What Makes Life Meaningful: Michael Steger at TEDxCSU

Michael F. Steger is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University. He has spent more than a decade researching people's ability to find meaning in their lives and the benefits of living a meaningful life. In his talk, he asks the question "What Makes Life Meaningful?" and will share what psychological science can tell us about the answer. He is the co-editor of 'Designing Positive Psychology' and the forthcoming 'Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace.'
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@michaelf.steger8917]

Frankl's the reason why I got into this field, and I mention his work in all my academic talks and articles. In a longer talk, for sure, I would talk about his work. For anyone else reading this, the first half of Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" is as inspiring and moving as human expression gets.

[@Monkiger1]

Your work has been really helpful in my own, Dr. Steger - thanks for your contributions to science.

[@wolingding]

I really love your talk. OMG, i only discover this today....

[@ManojPadhiHotelier]

Great talk on what we can give and expect back from life,Dr Stegar

[@AjayRaju1]

@@Monkiger1 o9

[@AjayRaju1]

9{o0k{

[@elinroshenriksdotter9018]

That was seriously inspiring! Thank you Michael Steger, for putting words to what I've been trying to understand.

[@jeffblanton9912]

Purpose = What we do ,I agree - My definition: The unique thing you do for others. The key is others. Others is where the significance comes into play. The problem, that is not what we are taught. We are taught to get yours first and we usually never can quite scratch that itch so we never get to the significance part.

[@judykrings]

Love the zest and humor! Whatt a great speaker! Many thanks, Mike. Yo are a great story-teller, REAL stories of life and love and character strenghts.

[@heavenlylife7792]

I love it! give others meaning will not only give them meaning, but also yourself! I love his humor, sharing laughter is enough of a reason to live

[@QuestforaMeaningfulLife]

Good insights. It seems to be a balance between making the most of "the moment" while still building for the bigger picture. But if we can combine these both together in our actions, being alive in the moment doing them while also connecting to the larger meaning, that would seem to be as good as it can gets.

[@GroovismOrg]

BE WITH THE ONE!! .... Love Being alive & creating music!!!

[@arlinegeorge6967]

Interesting n informative talk. Persistence ! Thank you, bless you. All your dreams come true.

[@albrezat]

Brilliant presentation and profound content!

[@jessical6259]

tenderness, humour & truth. thank you Michael Steger / TEDxCSU

[@mollypinto4666]

Beautiful message. Close to my ❤️

[@patriciarussell8450]

Good job. IMO others who listen for a minute and make a judgement, really miss out on your message.

[@thekajalflaneur]

This was incredibly beautiful and inspiring. Thankyou sir

[@unframedminds8204]

Beautiful message. ❤️

[@v.dargain1678]

Indeed .

[@ZedGames]

Great talk! Lots to take away from this!

[@benjaradable]

great, i love your story.Thanks..

[@brookesmith4018]

Great video! Matthew Kelly talks about this as well. Would love to see you interview him.

[@BarryHemmings]

Great....I do love a story :)

[@scarletsummer3526]

I think what give way to meaning is stability, this would be housing, having money to survive and thrive, stable relationships, stable childhood relationships is helpful.

[@forthestreets1622]

For you.

[@BitaAsakura]

Thank you Michael for presenting a topic very few people dare to talk about. I found my answers in the book You Were Born For a Reason by Kentetsu Takamori. I guess when the pain is too intense to go on living, people need to have someone hold their hands and walk together towards what never betrays at the end. Thank you.

[@raoulkohler3399]

what was the answer you found in that book?

[@livesignificance8174]

Interesting... but there is so much more to discover and to become...

[@enzodavide]

why they keep using titles like that if they dont know the answers?.at the end of the speech they say the same thing. maybe the meaning of this or the meaning of that is....please dont do that!

[@ERIgou]

Very good!

[@v.dargain1678]

Yes ! Living "value free" doesn't work for this guy . Very pleasant to hear .

[@tobywindgassen8427]

A lot of these questions could be improved by asking whether we could, rather than what he was doing which involved "trying" and so and so fourth.

[@simonattwood3311]

I feel like there is something so missing about this talk, what about the poor, disabled, diseased, depressed, orphan, refugee, unaided and un-helped? Why are we happy to render their lives meaningless. Making meaning for ourselves only works for the rich and comfortable. This seems, without remotely meaning to be, immensely patronising to people who are in suffering in circumstances beyond their control.

[@GhostSamaritan]

You could volunteer at a soup kitchen and interact with people who are otherwise lonely, thereby contributing to their meaningfulness.

[@michaelryanmccoy]

awesome

[@sr_skardyn9000]

We all just need to be as sure as Michael Steger and build our own clam thing.

[@vernelgade1701]

REGRABBING LIFE

[@josunesol2510]

no viene en español???????

[@brithebreadstickoof4976]

He looks like my teacher and my teachers name is MR. STEGER. !!

[@THEPAINVLOGS]

me : i wanna find a what makes life meaningful video : okay listen up me : 0.0 video : i cant tell you how to find meaning in life

[@bxbank]

Is this a framework around the work of Victor Frankl? We certainly do not need money to create. It is a human condition to create by default. The most true meaning of life is to express and create love and happiness with others.

[@kidcapcapisatrn9136]

Greetings! I wish I could have a meaningful life! In SHA Allah!

[@fajrhikes7080]

Hi spectators Plz turn down your applause and lughter noise. You are in learning episode

[@npop3289]

No

[@jackdaniels7299]

The biga the goat

[@danjordan2518]

I don't think we have to reference Viktor Frankl every time we talk about meaningful living any more than we have to reference George Washington every time we mention the US of A!

[@soslothful]

The cuts to the audience and the person at the dry erase board were meaningless.

[@hildiehofmann4658]

All will be nothing once dead, does not matter how wonderful or how horrible are 'lives' go...so really...it does not matter if one lives one whose dreams all come true, or one spends this 'live' unjustly spent in constant state of torture. So what...it ends...the most wonderful the more horrific, tell me WHY is one better than the other. If death is death aka NOTHING...why bother...we are all dead already...what we feel now let it be fun, let it be joyfilled but really it does not matter.

[@dennisr.levesque2320]

You mindlessly make a quantum leap from life to death (Typical quantum/binary thinking). You deny there's anything in-between. The transition from life to death DOES matter. Just because everything dies/decays, doesn't mean their temporary existence should also be wasted. But, since you so obviously disregard your own life, will you please donate yourself to science, so that we can experiment on you?

[@eonryan8491]

6:28 13:15

[@fiedelmina]

starting the video now. If he says "family", I'll scream.

[@fiedelmina]

12:28 AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....

[@fiedelmina]

and what's a 20 year old college student supposed to know about the meaning of life?? huge sampling bias.

[@fiedelmina]

ok just one more academic who is supposed to be an expert in his field but uses his own prowess in finding a mate and spawning some offspring as his main argument. The basest of all, I am literally disgusted.

[@SaraFJones]

I said the same thing 😂

[@KuhseSean]

@@fiedelmina you should listen to Alan Watts. He has a different take on the meaning of life. Spoiler alert, the meaning of life is meaning less.

[@bishwaskumar3324]

once you spend the time you're never going to get it back

[@npop3289]

Amogus

[@raycarden7941]

Are we just going to ignore his trousers?

[@hildiehofmann4658]

Since we all will die and for those who agree with me that dead is dead and even if reincarnation is true, since no one i know incuding myself, and only Shirley Maclain seems to be the one who has detailed memories of past lives and has made millions on her belief of this. for most of us, reincarnation does not matter, any 'lessons' learned in this life are forgotten so what is the pt of learning lessons that are forgotten. For me the life we live that ends the best is to have nice smooth life.

[@meepmeep8152]

"not creepy but persistent." Well, I'm already doing it wrong... =P

[@weterman4320]

His voice contradicts the story about the girl.

[@grumpygroman]

You are right. We don't need to mention Washington every time we talk about the USA. But we need to mention Washington every time we talk about the first President of the USA

[@mrtyrant1680]

"What exactly were you trying to accomplish?" "I was trying to make a girl fall in love with me" "Did it work?" "No" "So everything was for nothing?" "Yes" "Then why are you smiling?" "Because i just realised something" "What is it?" "That life is a pathetic joke that we take way too seriously"

[@MrGrapha]

vurgten is toch ook een woord effe opzoeken

[@npop3289]

Sameee

[@Drtoey11year]

Man's search for meaning

[@grengren2]

Well that was depressing - 65 yrs old, no family, no job or objectives. Live while you are young, there is no worse way to die than through old age; your friends die, your body rots, your brain fades and nothing is new. Bye.

[@MeridianWellnessMassageLin]

To live to suffer. One needs to find meaning in the suffering, even in a concentration camp.

[@snehabhatt2417]

Have hope life and death ain't so sad and bad..

[@doctorshankar]

Unable to understand. So many people are laughing!

[@grumpygroman]

Talking about meaning in life and no mention of Viktor Frankl's work? Well Mr Steger?????

[@normalguycap]

This literally said nearly nothing about what makes life meaningful. One tiny bit about family and friends, that old chestnut. It had no substance at all. He frickin' talked about what meaning was. God the same old empty platitudes.

[@walishdragon]

+normalguycap The meaning is you have to find your own meaning. He can't tell you what makes YOUR life meaningful.

[@jewelsong22]

It almost seems you +normalguycap missed the simplicity of his message, the invitation to think, beyond yourself.

[@normalguycap]

Mary Fratesi That's put in a much better way than he said it I feel.

[@jewelsong22]

+normalguycap I thank you for your response. May I offer my apologies for the tardy response? Best wishes ~

[@jewelsong22]

+Albert Barcellos Is your question meant for me?

[@johnschlottman619]

Hmmmm. I do find you asking good questions, it's like a start of a meaningful conversation - but you are obviously talking around the whole issue without any conclusion; having kids, also, methinks that makes it even harder for you, as for me. to do much real, careful searching or introspection. You're nice enough, and come across as very likeable, but: you're just not there yet. No surprise there, right? Thank you for the pleasant video, though - you are spot on with the observation that meaning ultimately MUST include action of some kind. Even 'close, not quite there yet' action is truly appreciated, by me: join the ranks with Aristotle, and Newton, and others, whose ideas, even while 'not quite there yet' are still valuable contributions to . . . maybe call it 'the march of human knowlledge progress'? Well. . . no, that's a bit clumsy. Just: thanks.

[@creativecompanion]

Is Death a Hazard? (9:20) Perhaps we do not understand death enough yet to label it as a hazard. People who have died and come back to life (NDE experiencers) say that when the body is no longer alive their experience becomes one of total peace, freedom and love. If living on earth requires that we depend upon countless things that litter the planet, why is longevity valued so highly and death viewed as a negative or hazardous outcome. Perhaps death is a friend that can help us to end human suffering and aid with restoring balance to our overtaxed planet. Perhaps we might consider reframing the way we view death to allow the explorations of death with dignity and death as a service to Earth and humanity.

[@arwanaderhalawa1023]

Why tho, we r all dying at the end, I just don’t get it so what if we made a difference and so what if we didn’t. When the person dies it’s not going to matter anyway. I wanna get it but I just don’t.

[@npop3289]

When the baka is sussyyy

[@1970brenz]

All I hear is a lot of words and no real meaning, ironically enough.

[@v.dargain1678]

Talking loud and saying nothing . There's a lot of that going around these days .

[@willembozzay3263]

go to H-E- double hockey sticks

[@westonshumaker6231]

Where do you go when your purpose becomes meaningless?

[@doryt4287]

trying to find a new purpose?

[@dennisr.levesque2320]

This is where meditation/contemplation/reflection comes in. It's definitely a time for re-evaluation. Maybe out of the ashes a new "phoenix" can emerge. Good luck.

[@v.dargain1678]

@@dennisr.levesque2320 Good answer . Running out of ideas of what to do with yourself happens once in a while and you have to constantly look for new ones and new sources that generate them .

[@lindaanderson7529]

B

[@philrehberg212]

Similar to what Jesus taught except he omits the transcendent . Omitting relationship with the divine makes life mostly futile. Philosophers figured this out over 100 years ago. Kierkegaard believed Jesus and wrote about love. Sartre did not believe and spent time in his final years visiting prostitutes. I believe God rewards those who seek him and gives us power to love and give as this speaker teaches. (Author of "Flourish: A Guide to Your Growth…)

[@6squall9]

+Phil Rehberg Prostitutes give the meaning of life to their customers. Procreation is the ultimate goal of any living being. Even your God has a son. So in some sense prostitutes serve to give every customer the ultimate simulation of our genetically coded goal, or in other words the most meaningful purpose of our existence. Lets not forget that Jesus let a prostitute kiss and wash his feet. And taught you not to judge.

[@EzerEben]

Phil Rehberg , while having an imaginary friend in the sky, like Vishnu or Y'shuah, may add a measure of meaning, you shouldn't conclude that that people who find meaning in the real world are condemned to a futile life.

[@cleocruz9688]

taking out pride. Following Jesus teachings.

[@c_farther5208]

My life is not meaningful. I can't wait until it ends. You just work all the damned time, the yard, the house, the job, the other job, the pets, it's all work. Meaningful is contributing something that changes an event for the better. No one contributes or changes the world for the better except a handful of people. We are a resilient species and move on after someone dies then we work, work, work. Pointless to think any one has a meaningful life.

[@johnschlottman619]

Not meaningful yet, no. I see why you think so. It's. . .You haven't seriously started looking yet, I feel. Or, looking, but not yet finding. Very understandable. Take more time to look. . . and be knind to yourself as you start out, because it isn't your fault it hasn't fallen in to your lap.

[@matthewtenney2898]

Yes, I understand. In the Bible, King Solomon talks about him trying to make his own life meaningful. He creates beautiful gardens and wonderful dwellings and powerful armies and each time it comes back as empty. "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity". Solomon realizes that his actual adopted purpose in life is merely to boost his own ego and that did not make a life worth living. Then I read Leo Tolstoy's short story "Where Love Is, There God is Also" and I found (NOT invent) real purpose. Tolstoy's story is available on the internet.

[@SK-tk6bi]

I thank you for your honesty. Not many adults are willing to be.

[@christopherharrison3607]

Meaningful= Emmy A in I in girl friend you love

[@quishaunholmes3555]

Horton Hears A Who

[@v.dargain1678]

The small small voice

[@GnosisMan50]

This is nothing new... Erich Fromm's books _The Sane Society, Escape From Freedom, To Have or To Be?, and the Art Of Being, just to name a few, are the most profound books ever written. Dr. Fromm deals not only on aspects of our being that impair our emotional and psychological creative potential, but he also deals with the socio economic forces that are dehumanizing, unjust, dangerous, insane, and therefore an affront to the evolution of humanity. You can talk all you want about meaning but no amount of it will make a difference as long as we conveniently leave out the present existential social economic realities that affect us directly. Capitalism, as we know it, is akin to a cult in which we are its members who follow blindly without question hence without knowing it's a cult. Nor are we aware of the depth of its humanizing forces.With all due respect to Steger and many motivational speaker like Tony and Mel Robbins, they have this proclivity, which upsets me to no end, to put the onus on the person and leave out the harsh realities facing so many people like those JD Vance mentions in his book "Hillbilly Elegy: a memoir of a family in crisis. Another book is by renowned sociologist Dr. Arlie Hochschild "Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right". No amount of lectures on "meaning" is going to help them!! Here is meaning for you: get mad *AS HELL* and tell all those in office that if they don't deal with the real concerns affecting American people, there will be hell to pay!! The Tea Partiers and those who follow Trump and despite their underlying racism and ignorance, the existential crisis they are facing right now is economic and the loss of MEANINGFUL fucking jobs!!! They want to live a dignified life but those in power don't give a rat's ass and the corporate state is the worse offender. And where is TED on this? Here is how we deceive ourselves.... _Our conscious motivations, ideas, and beliefs are a blend of false information, biases, irrational passions, rationalizations, prejudices, in which morsels of truth swim around and give the reassurance, albeit false, that the whole mixture is real and true. The thinking process attempts to organize this whole cesspool of illusions according to the laws of logic and plausibility. This level of consciousness is supposed to reflect reality; it is the map we use for organizing our life. This false map is not repressed. What is repressed is the knowledge of reality, the knowledge of what is true. If we ask, then: What is unconscious? the answer must be: Aside from irrational passions, almost the whole of knowledge of reality. _*_The unconscious is basically determined by society, which produces irrational passions and provides its members with various kinds of fiction and thus forces the truth to become the prisoner of the alleged rationality_*_._ Fromm, Erich. To Have or To Be? (Continuum Impacts) (p. 98). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.

[@EzerEben]

Dude, I read your entire comment. I can't find one concrete idea. Saying that current society and Trump are lying to us is meaningless unless you identify the lie and offer the truth in its stead. You reference several books, but do so without telling us what you came away with after reading them.

[@DrumWild]

So, he modeled his life after the LAME John Cusack movies, and not the good ones, like TAPEHEADS.

[@vaporwingfauxmcloud1190]

This entire video: hAhahahahahahaha

[@andrewzeitler1777]

The legal farm fundamentally present because lock additionally warm apropos a political church. charming, understood weight

[@connorwhite3650]

The abhorrent month distinctly jail because agreement accordantly mate forenenst a spicy capital. spurious, plain bed

[@npop3289]

I know right

[@willembozzay3263]

@@npop3289 fax

[@matthewtenney2898]

He says he can't tell us what meaning/purpose our lives should have but he really does tell us. He tells us our purpose in life is to find something to do that will substitute for real meaning/purpose. He speaks of life as a gift but then he ignores the concept of a giver. He shows us some squiggly lines and tricks us into seeing it as a camel. Similarly, he tries to trick us into seeing real meaning and purpose through squiggly references to life as a gift, as precious, as connected in some overarching way to others. You can't misspent moments unless there is a right way to live your moments. If there is no Creator, then everything he recommends is self deception. And if we cannot deceive ourselves, then seeking a Creator is our only hope.

[@MrGrapha]

je hebt niet eens in de gaten wat er aan de hand is he

[@muscledaddy4851]

Well nothing makes life meaningfull

[@sinfollowtheconsequences7638]

Why don’t you drink more water before your speech?

[@nammyohorengekyoooooo]

He's lying. It's hot sex.

[@SalafiJustice]

It is God who determines our life’s purpose as he creates us and owns all that exists. Allah says: I have not created Jinn or man except that they worship me. Study Islam and stop living a life steeped in doubt.

[@dedahabib8883]

Doesn't mean us muslims don't go through these challanges

[@v.dargain1678]

@@dedahabib8883 Any "ism" that gives solace will be challenged . The question is can your particular "ism" stand the test of time ?

[@fiedelmina]

SPOILER ALERT if you really want to know about the meaning of life, don't watch this shallow BS.

[@willembozzay3263]

you play the fiddle dood...

[@andrewclips3427]

Next time, please iron your shirt. Thank you.

[@stevemajic2958]

What a waste of time this was!!!