Reconnecting with our inner Compass : Sources of personal meaning
Reflecting on our inner Compass is the starting point for connecting with purpose in life, especially during times of transition when the way forward is unclear. This is precisely where I am these days. Retirement still feels unfamiliar (albeit pleasant!) and it’s impossible to look too far ahead without triggering a whole flock of worries as I support my family member with advanced cancer.
In the Compass Course (and in our related research), we propose that the inner Compass is composed of our values, strengths, and sources of personal meaning. Most of us have examined our values and strengths at some point in our adulthood, less so our sources of personal meaning, defined as activities, attitudes, and experiences from which people derive a sense of the coherence and significance of their lives (Radomski, Anheluk, Zola, Carroll, Halsten, 2023). We borrowed this concept from Dr. Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who was imprisoned in Nazi death camps and later wrote Man’s Search for Meaning. In his brief volume, Dr. Frankl uses his concentration camp observations to explore how some prisoners were able to retain their dignity and sense of meaning and purpose amid extraordinary cruelty, suffering, and death. Two of Dr. Frankl’s ideas especially speak to me these days.
Dr. Frankl proposes that human beings find purpose and meaning through three enterprises - doing, savoring, and being a certain way. (The parenthetical comments below are mine.)
“…we can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: 1) by creating a work or doing a deed (Doing something); 2) by experiencing something or encountering someone (Savoring nature, beauty, love); 3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering” (Choosing our attitudes or our ways of being) (p. 133).
He underscores that we always retain our ability to choose – even if only to choose our attitudes amid suffering.
We who lived in concentration camps can remember who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way (p. 86).
What I know for sure is that times of uncertainty and adversity have always catalyzed learning and growth and I’m counting on those dividends during this stretch of my life. I’m honestly excited at the prospect of learning new ways. Dr. Frankl teaches me that purpose is more than what I do. While my tilt towards “doing” served me well in my career, this default is less helpful in navigating my recent retirement and being a supportive presence as people I love go through cancer treatment. Frankl reminds me of other outlets for purpose and meaning that may be a better fit during this season of my life: intentionally savoring everyday experiences of love, nature, art, beauty and choosing my attitudes, like hope over fear. My next assignment is to think about specific ways of spending my time that fill my cup, remind me of the significance of my life, or prompt a feeling of wholeness, especially as related to savoring experiences and choosing my values-informed attitudes. And then try to intentionally incorporate these options in my daily life. I said, try.
What about you? What are your sources of personal meaning? If you’re a chronic over-doer like me, how might you expand your purpose practices to emphasize savoring experiences and choosing your attitudes?
Onward!
Sources:
Frankl VE (1984). Man’s Search for Meaning – Revised and updated. New York: Washington Square Press.
Radomski MV, Anheluk M, Zola J, Carroll G, Halsten J (2023). Compass Course: A practical guide for navigating with purpose in daily life.