What’s the Difference Between Meaning and Happiness?

The Pursuit of Two Different Ends

So you might think that meaning and happiness are pretty much two sides of the same coin, right? Both are good things that we all want for ourselves and those around us. But anyone who’s ever experienced that deeply satisfying exhaustion after a full day’s work, only to feel a little hollowed out after a night out on the town has already gotten a little peek at what the differences are between them. Happiness is an emotion, an experience of pleasure, joy or contentment. Meaning, on the other hand, is a cognitive evaluation – an experience of being part of something bigger, a sense that you’re alive for a reason. While these things can overlap, they’re not the same thing, and they can even be opposed to each other.

Climate and the Weather Forecast

Think of it like this: happiness is the weather and meaning is the climate. Happiness changes from moment to moment. You might feel happy if you get a great meal, a nice day at the beach, or a compliment from a coworker. Meaning, however, is more gradual. It’s about values and commitments and the experience of doing things that ripple out from you into the world. You can feel happy and unfulfilled, and you can also feel fulfilled and unhappy (take the challenge of caring for an sick parent and sleepless nights, for example). The one is light and airy; the other is substantial and weighty.

What the Research Indicates

Why is this an important difference to psychologists? Well, they’ve been looking at it very closely. A classic 2013 paper from Roy Baumeister and his colleagues asked a few hundred adults about their happiness and meaning. Turns out, happiness was linked with health, money, and thinking in the moment. But meaning? Meaning was linked with harder, more difficult things – things like helping other people, reflecting on the past and future, and yes, even with stress and conflict. The meaning-filled folks spent more time worried about family and loved ones. And the happy folks spent less time. Simply put, meaning can involve sacrifice. And sacrifice isn’t always fun.

What Time Orientation Has to Do With It

It’s also how we think about time that differs, and this can be a really critical distinction. For the most part, happiness is about the present. You’re not likely to be happy dwelling on last year or ten years from now. You’re in the present moment when you’re feeling happy. Meaning, on the other hand, links the past, present and future. It’s how we were, who we are and where we are trying to go. This means that meaning can survive the worst of circumstances. Someone stuck in a prison cell, for example, can still have a sense of meaning, if it’s in his defiance or his love for his family. It’s harder to have a sense of happiness in suffering.

The Paradox of the “Life of Good”

This leads to a real paradox in practice: simply chasing happiness pretty much guarantees its own failure. The moment you tell yourself “I must be happy, ” you might find yourself subconsciously steering clear of hardship, risk and discomfort. These Though are exactly the conditions where meaning exists. Raising children, penning a novel, concerted struggle for justice – these are all ways we experience frustration, exhaustion and fear. Yet they are the very things that give us profound meaning. Besides, those who prioritize meaning – i.e. have a sense of giving back to the community, personal development and a feeling of belonging – frequently report that happiness comes naturally as a result. It is a small but extremely important difference: while meaning is about giving to life, happiness is about receiving from life.

Which to focus?

So, what one should focus on? Both happiness and meaning have their role at different times. Happiness, after all, is essential for one to have the strength to carry on: a person who is always miserable will hardly have the power to create something with meaning. But it is meaning that keeps us going even when happiness is scarce as without it, pure self-indulgence will eventually leave one feeling empty. The best course of action is actually to try not to be exclusive but to rather understand the role each play. We should remember that happiness is not a deferment to a later time; it is something we should seek to create at the moment. Besides, it is in your main choices work relationships, values that you should look for meaning. And when the two come together, you have in your hands something quite rare and wonderful. Still, do not get scared in such situations. It just shows you are a human being.