Sign-In
Cart
The Psychology of Meaning: What Makes Life Matter
Paperback
General Alternative HealthGeneral Psychology
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 454
Weight: 1.20
Height: 1.13 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
There are people who will read this book because they are curious about meaning. And there are people who will read it because something has already gone missing. They may not know exactly what. They only know that life used to feel different.
Something once pulled them out of bed. A person. A place. A relationship. A role. A belief. A future they could imagine. A piece of work they cared about. A responsibility they did not question. Then something changed.
Sometimes the thing itself disappeared. Sometimes it remained, but the relationship to it changed. The person is still there. The house is still there. The work is still there. The relationship is still there. The life is still there. But something that once connected the person to that life is no longer doing what it used to do. This can be difficult to explain.
Nothing may look wrong from the outside. The person may still work. Still eat. Still answer messages. Still pay bills. Still laugh. Still make plans. Still appear to be living. And yet something has become strangely weightless. This is where many people make their first mistake.
You know what meaning is. Or at least you think you do. You use the word when you talk about your work, your relationships, your beliefs, your choices, your losses, your future.
You say something matters. You say something has meaning. You say you have lost your meaning. You say you are searching for meaning. But what exactly are you saying? And what if the answer is not as obvious as the word makes it sound?
A life can look successful and still feel strangely empty. A relationship can be deeply important and still become invisible through familiarity. A person can spend years pursuing what they believed would matter, only to reach it and discover that the question has not disappeared. Someone can lose something and only then understand what it had been doing inside their life. Another person can have almost everything that is supposed to make life meaningful and still wonder why none of it seems to reach them.
These are not simple problems. And they cannot be solved by repeating the usual answers: Purpose. Happiness. Passion. Achievement. Connection. Success. Belief... None of these words becomes an explanation merely because we associate it with a meaningful life. So what are we actually talking about when we talk about meaning?
The Psychology of Meaning takes that question seriously. It does not begin by telling you what your purpose is. It does not offer a formula for creating a meaningful life. It does not turn suffering into a lesson or promise that understanding yourself will make life easier.
Instead, it does something more difficult. It examines the word itself. What happens psychologically when something matters? Why do some things continue to carry weight while others slowly become invisible? Why can something remain important even when it no longer feels important? Why can a person mistake intensity for significance, activity for direction, familiarity for emptiness, or the loss of a feeling for the loss of what actually mattered? And perhaps the most difficult question: How would you know whether meaning is present in your life if you stopped using the feeling of meaning as your evidence?
The answers are not found in a motivational slogan. They emerge slowly, through the examination of ordinary human life: what people return to, what they protect, what they sacrifice for, what they cannot easily replace, what changes their choices, what disappears when something is lost, and what becomes difficult to see precisely because it has been there for so long.
The deeper the question becomes, the less obvious the word meaning becomes. And that is where this book begins. Because before asking how to find meaning, we may have to confront a more unsettling possibility: What if we have been using the word for years without fully understanding what we mean by it?
Also from
Bsoul, Sami
Psychology of Power: How People Manipulate, Frame Reality, and Avoid Accountability
Bsoul, Sami
Paperback
Nothing Is Wrong With You: A Psychology of Quiet Strength, Inner Calm, and Becoming Who You Are
Bsoul, Sami
Paperback
Also in
General Psychology
Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America
White, William L.
Paperback
Real Life Intuition: Extraordinary Stories from People Who Listen to Their Inner Voice
Barnum, Melanie
Paperback
The Enneagram of Eating: How the 9 Personality Types Influence Your Food, Diet, and Exercise Choices
Gadd, Ann
Paperback
On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nursers, Clergy, and Their Own Families
Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth
Kbler-Ross, Elisabeth
Paperback
The Electromagnetic Brain: Em Field Theories on the Nature of Consciousness
Joye, Shelli Renée
Paperback
The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune
Stille, Alexander
Hardcover
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Heen, Sheila
Patton, Bruce
Stone, Douglas
Paperback
Wearing My Tutu to Analysis and Other Stories: Learning Psychodynamic Concepts from Life
Anderson, Catherine
Malawista, Kerry
Adelman, Anne
Paperback
Inspired: Understanding Creativity: A Journey Through Art, Science, and the Soul
Richtel, Matt
Hardcover
Philosophy in Turbulent Times: Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, Derrida
Roudinesco, Elisabeth
Paperback
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
Herman, Judith Lewis
Paperback
Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood
Hallowell, Edward M.
Hallowell
Paperback
Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of Rain
Brach, Tara
Hardcover
The Strength of Sensitivity: Understanding Empathy for a Life of Emotional Peace & Balance
Mesich, Kyra
Paperback
Discover Your Soul Template: 14 Steps for Awakening Integrated Intelligence
Anthony, Marcus T.
Paperback
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents
Gibson, Lindsay C.
Paperback
Essays V2: Moral And Entertaining On The Various Faculties And Passions Of The Human Mind (1815)
Clarendon, Edward Hyde Earl of
Paperback
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Pressfield, Steven
Paperback
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
Schwartz, Richard C.
Paperback
Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit
Brown, Brené
Hardcover
Publication Manual (Official) 7th Edition of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
Paperback
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships
Rosenberg, Marshall B.
Paperback
Burn the Haystack: Decode Dating, Torch the Duds, and Make Room for Men Who Matter
Young Phd, Jennie
Hardcover
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find--And Keep--Love
Levine, Amir
Heller, Rachel
Paperback
Hábitos Atómicos: Cambios Pequeños, Resultados Extraordinarios / Atomic Habits
Clear, James
Paperback
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical Dbt Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, a
Brantley, Jeffrey
McKay, Matthew
Wood, Jeffrey C.
Paperback
The Culting of America: What Makes a Cult and Why We Love Them
Reed, Amy
Mestyanek Young, Daniella
Hardcover
Your Ocd Will Hate This Book: A Proven System to Overcome Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Take Back Your Life
Peterson, Nathan
Hardcover
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents
Gibson, Lindsay C.
Hardcover
A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection
Epley, Nicholas
Hardcover
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving in
Ury, William
Patton, Bruce
Fisher, Roger
Paperback
Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering
Gladwell, Malcolm
Paperback
Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
Brown, Brené
Hardcover
The Balancing ACT: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself
Tawwab, Nedra Glover
Hardcover
The Complex PTSD Workbook: A Mind-Body Approach to Regaining Emotional Control and Becoming Whole
Schwartz, Arielle, PhD
Paperback
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
Menakem, Resmaa
Paperback
It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle
Wolynn, Mark
Paperback
Self-Love Workbook for Women: Release Self-Doubt, Build Self-Compassion, and Embrace Who You Are
Logan, Megan, MSW Lcsw
Paperback
Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results
Eyal, Nir
Hardcover
Sometimes Therapy Is Awkward: A Collection of Life-Changing Insights for the Modern Clinician
Arzt, Nicole
Paperback
Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal about How Markets Work
Roth, Alvin E.
Hardcover
The Ultimate Fun Adult Activity Book: Logic Puzzles, Sudoku, Mazes, Word Searches, Crosswords, Acrostics, Coloring, and More!
Demyanovich, Julie
Paperback
The Secure Soul: Finding Inner Strength and Connection When Trust Doesn't Come Easy
Cook, Alison
Paperback
The Internal Family Systems Workbook: A Guide to Discover Your Self and Heal Your Parts
Schwartz, Richard C.
Paperback
Anchored, Aligned, Accountable: A Framework for Transcending Bullsh*t and Transforming Our Lives and Work
Bethea, Aiko
Hardcover
The Betrayal Bind: How to Heal When the Person You Love the Most Hurts You the Worst
Mays Lpc Csat-S, Michelle
Paperback
Te vas a morir y todavía no has empezado a vivir: 29 principios para vivir mejor (y con más sentido)
Falces, Laura
Moreno Montana, Uli
Paperback
Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
Brown, Brené
Paperback
The Road Less Triggered: Turning Conflict Into Connection with a Single Choice
Flanagan, Kelly
Paperback
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
Brown, Peter C.
McDaniel, Mark A.
Roediger, Henry L., III
Hardcover
Engaged Compassion: Seven Practices to Cultivate Resilience, Connection, and a Joyous Life
Negi, Lobsang Tenzin
Hardcover
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
Heath, Chip
Heath, Dan
Hardcover
Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination
Vieten, Cassandra
Hardcover
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. (from Vol. 8. of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung)
Jung, C. G.
Paperback
Hbr's 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence, Updated and Expanded (Featuring What Makes a Leader by Daniel Goleman)
Review, Harvard Business
Goleman, Daniel
Ibarra, Hermina
Paperback
The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team
Lencioni, Patrick M.
Hardcover
Come Closer: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love, and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy
Atlas, Galit
Hardcover
The Art of Letting Go: Stop Overthinking, Stop Negative Spirals, and Find Emotional Freedom
Trenton, Nick
Hardcover
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
Gottlieb, Lori
Hardcover
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows . . .: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life
Pinker, Steven
Hardcover
Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults: A Guide for the Anxious, Uniquely Wired, and Easily Distracted
Maguire, Caroline
Hardcover
Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice
Mullan, Jennifer
Hardcover
This Book May Cause Side Effects: The Curious and Dangerous Power of the Nocebo Effect, Placebo's Evil Twin
Pilcher, Helen
Hardcover
Once Upon a Stranger: The Science of How "Small" Talk Can Add Up to a Big Life
Sandstrom, Gillian
Hardcover
Publication Manual (Official) 7th Edition of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
Paperback
Raising Conscious Sons: Cultivating Purpose, Connection, and Inner Power in a Chaotic World
Tsabary, Shefali
Hardcover
Raising Conscious Daughters: Building Confidence, Courage, and Inner Power in an Anxious World
Tsabary, Shefali
Hardcover
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth
Edmondson, Amy C.
Hardcover
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Stone, Douglas
Heen, Sheila
Patton, Bruce
Paperback
AP Psychology Premium, 2027: Prep Book with 4 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice
Weseley, Allyson J., Ed D.
McEntarffer, Robert, PH. D.
Paperback
Say This, Not That: How to Master 7 Dreaded Conversations As a Leader in the Modern Workplace
Flickinger, Chris
Paperback
You Are the One You've Been Waiting for: Applying Internal Family Systems to Intimate Relationships
Schwartz, Richard C.
Paperback
The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity--And Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race
Lieberman, Daniel Z.
Long, Michael E.
Paperback
How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated for the Next Generation of Leaders
Carnegie, Dale
Hardcover
The Addiction Recovery Workbook: Powerful Skills for Preventing Relapse Every Day
Freedman, Paula A.
Paperback
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine
Moore, Robert
Gillette, Doug
Paperback