Via Business Insider:
As psychologists zero in on the key to a good life, it's becoming clear that there are two distinct paths.
A forthcoming paper by Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, Jennifer Aaker, and Emily Garbinsky in the Journal of Positive Psychology looks at the difference between a happy life and a meaningful life.
Points:
- “Satisfying one’s needs and wants increased happiness but was largely irrelevant to meaningfulness.”
- “…people can feel both happy and meaningful — indeed the two feelings reinforce eachother — but nonetheless one may have to choose which matters more.”
- “Happiness was linked to being a taker rather than a giver, whereas meaningfulness went with being a giver rather than a taker.”
Ponder: Expressed in the language of research - What we've read in the ancient philosophers and The Good Book and heard in our pastors' sermons.
