The meaning of life is whatever we choose to focus on. Any situation, any event, any piece of communication is open to our interpretation and response.

There is no shortage of agents who perpetually try to shape meaning for us — from our families, friends, bosses, peers, clients, teachers, artists, government, the news media; the list goes on.

A particularly clear example is the news media where the same events and people’s actions are interpreted differently by various agents/advocates (channels). For instance, in the United States, the most salient competitors of meaning creation these days are Fox News and MSNBC, where conservative and liberal perspectives of our culture compete.

Meaning creation also plays out in courtrooms where competing versions (meanings) of situations are presented for consideration to juries by competing lawyers. This plays out in schools too, where history lessons are simply certain events made salient based on specific choices made by their chroniclers. Whatever they chose to make salient and infuse with their perspective is what we are supposed to take meaning from.

To me, the meaning of life is that it’s one big adventure with infinite options of perspective. I choose to focus on kindness, respect and helping others succeed.

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~Harrison Monarth, Executive Coach and New York Times bestselling author
CEO and founder — GURUMAKER®

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