Dax Moy

We’ve all heard how important to our health, happiness and wellbeing it is for life to feel that it has meaning and purpose and how the LACK of the same is often linked to depression, anxiety, stress, overwhelm and other physical and psychological ills.

That’s one of the BIG reasons why the 3rd M of MindMAP incorporates the 3 steps to Meaning, because without it we’re often unclear and unsure about those things in life that are important and purposeful but, perhaps most importantly, we’re unsure of ourselves and OUR purpose too, meaning that life can become ‘grey’, dull, boring and uninspiring… even in the absence of genuine stressful events or threats.

In fact, you could say that this lack of a clearly defined meaning or purpose IS the threat!

Interestingly, researchers conducted a simple yet powerful study with a small group of 86 volunteers who were asked to identify and photograph 9-12 things that they felt gave their lives some sense of purpose or meaning.

A week later, they were were asked to return and discuss WHY these things were meaningful to them and the context in which they fit into their lives.

Participants showed significant and marked improvement in levels of meaning in life, life satisfaction, and positive affect (emotion) just from carrying out this simple exercise.

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How To Use This Research In YOUR Coaching
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What the research shows is that it’s often easy for us to disconnect and forget about the importance, purpose and meaning of many of the people, things and experiences in our lives yet, on the other hand, just how simple, easy and powerful it can be to regain and retain those feelings.

This can be used in so many ways from inviting clients to either find a small number of significantly meaning photos that they already possess and asking them to write about what was going on in the photo, why it was important to them and how it made and makes them feel to reconnect to it or asking them to take ‘fresh’ up to date photos of those things in life that bring them a sense of meaning, significance and purpose and doing the same.

In these days of smart phones and digital photography, the ability to record and connect with imagery of significance has never been easier and, as this study shows, the return on investment for the small time taken to do so is potentially life-changing.

Where does this fit into MindMAP?

Well, 3rd M for sure (Meaning) but also 6th M in terms of environments by using both environment 1 to change the internal ‘picture’.

What I love about this is that, once again, this is not just about ‘thinking positive’ but is an actual, tangible thing that people can DO that has the impact of helping them to both think and feel more positive and add more meaning to their lives at the same time.

I invite YOU to try this.

I’d LOVE to hear what the impact is.

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Through the windows of the soul: A pilot study using photography to enhance meaning in life; Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science 3(1) · January 2013