Why You Should Create Meaningful Experiences and How to Do It
Studies show that people who are happy — truly happy — have deep connections with those around them. They value their relationships with family, friends, colleagues, peers, and strangers on the street. They actively strive to improve these relationships and build quality relationships with others.
Why You Should Create Meaningful Experiences
Those connections and relationships that we build and that we strive to develop, create experiences in our lives. Some experiences will be poor, but it is possible for us to create meaningful experiences — experiences that allow us to just be.
Society moves at such a fast pace. There are always long to-do lists and the pressure to do more in less time. When we become so caught up in those moments, we don’t focus on our relationships, our wellbeing, and our happiness. Studies show that when we create meaningful experiences, we allow ourselves time to relax, to build connections, and to become our best selves. Creating these experiences is simply a vital step in the process to achieve full happiness.
How to Create Meaningful Experiences
If we want to create meaningful experiences, we need to learn how to create these moments in our lives. Instead of taking numerous classes and workshops to teach us how to be happy and how to build connections with family and friends, we should experience beSHOPs. This is the idea that we learn by being, we learn by observing, and we learn by becoming.
“To be” requires key values that shape us. It helps define us and motivates us to do good, to step outside of our comfort zone, and to be better. A few of these values that we need to create meaningful experiences include:
Compassion: Compassion has been thoroughly studied and proven to be a natural human response. It encompasses service, kindness, and love for others. When you are compassionate, you don’t have to think twice about helping others.
Gratitude: Showing sincere appreciation to others helps you establish strong feelings of gratitude, and helps you build strong connections. You should express appreciation for all the things in your life — big and small — and make gratefulness just apart of who you are.
Willingness to learn: There is so much in the world around us. Many individuals will find themselves stuck in their own bubble and never take a step outside of our comfort zones. When we have that desire to learn, to explore, and our curiosity is continually peaked, then we are more apt to have these meaningful experiences.
Experiential learning communities, for example, provide adventures and situations where you can learn and experience many aspects of life. You can meet new people from all around the world, get to know them, explore their unique characteristic traits, find things in common with them, and discover a new culture with them. Within these communities, you can work on developing these values, along with others that will help you find happiness and live a joyful life. You build a support system to help you develop relationships and create experiences.
Remember, true happiness and meaningful experiences are not things you can learn from a series of worksheets and lectures. It is about being.
