Finding your Significance

Finding your Significance
It is something you cannot touch, smell, taste, or hear. There is no monetary value that one can place on it. It cannot be seen, but is hidden in one’s psyche. It is significance. One’s significance is like a fingerprint, different from person to person. To me, my interpretation of the word “significance” is the self-worth that one feels when one is helping others, and, for me, that is the meaning of life. My life’s work has been centered on working with students and families, and I found that work to be so enriching and rewarding when I was able to positively affect them. Many people journey through life constantly in flux with feelings of being unfulfilled, empty, lost, lonely, unhappy, and unsuccessful. Their focus is on external reinforcement for fulfillment and support, which usually ends in disappointment. 
Others, however, travel differently through life. They feel fulfilled, grounded, surrounded by friends, happy, and successful (not necessarily monetarily, but in mental dispositions). These people have found their significance. So, what is your significance and how do you identify it? Let us begin with what is my significance. For me, it is working with students, those less fortunate, and in the nursing home. I so look forward to spending my time with the above-mentioned people. When I do this, it feels great, like a wonderful fragrance that hasn’t been smelt before, or a comfortably warm pair of gloves, or the quietness outside on a wintry day, when the snow is deep, and the air crisp and clean.
When you have found your significance, you feel like that every day inside. Even when braced for life’s challenges, it keeps you at an even keel (and not leaning to either port or starboard). Below are suggestions for finding your own significance.

1. Internal Voices – Through prayer, evaluate by writing down what you find extremely satisfying and rewarding to do, and listen to your internal voices. If you do not feel right about something, the odds are it is not for you.
2. Fulfilled – Once you have found what adds significance to your life, there will be a deep feeling of contentment,  calmness, happiness, and energy in your life. After you have identified what gives you significance, have implemented a plan, and have begun to get actively involved with it, you may then begin to feel fulfilled. As they say in Italian, you will be “molto contente” or “very happy”. 
3. Frankness – Be sure to be totally honest with yourself in assessing what makes your life worthwhile. Remember that everyone’s significance is unique; don’t shy from your unique abilities.
4. Free Time – Set ample time aside to be able to implement your plan.
5. Flexibility – Be flexible with yourself and your time, and understand that you may have to make changes to accommodate your plan(s).

Finding your significance is both very uplifting and rewarding. It fulfills a purpose in life, where otherwise your life would be bland, hollow, and ungrounded.