When I finished reading Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl I realized that having a meaning and purpose in my life is really important. The times that I was really depressed and down were the times that I felt my life had no meaning or purpose that made my life worth living.

At first I was upset because I could not see a big meaning in my life, something that would make a huge difference in my life and those around me but as I grow older I realize that life is not made up of big moments but the culmination of smaller moments that give it meaning and flare.

As I change and grow I see the small things that really add up in my life, for example I remind myself to work out, I remind myself to make time for quiet meditation, I do certain cleaning jobs each day so it’s doesn’t all pile up on one day. I have learned to program into my phone certain things that make a huge difference in my life and it alerts me at the time that is optimal for getting the task accomplished.

Keeping things clean for my family makes me happy, doing good things for my body makes me happy, and taking the time to do things in a more natural way makes me happy. All of these little things add up bringing joy and purpose to my life.

Along with all of these little things I do each day for myself and my family, I will also begin a list in the spring with projects I can do outside in nature. I feel another one of my purposes is to grow my food more naturally, to allow nature to flourish as well as reaping the benefits of fresh fruit and veggies which is why I was drawn to permaculture.

Permaculture does not use chemicals or disturb the soil like conventional farming and gardening does, it tries to mimic what nature would naturally do so that way humans and nature can flourish and thrive together instead of one manipulating another.

I am not the type of person that likes to live their life by lists but this way of doing things is helping me at the moment and some day when this type of living becomes habit, I will not need my lists anymore.

Everyone’s life has meaning and purpose many people just need to remove their expectations and be able to see clearly. Our thoughts tend to deceive us into thinking that this purpose is less or more than another based on how much money they make when in fact they are both very important. Many people would see the CEO of a company to be a higher purpose than that of the janitor but in reality this difference is only in your own mind as having a clean place to work is a high priority to many people.

As Victor Frankl says in his book, “you can’t force someone to laugh, you must tell him a joke to get him to laugh”, our life’s meaning and purpose does not just come to us especially when we are not sure what it is, it will become evident when we start making small changes in our daily routine.