maintain that it is, strictly speaking, the story that is or could be told of a life that matters, not so much the life-story qua relations between events themselves (de Bres 2018).

There are pure or extreme versions of holism present in the literature, according to which the only possible bearer of meaning in life is a person's life as a whole, and not any isolated activities, relationships, or states (Taylor 1989, 48-51; Tabensky 2003; Levinson 2004). A salient argument for this position is that judgments of the meaningfulness of a part of someone's life are merely provisional, open to revision upon considering how they fit into a wider perspective. So, for example, it would initially appear that taking an ax away from a madman and thereby protecting innocent parties confers some meaning on one's life, but one might well revise that judgment upon learning that the intention behind it was merely to steal an ax, not to save lives, or that the madman then took out a machine gun, causing much more harm than his ax would have. It is worth considering how far this sort of case is generalizable, and, if it can be to a substantial extent, whether that provides strong evidence that only life as a whole can exhibit meaningfulness.

Perhaps most objectivists would, at least upon reflection, accept that both the parts of a life and the whole-life relationships among the parts can exhibit meaning. Supposing there are two bearers of meaning in a life, important questions arise. One is whether a certain narrative can be meaningful even if its parts are not, while a second is whether the meaningfulness of a part increases if it is an aspect of a meaningful whole (on which see Brännmark 2003), and a third is whether there is anything revealing to say about how to make tradeoffs between the parts and whole in cases where one must choose between them (Blumenfeld 2009 appears to assign lexical priority to the whole).

3.3. Rejecting God and a Soul

Naturalists until recently had been largely concerned to show that meaning in life is possible without God or a soul; they have not spent much time considering how such spiritual conditions might enhance meaning, but have, in moderate fashion, tended to leave that possibility open (an exception is Hooker 2008). Lately, however, an extreme form of naturalism has arisen, according to which our lives would probably, if not unavoidably, have less meaning in a world with God or a soul than in one without. Although such an approach was voiced early on by Baier (1957), it is really in the past decade or so that this "anti-theist" position has become widely and intricately discussed.

One rationale, mentioned above as an objection to the view that God's purpose constitutes meaning in life, has also been deployed to argue that the existence of God as such would necessarily reduce meaning, that is, would consist of anti-matter. It is the idea that master/servant and parent/child analogies so prominent in the monotheist religious traditions reveal something about our status in a world where there is a qualitatively higher being who has created us with certain ends in mind: our independence or dignity as adult persons would be violated (e.g., Baier 1957/2000, 118-20; Kahane 2011, 681-85; Lougheed 2020, 121-41). One interesting objection to this reasoning has been to accept that God's existence is necessarily incompatible with the sort of meaning that would come (roughly stated) from being one's own boss, but to argue that God would also make greater sorts of meaning available, offering a net gain to us (Mawson 2016, 110-58).

Another salient argument for thinking that God would detract from meaning in life appeals to the value of privacy (Kahane 2011, 681-85; Lougheed 2020, 55-110). God's omniscience would unavoidably make it impossible for us to control another person's access to the most intimate details about ourselves, which, for some, amounts to a less meaningful life than one with such control. Beyond questioning the value of our privacy in relation to God, one thought-provoking criticism has been to suggest that, if a lack of privacy really would substantially reduce meaning in our lives, then God, qua morally perfect person, would simply avoid knowing everything about us (Tooley 2018). Lacking complete knowledge of our mental states would be compatible with describing God as "omniscient," so the criticism goes, insofar as that is plausibly understood as having as much knowledge as is morally permissible.

Turn, now, to major arguments for thinking that having a soul would reduce life's meaning, so that if one wants a maximally meaningful life, one should prefer a purely physical world, or at least one in which people are mortal. First and foremost, there has been the argument that an immortal life could not avoid becoming boring (Williams 1973), rendering life pointless according to many subjective and objective theories. The literature on this topic has become enormous, with the central reply being that immortality need not get boring (for more recent discussions, see Fischer 2009, 79-101, 2019, 117-42; Mawson 2019, 51-52; Williams 2020, 30-41, 123-29; Belshaw 2021, 182-97). However, it might also be worth questioning whether boredom is sufficient for meaninglessness. Suppose, for instance, that one volunteers to be bored so that many others will not be bored; perhaps this would be a meaningful sacrifice to make. Being bored for an eternity would not be blissful or even satisfying, to be sure, but if it served the function of preventing others from being bored for an eternity, would it be meaningful (at least to some degree)? If, as is commonly held, sacrificing one's life could be meaningful, why not also sacrificing one's liveliness?

Another reason given to reject eternal life is that it would become repetitive, which would substantially drain it of meaning (Scarre 2007, 54-55; May 2009, 46-47, 64-65, 71; Smuts 2011, 142-44; cf. Blumenfeld 2009). If, as it appears, there are only a finite number of actions one could perform, relationships one could have, and states one could be in during an eternity, one would have to end up doing the same things again. Even though one's activities might be more valuable than rolling a stone up a hill forever à la Sisyphus, the prospect of doing them over and over again forever is disheartening for many. To be sure, one might not remember having done them before and hence could avoid boredom, but for some philosophers that would make it all the worse, akin to having dementia and forgetting that one has told the same stories. Others, however, still find meaning in such a life (e.g., Belshaw 2021, 197, 205n41).

A third meaning-based argument against immortality invokes considerations of narrative. If the pattern of one's life as a whole substantially matters, and if a proper pattern would include a beginning, a middle, and an end, it appears that a life that never ends would lack the relevant narrative structure. "Because it would drag on endlessly, it would, sooner or later, just be a string of events lacking all form....With immortality, the novel never ends....How meaningful can such a novel be?" (May 2009, 68, 72; see also Scarre 2007, 58-60). Notice that this objection is distinct from considerations of boredom and repetition (which concern novelty); even if one were stimulated and active, and even if one found a way not to repeat one's life in the course of eternity, an immortal life would appear to lack shape. In reply, some reject the idea that a meaningful life must be akin to a novel, and intead opt for narrativity in the form of something like a string of short stories that build on each other (Fischer 2009, 145-77, 2019, 101-16). Others, though, have sought to show that eternity could still be novel-like, deeming the sort of ending that matters to be a function of what the content is and how it relates to the content that came before (e.g., Seachris 2011; Williams 2020, 112-19).

There have been additional objections to immortality as undercutting meaningfulness, but they are prima facie less powerful than the previous three in that, if sound, they arguably show that an eternal life would have a cost, but probably not one that would utterly occlude the prospect of meaning in it. For example, there have been the suggestions that eternal lives would lack a sense of preciousness and urgency (Nussbaum 1989, 339; Kass 2002, 266-67), could not exemplify virtues such as courageously risking one's life for others (Kass 2002, 267-68; Wielenberg 2005, 91-94), and could not obtain meaning from sustaining or saving others' lives (Nussbaum 1989, 338; Wielenberg 2005, 91-94). Note that at least the first two rationales turn substantially on the belief in immortality, not quite immortality itself: if one were immortal but forgot that one is or did not know that at all, then one could appreciate life and obtain much of the virtue of courage (and, conversely, if one were not immortal, but thought that one is, then, by the logic of these arguments, one would fail to appreciate limits and be unable to exemplify courage).

4. Nihilism

The previous two sections addressed theoretical accounts of what would confer meaning on a human person's life. Although these theories do not imply that some people's lives are in fact meaningful, that has been the presumption of a very large majority of those who have advanced them. Much of the procedure has been to suppose that many lives have had meaning in them and then to consider in virtue of what they have or otherwise could. However, there are nihilist (or pessimist) perspectives that question this supposition. According to nihilism (pessimism), what would make a life meaningful in principle cannot obtain for any of us.

One straightforward rationale for nihilism is the combination of extreme supernaturalism about what makes life meaningful and atheism about whether a spiritual realm exists. If you believe that God or a soul is necessary for meaning in life, and if you believe that neither is real, then you are committed to nihilism, to the denial that life can have any meaning. Athough this rationale for nihilism was prominent in the modern era (and was more or less Camus' position), it has been on the wane in analytic philosophical circles, as extreme supernaturalism has been eclipsed by the moderate variety.

The most common rationales for nihilism these days do not appeal to supernaturalism, or at least not explicitly. One cluster of ideas appeals to what meta-ethicists call "error theory," the view that evaluative claims (in this case about meaning in life, or about morality qua necessary for meaning) characteristically posit objectively real or universally justified values, but that such values do not exist. According to one version, value judgments often analytically include a claim to objectivity but there is no reason to think that objective values exist, as they "would be entities or qualities or relations of a very strange sort, utterly different from anything else in the universe" (Mackie 1977/1990, 38). According to a second version, life would be meaningless if there were no set of moral standards that could be fully justified to all rational enquirers, but it so happens that such standards cannot exist for persons who can always reasonably question a given claim (Murphy 1982, 12-17). According to a third, we hold certain beliefs about the objectivity and universality of morality and related values such as meaning because they were evolutionarily advantageous to our ancestors, not because they are true. Humans have been "deceived by their genes into thinking that there is a distinterested, objective morality binding upon them, which all should obey" (Ruse and Wilson 1986, 179; cf. Street 2015). One must draw on the intricate work in meta-ethics that has been underway for the past several decades in order to appraise these arguments.

In contrast to error-theoretic arguments for nihilism, there are rationales for it accepting that objective values exist but denying that our lives can ever exhibit or promote them so as to obtain meaning. One version of this approach maintains that, for our lives to matter, we must be in a position to add objective value to the world, which we are not since the objective value of the world is already infinite (Smith 2003). The key premises for this view are that every bit of space-time (or at least the stars in the physical universe) have some positive value, that these values can be added up, and that space is infinite. If the physical world at present contains an infinite degree of value, nothing we do can make a difference in terms of meaning, for infinity plus any amount of value remains infinity. One way to question this argument, beyond doubting the value of space-time or stars, is to suggest that, even if one cannot add to the value of the universe, meaning plausibly comes from being the source of certain values.

A second rationale for nihilism that accepts the existence of objective value is David Benatar's (2006, 18-59) intriguing "asymmetry argument" for anti-natalism, the view that it is immoral to bring new people into existence because doing so would always be on balance bad for them. For Benatar, the bads of existing (e.g., pains) are real disadvantages relative to not existing, while the goods of existing (pleasures) are not real advantages relative to not existing, since there is in the latter state no one to be deprived of them. If indeed the state of not existing is no worse than that of experiencing the benefits of existence, then, since existing invariably brings harm in its wake, it follows that existing is always worse compared to not existing. Although this argument is illustrated with experiential goods and bads, it seems generalizable to non-experiential ones, including meaning in life and anti-matter. The literature on this argument has become large (for a recent collection, see Hauskeller and Hallich 2022).

Benatar (2006, 60-92, 2017, 35-63) has advanced an additional argument for nihilism, one that appeals to Thomas Nagel's (1986, 208-32) widely discussed analysis of the extremely external standpoint that human persons can take on their lives. There exists, to use Henry Sidgwick's influential phrase, the "point of view of the universe," that is, the standpoint that considers a human being's life in relation to all times and all places. When one takes up this most external standpoint and views one's puny impact on the world, little of one's life appears to matter. What one does in a certain society on Earth over 75 years or so just does not amount to much, when considering the billions of temporal years and billions of light-years that make up space-time. Although this reasoning grants limited kinds of meaning to human beings, from a personal, social, or human perspective, Benatar both denies that the greatest sort of meaning--a cosmic one--is available to them and contends that this makes their lives bad, hence the "nihilist" tag. Some have objected that our lives could in fact have a cosmic significance, say, if they played a role in God's plan (Quinn 2000, 65-66; Swinburne 2016, 154), were the sole ones with a dignity in the universe (Kahane 2014), or engaged in valuable activities that could be appreciated by anyone anywhere anytime (Wolf 2016, 261-62). Others naturally maintain that cosmic significance is irrelevant to appraising a human life, with some denying that it would be a genuine source of meaning (Landau 2017, 93-99), and others accepting that it would be but maintaining that the absence of this good would not count as a bad or merit regret (discussed in Benatar 2017, 56-62; Williams 2020, 108-11).

Finally, a distinguishable source of nihilism concerns the ontological, as distinct from axiological, preconditions for meaning in life. Perhaps most radically, there are those who deny that we have selves. Do we indeed lack selves, and, if we do, is a meaningful life impossible for us (see essays in Caruso and Flanagan 2018; Le Bihan 2019)? Somewhat less radically, there are those who grant that we have selves, but deny that they are in charge in the relevant way. That is, some have argued that we lack self-governance or free will of the sort that is essential for meaning in life, at least if determinism is true (Pisciotta 2013; essays in Caruso and Flanagan 2018). Non-quantum events, including human decisions, appear to be necessited by a prior state of the world, such that none could have been otherwise, and many of our decisions are a product of unconscious neurological mechanisms (while quantum events are of course utterly beyond our control). If none of our conscious choices could have been avoided and all were ultimately necessited by something external to them, perhaps they are insufficient to merit pride or admiration or to constitute narrative authorship of a life. In reply, some maintain that a compatibilism between determinism and moral responsibility applies with comparable force to meaning in life (e.g., Arpaly 2006; Fischer 2009, 145-77), while others contend that incompatibilism is true of moral responsibility but not of meaning (Pereboom 2014).

Bibliography

Works Cited

Classic Works

Collections

Books for the General Reader

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One part of philosophy of life's meaning consists of the systematic attempt to identify what people have in mind when they think about the topic or what they mean by talk of "life's meaning."

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Popular ideas about happiness are misleading, inaccurate, and are directly contributing to our current epidemic of stress, anxiety and depression. And unfortunately, popular psychological approaches are making it even worse. In this controversial, but empowering self-help book, Dr Russ Harries, reveals how millions of people are unwittingly caught in the 'The Happiness Trap', where the more they strive for happiness the more they suffer in the long term. He then provides an effective means to escape through a groundbreaking new approach based on mindfulness skills Mindfulness is a mental state of awareness, openness, and focus.Mindfulness skills are easy to learn and will rapidly and effectively help you to reduce stress, enhance performance, manage emotions, improve health, increase vitality, and generally change your life for the better. The book provides scientifically proven techniques to: reduce stress and worry; rise above fear, doubt and insecurity; break self-defeating habits; improve performance and find fulfilment in your work; build more satisfying relationships; and, create a rich, full and meaningful life.

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The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living

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The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living : Dr. Russ Harris: Amazon.co.uk: Books

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How to know your life purpose in 5 minutes | Adam Leipzig | TEDxMalibu

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The combination of a successful career, a loving family, and a strong social network may seem like the recipe for a perfect life. However, even those who can check each of those boxes might feel like something is missing-and that "something" is their purpose in life.

"Finding your purpose" is more than just a cliché or a dream that will never be fulfilled. It's actually a tool for a better, happier, healthier life that too few people attempt to use.

Only around 25 percent of Americans adults cite having a clear sense of purpose about what makes their lives meaningful.

Why Do You Need a Sense of Purpose?

A 2010 study published in Applied Psychology found that individuals with high levels of eudemonic well-being-which involves having a sense of purpose along with a sense of control and feeling like what you do is worthwhile-tend to live longer. Researchers found that the people with the strongest well-being were 30 percent less likely to die during the eight-and-a-half-year follow-up period.

There's also research that links feeling as if you have a sense of purpose to positive health outcomes, such as fewer strokes and heart attacks, better sleep and a lower risk of dementia and disabilities.

A 2016 study published in the Journal of Research and Personality found that individuals who feel a sense of purpose make more money than individuals who feel as though their work lacks meaning.

So the good news is, you don't have to choose between having wealth and living a meaningful life. You might find the more purpose you have, the more money you'll earn.

With all of those benefits, it's clear that it's important to find purpose and meaning in your life. But, it's not something that can be determined quickly.

The process requires plenty of self-reflection, listening to others and finding where your passions lie. These seven strategies can help you reveal or find your purpose so you can begin living a more meaningful life.

Donate Time, Money, or Talent

If there's just one habit you can create to help you find your purpose, it would be helping others.

Research from Florida State University found having a strong social network was linked to a happier life. But being the "giver" in a relationship connected people with having a purposeful life.

Altruistic behaviors could include volunteering for a nonprofit organization, donating money to causes you care about, or simply helping out the people around you on a day-to-day basis.

Whether you decide to spend two Saturdays a month serving meals in a soup kitchen, or you volunteer to drive your elderly neighbor to the grocery store once a week, doing something kind for others can make you feel as though your life has meaning.

Discover What You Love to Do

Do you absolutely love musical theater? Your skills might be best put to use in a way that brings live performances to children who can benefit from exposure to the arts.

Is analyzing data something that you actually find fun? Any number of groups could find that skill to be an invaluable asset.

Consider what type of skills, talents, and passions you bring to the table. Then, brainstorm how you might turn your passion into something meaningful to you.

A Word From Verywell

Finding your purpose isn't something that can be done in a few days, weeks or month. It can be a lifelong journey, and it can only be done one step at a time.

You also might find that your purpose changes over time. Perhaps, you liked working with animals in your youth but now you want to join forces with a cause who fights human trafficking. You can definitely have more than one purpose, too.

Keep in mind your purpose doesn't necessarily mean you have to change what you're doing already. If you give haircuts to people, you might decide your purpose in life is to help others feel beautiful.

If you work as a school custodian, you might find your purpose is creating an environment that helps children learn.

Occasionally, you might want to pause what you're doing and reflect on whether you feel like the path you are on is taking you in the direction you want to go. If it's not, then you can change course-sometimes, that road to finding your purpose has a few curves, forks and stop lights.

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7 Ways to Find More Meaning and Purpose in Your Life

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The combination of a successful career, a loving family, and a strong social network may seem like the recipe for a perfect life. However, even those who can check each of those boxes might feel like something is missing-and that "something" is their purpose in life.

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Skills for Working Life is an 8 week programme of employer-led, interactive skills-based workshops. It's a great opportunity to hone your employability skills while also networking with some of Ireland's top graduate employers. Participants who attend at least 6 of the 8 workshops receive a certificate of participation. You can use participation in the Skills for Working Life programme in your application for a UCD Advantage Award. The Certificate will be recorded on students' Diploma Supplement which forms part of your final transcript from UCD.

The Skills for Working Life programme for 2022 is currently open for applications. Online registration is via
MyCareer

The programme starts on Wednesday the 3rd of February and will run until the 7th of April.

Some of the confirmed employers taking part this year are Glanbia, RTE, EY, Qualtrics, Accenture, Citi and KPMG

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UCD Careers Network - Skills For Working Life

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Skills for Working Life is an 8 week programme of employer-led, interactive skills-based workshops. It's a great opportunity to hone your employability skills while also networking with some of Ireland's top graduate employers. Participants who attend at least 6 of the 8 workshops receive a certificate of participation.

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Summer 2022 Internships Abroad | Internship Abroad Program

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Discover summer 2022 internships abroad with Global Experiences and gain professional experience for your future. View our destinations online today!

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Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?

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What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work.

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We've all heard the advice that networking is important for our careers. And regardless of your profession, your industry or demographic, the message is loud and clear. If you want to be successful, you need to spend time networking. It's great advice. But the critical missing piece to this advice is exactly how to network.

There's an old adage that if you throw spaghetti against the wall and it sticks, the pasta is done. Over the years, this phrase has evolved to mean that when you throw enough activity or ideas at a situation or problem, eventually something will stick; eventually you will find the answer. So when we're told we need to network to help us be successful, those of us who are ambitious, tackle the problem with this approach. We throw a lot of activity at the issue and hope for the best. We go to lots of networking events and conferences, collect and hand out hundreds of business cards. We establish an online presence and build a large group of followers. Unfortunately, this doesn't result in the type of network that supports our career advancement. It has no purpose or intention.

It takes a village to have a successful career; people who provide you with information, connect you to others, help you get your job done, advocate for you, mentor, guide, and sponsor you. And to build this type of network, your networking activity needs to be strategic. To create the type of network that supports your ambition, your efforts must be intentional and purposeful.
What holds you back?
Your mindset. The first thing that prevents us from building a strategic network is our mindset that networking is self-serving. And when we believe that any attempt to establish relationships is only for our benefit, we are less inclined to pursue these conversations. "It's all about me and I'm uncomfortable asking for help." A strong network, however, is built with mutually beneficial relationships; where both parties benefit. In the process of getting to know someone, you understand how you can add value and help them, and they are then willing to help you.

You limit your network. Our comfort level is to network with people we know and like; people with similar backgrounds and points of view. Research shows us that this type of closed network, limits our exposure to people who can offer new connections and ideas.

You aren't strategic. We use the 'spaghetti against the wall' approach and don't build a network focused on our career goal and ambition. We spend our time meeting random people and hope that this effort will deliver an important contact over time.

You aren't proactive. We wait until we need help for a new job or assistance selling a new concept or idea. We wait until we have a need and then discover that we no longer have much of a support network. We haven't reached out to our contacts or nurtured the relationships and now we feel uncomfortable asking for help.

You don't schedule time to network. I hear the excuse that there's no time to network from many women. They can't go out for drinks or attend networking events after work most nights. My answer is to schedule time on your weekly calendar for a coffee or lunch and then reach out to people to meet you during the work day. Be strategic about which evening events are worthwhile for you and try going to one or two meetings to assess if that organization is one that will expose you to new people.

You don't leverage relationships. We meet a lot of people and take their business cards and have an initial conversation but never follow up. The result is that we don't have real relationships. We don't know these people and they don't know us. Be strategic about your connections and take the time to get to know people with the potential for mutually beneficial relationships.
How do you create a strategic network?
Start with your career goal. What are you hoping to achieve in the next 3-5 years? Then ask yourself, who do you know and who do you need to know to help you reach that goal.

Understand your value proposition. How does your work contribute to positive business outcomes? This value proposition positions you as credible and helps you build influence. Your value proposition helps you create mutually beneficial relationships because you understand how you can help others. Once you get how you can help others, you eliminate the limiting belief that your networking activity is self-serving.

Build mutually beneficial relationships. As you meet people, ask them open-ended questions about their work. What are they working on? What are some of their current challenges? If there an opportunity for you to help by connecting them to a resource or guide them based on your value proposition and/or experience? This is how you create strong relationships.

Find allies and champions. A strong network supports and advocates for you. It helps you sell your ideas across the organization, promotes you for new opportunities. Once you make connections and offer to help others achieve their goals, your contacts will respond in kind when you have a need.

Be strategic. Be thoughtful about who is in your network and the best way to connect with these people. Spend your time wisely by focusing on these relationships and nurturing them over time. Be deliberate about what organizations and events you attend to help you connect with potential contacts. And take action!
Bonnie Marcus, M.Ed, CEC, is an executive coach, professional speaker, and author of The Politics of Promotion: How High Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead. She helps women successfully navigate the complexities of the workplace to realize their ambition.

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We've all heard the advice that networking is important for our careers. It's great advice. But the critical missing piece to this advice is exactly how to network. Follow these tips on how to build a strategic network to support your career goal.

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5 Minutes on Careers Series: Interview Skills

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The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ® (MBTI ®) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people's lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.

"Perception involves all the ways of becoming aware of things, people, happenings, or ideas. Judgment involves all the ways of coming to conclusions about what has been perceived. If people differ systematically in what they perceive and in how they reach conclusions, then it is only reasonable for them to differ correspondingly in their interests, reactions, values, motivations, and skills."

In developing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator [instrument], the aim of Isabel Briggs Myers, and her mother, Katharine Briggs, was to make the insights of type theory accessible to individuals and groups. They addressed the two related goals in the developments and application of the MBTI instrument:

The identification of basic preferences of each of the four dichotomies specified or implicit in Jung's theory.

The identification and description of the 16 distinctive personality types that result from the interactions among the preferences."

Excerpted with permission from the MBTI® Manual: A Guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®

Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).

Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).

Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).

Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

Your Personality Type: When you decide on your preference in each category, you have your own personality type, which can be expressed as a code with four letters.

The 16 personality types of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ® instrument are listed here as they are often shown in what is called a "type table."

For a description of your MBTI type, place your cursor over the box containing your four-letter type code. You may also wish to browse through all of the 16 type descriptions.

If you do not know your MBTI type, you may wish to take the instrument.

Type tables can also be used to gather and facilitate analysis of information about teams or specific groups of people.

All types are equal: The goal of knowing about personality type is to understand and appreciate differences between people. As all types are equal, there is no best type.

The MBTI instrument sorts for preferences and does not measure trait, ability, or character. The MBTI tool is different from many other psychological instruments and also different from other personality tests.

The best reason to choose the MBTI instrument to discover your personality type is that hundreds of studies over the past 40 years have proven the instrument to be both valid and reliable. In other words, it measures what it says it does (validity) and produces the same results when given more than once (reliability). When you want an accurate profile of your personality type, ask if the instrument you plan to use has been validated.

The theory of psychological type was introduced in the 1920s by Carl G. Jung. The MBTI tool was developed in the 1940s by Isabel Briggs Myers and the original research was done in the 1940s and '50s. This research is ongoing, providing users with updated and new information about psychological type and its applications. Millions of people worldwide have taken the Indicator each year since its first publication in 1962.

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The Myers & Briggs Foundation - MBTI® Basics

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The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ® (MBTI ®) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people's lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.

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Begin your journey by telling us which statement best describes what your plan is for life after UCD. I have....

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What are the benefits of understanding my strengths?​

A strength is something we perform well at, is energising and we do often - in summary, it's our authentic self at our best. When we put our strengths to work, we are happier, more confident, and more able to achieve our goals. We feel motivated to do great work and become engaged and productive individuals, teams, and organisations. When we don't know what our strengths are, we waste valuable time on things that drain us.​

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What are your Strengths? | Strengths Profile

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Discover your areas of Strengths with Strengths Profile - a powerful tool that helps you identify and develop your strengths.