Meaning

Learning Objective

Students will understand the meaning of this pillar to then engage their character strengths within it in their lives.

Mục tiêu học tập

Học sinh sẽ hiểu được ý nghĩa của trụ cột này để sau đó gắn kết những điểm mạnh tính cách vào trong cuộc sống của mình.

What Does This Pillar Look Like When Applied?

Meaning (M) is about developing an understanding of the benefits of serving a cause greater than ourselves and engaging in related activities (Norrish, Robinson & Williams 2013). Having a purpose in life is correlated to good physical health, high life satisfaction and strong relationships and is protective against depression and risky behaviours (Cotton Bronk et al 2009; Damon et al 2003).¹

"Being passionate about something larger than yourself, doing the right thing and doing the thing right to make a positive difference in your world." ²

"Religion and spirituality provide many people with meaning, as can working for a good company, raising children, volunteering for a greater cause, and expressing ourselves creatively." - Positive Psychology

Meaning refers to how we “make sense of life and our roles in it,” while purpose refers to the “aspirations that motivate our activities” (Ivtzan et al., 2016). - Positive Psychology

"From a literal stand point of the word “meaning” we can find words and phrases such as: to bring, to produce, intent, purpose, the significance of something, importance, and probably a few more. So gathering all these up and looking at meaning, the general notion is that it is something in life that one produces of personal worth or importance that is of significance." - The Positive Psychology People

Trụ này trông như thế nào khi được áp dụng?

Learning Activities (Everyone Does the Following Activities)

1. The Definition of Meaning: Work with your partner to better understand each of the descriptions of meaning at the top of this web page. Then write down your definition of meaning. Goal> To make meaning of the term "meaning."
   

2. Meaning in Your Life: Start this activity working on your own. You are to list the experiences and the activities that give meaning to you in your life.

   1. You can use Post-It Notes and pencils or a mind-mapping app.

   2. If you use notes and pencils, write at the center of a piece of paper "Meaning." If you use a mind mapping app, do the same at the center of your digital paper.

   3. The next step is listing the experiences and activities, one per note or one per digital bubble.

   4. Once you complete the task, review your work to see if there are any patterns in any way that you can group experiences and activities into categories. An example might be social, that deal with relationships. Move your paper notes or your digital bubbles into groups.

   5. Share your work with your partner. Take turns first explaining your individual choices that bring meaning into your life. Then explain your groups.

   6. Share which character strengths and possible skills support your finding meaning in your life.

Goal> To identify what brings meaning into your life. To understand that there are common categories of meaningful experiences and activities.

3. Whole Class Wrap-Up: Work with your partner to choose two experiences/activities that give you meaning. Please share them with the class. The teacher will do a mind map for the whole class by writing "Meaning" on the board. They will write down each of your responses. Learn from your classmates and their responses. See what your classmates have in common and how they differ in their responses. See if their ideas on meaning are ones you didn't realize are also meaningful for you. Goal> To deepen your understanding of meaning by learning from your classmates.

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Taking Action: Use the WOOP goal-setting system to plan to engage this PERMAH pillar more often in your life. It can be helpful to work with a partner to complete the WOOP worksheet to coach and support each other to reach your goal. Remember to list in the plan section the character strengths that can help you fully engage within this PERMAH pillar! Goal> To engage this pillar more often with intention in your life! To also exercise multiple character strengths!

Hoạt động học tập (Chọn dưới đây)

I Want To Learn More

Tôi muốn tìm hiểu thêm

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¹ UPP

² The Learning Curve

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