How to Search for Meaning in Life | Jack Canfield

Hi there. I'm Jack Canfield, the co creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and the author of the Success Principles. And today I'm wondering, how strong is your sense of direction for your life? Do you have a clear vision of where your life is headed and the steps you need to take to reach your desired destination? Or are you feeling lost and rudderless, uncertain where you're going or how to navigate your journey to get there? And the reason why I ask is because this is the time of year when most people talk about setting goals for the coming year ahead. Which is smart, because when you launch yourself into a new year, clear about what you want to accomplish and the steps you're going to take to make those dreams come true, you're setting yourself up for success. But recently a participant in one of my workshops asked me what a person should do when they feel rudderless and are searching for greater meaning and purpose in life. I thought it was a great question, and I'm guessing she's not alone in feeling this way. I think a lot of people are feeling somewhat lost these days. And how can you set meaningful goals for the year ahead when you're not even clear on what you really want your life to look like? So today I'd like to give you some tips on how to find your path when you're feeling directionless so you can do a better job of setting annual goals for yourself that will take you to where you really want to be in life. Okay, my first tip is to stop and give yourself permission to take the necessary time to focus on yourself and figure out what you really want to accomplish with your life and how you want to show up in the world. So many people I meet think that focusing on themselves is self indulgent and that taking time to work on yourself and improve your life is a selfish act. But the reality is that working on yourself is what makes you a better person. It helps you get better results in every aspect of your life, and that ends up having a huge positive ripple effect on everyone else around you. So before you do anything else, I recommend that you sit down, look at your calendar for the next couple of weeks and then actually schedule in some time to devote entirely to yourself and clarifying your vision for yourself and your life. It's not a selfish thing to do, it's actually a critical one that will ultimately serve everyone in your life. In my experience is that if you don't actually schedule time for it, it won't happen. Now the next thing I would recommend you do is get ready to spend that time looking inward and doing some powerful self exploration. Because the answers you're looking for are inside you and you need to go deep inside and ask yourself what do I really want in life? How do I want my life to look? How do I want to spend my time each day and what do I want my life to feel like? And you need to listen hard to discover what your heart is telling you because there will be other voices inside you to say oh, you should do this or that. I'm talking about the voices that sound like your parents and the stuff they have said to you during your lifetime that may have impacted your sense of possibility and your sense of self worth. Or the messages that peer pressure and social conventions and the media have put inside your head. You know, it's things like it's better to go for the high paying corporate job and be miserable but safe rather than take a chance and pursue a dream that makes you happy or I will only be lovable if I'm skinny and never speak my true feelings. You need to ignore those thoughts and listen to the voice of your heart and discover what you personally want and need to live a life that's truly fulfilling. If you're just starting out with this kind of inner work, you may find this step challenging at first. How can you tell which voice is truly the voice of your heart versus what you think you should do? This is where meditation and guided visualizations are extreme extremely valuable tools because meditation will allow you to become more aware of your thoughts and you begin to realize that your brain is a perpetual thought generating machine and it's just because the thought runs through your head it doesn't mean it's true or that you have to act on it. You also begin to understand that you have the power to choose which thoughts you attach to and which ones you need to let go of. This makes it so much easier for you to ignore the constant chatter of what what experienced meditators call your monkey mind, which is just that endless stream of thoughts being generated by your brain and discover what your heart is really trying to tell you. Now one clue to this inner exploration is to notice which thoughts are accompanied by a feeling of expansion and what thoughts create a feeling of contraction and you want to go with the ones that create a feeling of expansion. Now my next tip would be for you to be patient with yourself as you do this powerful inner work of of sort searching for answers. And I encourage you to adopt a mindset of open curiosity rather than one of urgency think what could my life look like instead of what should my life look like? And don't be afraid to think outside the box. You can make your life look like anything you want. Something I always tell my students is if you can imagine it, you can achieve it. And by that I mean you can truly and clearly visualize yourself experiencing a certain reality. Because can do that, you have the capacity to make that vision a reality. It may take a while. You may need to learn some new skills and gain some new experience. But if you believe in yourself and you take consistent action toward that goal, I promise you, you will achieve it. I also encourage you to choose to believe in yourself and do what you need to bolster your self confidence, your sense of self worth, so that you have the faith you need to keep going when times get rough. Because there will be times when there are obstacles appear and you'll have setbacks. That's just the nature of success. The thing that separates successful people from those who don't make it is that the winners are the ones who never give up. Now, finally, my last tip would be for you to understand that you don't have to figure this out on your own. There are so many free resources online that can help you get started on your journey. There are mentors who can show you the way and programs to help you learn the skill that will allow you to achieve your goals and make your dreams come true. You can simply get started today by going to my website, for example, @jackcampfield.com and looking at all of the free information and tools in my resources section. You'll find a ton of free guided visualizations and meditations, goal setting guides and life vision blueprints. Affirmations to build your sense of what's possible and so much more. Everything you need is already out there waiting for you to find it. You just have to take action and reach out for it. All right, well, that's it for today. Thanks for watching. And now what I'd love you to do is to share one action you'll commit to taking to find or clarify your sense of direction and create your clear vision for your life in the comments below. And remember that when you declare something publicly, you greatly increase your commitment to it and you increase your chances of actually making it happen. Also, if you found this video helpful, please please make sure to like it and share it with a friend who may need it. And subscribe to this channel for more videos like this one and for some additional tools and videos on how to change your life for the better make sure to check out the resources page@jackcampfield.com and like I said, there's a lot of great free things that can help you there. So thanks again for watching and have a great day.