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I can’t speak for the multiplicity of ways in which people find happiness, but I can speak for two ways that work for me. These ways are meaning and purpose. I see these as two fundamentally different approaches to happiness, yet deeply linked.

Let’s start with purpose. Purpose is forward looking. Mostly simply put it’s your sense of what you want to do with your life. It probably consists of some sort of vision for the future, and the way it manifests is a will to move towards that vision. On a daily basis you do things which move you towards your future vision, and the reason is your sense of purpose.

Purpose is a great thing, and a huge source of happiness, partly because it is goal directed and it feels good to move towards goals. That and in most people purpose is good willed, and so by moving towards your vision you are making the world a better place. For yourself, your family, your friends, and the larger public. Everything we do matters and when we all move towards our vision for the future together, things get better for everyone and the generations to come. Purpose is responsible for a large portion of human progress and improvements in quality of life.

If all we ever did was move towards our future vision, maybe I would only be writing about one source of happiness, but for better or for worse that’s not the case. In addition to moving towards our future vision, we do things which seem to set us back, which could be called self-destructive behaviour, and also things that don’t really seem to budge us in one direction or the other. This is the reason that purpose alone is an insufficient source of happiness. It’s normal to feel bad if you’re trying to get in shape and you binge eat, you’re trying to start a company and you don’t work for two days, or you’re trying to have strong character and you get mad at someone you love.

Despite the fact that we’re not always moving towards our future vision and acting on our purpose, I maintain that it’s still right to find happiness in these moments.

To address this point I want to talk about something from Chinese philosophy. I’m no expert by any means and so if you’re interested in this topic please seek other sources, but the idea that I want to talk about is the idea of the Dao. The Dao translates to the road and could be understood roughly as the road of life.

Whenever you go for a drive, you have to drive through every stretch of road. You might be intent on reaching the destination, but you’ve still got to take the journey. My takeaway from this concept is that since don’t have a choice about living each moment of our lives, it’s best to take an attitude of embrace. You are bound to slip, or run out of gas, but if you only enjoy the moments when you’re moving towards your vision of the future you are missing out on a lot of moments!

This is where the second source of happiness comes in: meaning. I suggest that in every moment, the ones that are in harmony with your purpose and the ones that aren’t, there is meaning. This is what is so wonderful about meaning. There’s always something going on. Even when things feel slow, slowness is what’s going on! I think that if one embraces meaning, it can be a huge source of happiness. All it takes is participating in the drama of life. Notice when you have energy and when you don’t, notice when you’re happy and when you’re not, notice when you’re productive and when you’re lazy, notice when you feel like being with others and when you feel like being alone, notice when you want to go to the gym and when you can’t even fathom it. Notice the people you meet, the conversations you have, the moments you share with loved ones, the moments you share with friends and colleagues, and the moments you share with strangers too! Meaning is simply noticing these things and connecting the dots. Meaning as a source of happiness is simply enjoying this process of living.

It looks like meaning stole the show, but in my experience that’s not truly the case. You need both meaning and purpose, because without purpose life can be boring.