seeking out meaning instead of happiness

Costa Rica, Summer 2010

The next book on my list is Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning (thanks to one of my favorite travel bloggers, Taryn Adler's, suggestion via this fantastic Atlantic article.) I definitely should have read this book while writing my undergrad thesis on the effects of positive psychology, but I was probably too busy spending Sundays with my roommates at Hand in Hand to think of it.

Here's an excerpt from the article (you should read it):

"...the book's ethos -- its emphasis on meaning, the value of suffering, and responsibility to something greater than the self -- seems to be at odds with our culture, which is more interested in the pursuit of individual happiness than in the search for meaning. "To the European," Frankl wrote, "it is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to 'be happy.' But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to 'be happy.'"

I am currently living out THE most selfish phase of my life, which I'm allowing myself for just a little longer. Glad to have this reminder that personal happiness doesn't mean much without people to share it with. Time to get back out of my head.