Explore Meaning and Values to Provide Direction in Uncertainty

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By Robert M. Gordon, Psy.D., Elizabeth L. Malkin, Psy.D., MSCP, & Elizabeth Choi, Ph.D.

Many individuals may be experiencing a heightened sense of vulnerability from multiple sources of world stressors, including regional wars and political polarization. These cumulative sources of stress can lead to feelings of powerlessness, groundlessness, and being adrift.

As Alice Walker eloquently stated, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking that they don’t have any.” A psychotherapeutic focus on meaning of life and living one’s core values provides an anchor and compass for navigating life’s turbulent waters.

Meaning in Life

Clara Hill (2018) describes five components of meaning in life (MIL) including:

• A felt sense of meaning, which involves the sense that one has led a purposeful life.
• Mattering or significance: Reflecting on whether you have made a difference in the world.
• Purpose, goals, and engagement in life: Meaning is a by-product of committed action, creativity, and helping others (Yalom, 1980).
• Coherence or comprehensibility: Developing a comprehensive and coherent narrative about the past, present, and future, including an awareness of an underlying “thread” that gives life its structure, meaning, and cohesion (Buechler, 2019).
• Valuing and enjoying the experience of reflecting on meaning, including the ability to trust the unknowable and the wisdom of uncertainty. “Finding meaning does not require us to live differently, it requires us to see our lives differently” (Remen, 2000).

Victor Frankl, a renowned psychiatrist, observed that humans do not get to choose their difficulties, but they do have the freedom to select their attitudes and responses and maintain a sense of dignity. Attitudes toward adversity and uncertainty can be experienced and created throughout every moment in life no matter the circumstances (Frankl, 1986, 1992).

Meaning-centered psychotherapy (MCP), developed by William Breitbart (2016), is an intervention inspired by Frankl's work which focuses on addressing existential distress for patients facing terminal illness. The experience of loss and uncertainty in our lives can be a source of great suffering. When we experience suffering, we feel disconnected from certain elements of our identities, including our work, relationships, hobbies, and values.

“Meaning is a form of strength…[and] is the language of the soul” (Remen, 2000). Compared to happiness, meaning is more associated with “being yourself” and integrating the past, present, and future (Baumeister, 2013).

Values

We are more likely to achieve an enduring level of happiness by developing a sense of purpose and meaning, authenticity, and resilience (Feiner, 2020). Pursuing values such as relationships, meaningful work, and personal growth helps develop psychological agility.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) allows one’s actions to align with values. While goals are finite—once they are achieved, you are done with them—values are ongoing guides for living with purpose and meaning (Hayes, 2020). Yet values are not fixed. Having values one wants to live by is a dynamic process that is to be renewed and questioned repeatedly. Values are expressed implicitly through how we conduct our lives in daily actions and decisions (van Deurzen, 2012).

ACT helps people adapt to ever-changing challenges that arise with uncertainty. Rather than avoiding uncertainty, which can lead to the very distress and dysfunction one is trying to eliminate, it is important to make room for it—even welcome it. We can learn to coexist with difficult emotions and thoughts better by reminding ourselves that they are transient and do not define us.

Tips to Facilitate Meaning in Life and Awareness of Values

Meaning in Life

The goal of Breitbart’s MCP model is to help individuals reconnect to different sources of meaning in their lives. These four sources are: (1) Historical, (2) Attitudinal, (3) Creative, and (4) Experiential.

• Historical: Consider your life as a storybook with a legacy given to you (past), a story you are currently living (present), and a story to give (future). What are the traditions, values, or messages that have been passed down to you from earlier generations? How do they impact how you live today? How and what will people around you learn from you?
• Attitudinal: Reflect on the adversities you have faced in your life and the choices you made to address these challenges.
• Creative: How do you engage in and take responsibility for your own life? This could be through creative acts, work, support for social causes, or family commitments.
• Experiential: Consider using your five senses to engage the world (e.g., make yourself a warm cup of tea while enjoying the aroma, or give a hug to a friend in need). Identify how you are connecting with life through love, relationships, nature, art, and humor.

Resilience Essential Reads

Resilience as the Ability to Bounce Forward

The Ground that Grounds Me: Finding a Timeless Center

Values

• Ask yourself, “In rank order, what are the 10 things that matter the most in my life right now?" and “How would I cope with losing any of them?” (van Deurzen, 2012).
• Ask yourself, “What kind of person am I now?”, “What kind of person do I want to become?” (van Deurzen, 2012), and “Are my actions in line with the person I want to be?” (Rushton et al., 2018).
• Reflect upon which person has had the greatest influence on your core values (Brooks, 2023).

Vitality in Uncertainty

Navigating global crises and personal emotions about current events can be overwhelming, often leaving one feeling unmoored and uncertain. However, anchoring oneself in core values and meaning can foster a “heightened existential awareness,” a “new appreciation of the preciousness of life,” and the ability to “trivialize the trivialities” (Yalom, 1996, pp. 71-72). Embracing these principles enables one to choose life, vitality, and authenticity, ultimately leading to a sense of purpose, direction, and gratitude.

Robert M. Gordon, Psy.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is a member of the Medicine & Addictions workgroup (established by 14 divisions of the American Psychological Association) that sponsors this blog. Elizabeth L. Malkin, PsyD, MSCP, is a Pediatric Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She completed her Adult Neuropsychology Predoctoral Internship at NYU Langone Health-Rusk Rehabilitation. She is a member of the Medicine & Addictions workgroup. Elizabeth Choi, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist at University of California, San Francisco, and founder of EC Neuropsychological Health PC, a private practice focusing on assessment, cognitive rehabilitation, and psychotherapy for adults with neurological and neurodegenerative disorders.