Emily Esfahani Smith: There's more to life than being happy
إميلي أصفهاني سميث: هناك شيءٌ في الحياة غير السعادة
In her book "The Power of Meaning," Emily Esfahani Smith rounds up the latest research -- and the stories of fascinating people she interviewed -- to argue that the search for meaning is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness. Full bio
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was pursuing happiness.
هو السعي وراء السعادة.
to happiness was success,
أن طريق السعادة هو النجاح،
that beautiful apartment.
they struggled with this, too.
كذلك عانوا من الأمر نفسه.
to graduate school for positive psychology
العليا متخصصةً في علم النفس الإيجابي
changed my life.
can make people unhappy.
مطاردة السعادة يمكن أن تجعل الناس بؤساء
around the world,
مستمرٍ حول العالم،
a 30-year high in America.
الى أعلى مستوى في ثلاثين عاماً.
objectively better
gnawing away at people,
clinically depressed to feel it.
الأكتئاب حتى تشعر به.
what predicts this despair
بعضاً من الأسئلة .
أكثر من كونك سعيداً؟
between being happy
as a state of comfort and ease,
بأنها حالةٌ من الراحة والهدوء،
Martin Seligman says
and serving something beyond yourself
لشيءٍ وخدمة شيءٍ غير نفسك
is the more fulfilling path.
للحياة هو المسار الأكثر اشباعاً.
who have meaning in life,
الذين يحملون مغزىً للحياة،
أكثر بطريقةٍ ذات مغزىً؟
interviewing hundreds of people
أقابل مئاتٌ من الأشخاص
of pages of psychology,
four pillars of a meaningful life.
ركائز لحياةٍ ذات مغزىً.
of these pillars in our lives.
تلك الركائز في حياتنا.
from being in relationships
for who you are intrinsically
عند اولئك الأشخاص
deliver a cheap form of belonging;
تقدم شكلاً رخيصاً من الأنتماء؛
to cultivate belonging with others.
تشجع الأنتماء مع الأخرين.
buys a newspaper
a transaction, though.
didn't have the right change,
جوناثان الفكة المناسبة،
and bought something he didn't need
like this without realizing it.
طرق صغيرةٍ مثل هذه دون أن ندرك ذلك.
and barely acknowledge them.
when someone's talking to me.
invisible and unworthy.
بأنهم خفيين و ليس لهم قيمة.
you create a bond
is the most essential source of meaning,
الرئيس لحياةٍ ذاتُ مغزىً،
is the second pillar: purpose.
مغزىً هو :الهدف.
is not the same thing
than about what you give.
her purpose is healing sick people.
هو شفاء المرضى.
is using your strengths to serve others.
أستخدام قوتك لخدمة الآخرين.
that happens through work.
that issues like disengagement at work,
مثل التسريح من العمل،
they're existential ones, too.
أنما هي مشاكل وجودية أيضاً.
purpose at work,
something to live for,
is also about stepping beyond yourself,
هو أن تتجاوز حدود نفسك
the hustle and bustle of daily life,
صخب واهتياج الحياة اليومية،
to a higher reality.
transcendence came from seeing art.
تأتي الفائقية من رؤية الفن
and it happens through writing.
that I lose all sense of time and place.
أفقد الشعور بالوقت والمكان.
experiences can change you.
at 200-feet-tall eucalyptus trees
إلى أشجار الكينا التي طولها 200 قدم
they felt less self-centered,
شعوراً أقل بالأنانية،
of meaning, I've found,
في جعل الحياة ذات مغزىً،
about yourself.
of your life brings clarity.
how you became you.
that we're the authors of our stories
نحن المؤلفون لقصصنا
and retell your story,
who'd been paralyzed playing football.
كان مأسوراً في لعب كرة قدم .
to weave a different story.
my life was purposeless.
a pretty selfish guy.
I could be a better man."
يمكن أن أكون رجلاً أفضل."
changed Emeka's life.
calls this a "redemptive story,"
ذلك "قصة الاستبدال"
يعيشون حياةٍ ذات مغزىً
lives, he's found,
change their stories?
on your life thoughtfully,
and we all struggle.
جميعنا وناضلنا جيعنا.
can lead to new insights and wisdom,
يؤدي إلى رؤىً جديدة والمزيد من الحكمة،
transcendence, storytelling:
by all of the pillars.
بكل هذه الركائز.
from our home in Montreal.
من منزلنا في مونتريال.
associated with the whirling dervishes
بالدراويش الدوارين
and share stories.
serving all of creation
even when people wronged you.
ولو اخطأ الناس في فهمك.
to reign in the ego.
لكبح جماح الغرور
of Sufism in my life,
that make life worth living.
تجعل للحياة سبباً لنحياها.
had a real culture of meaning.
حقيقية في إيجاد مغزىً للحياة.
helped us all live more deeply.
في عيش حياةٍ أكثر عمقاً.
that use the pillars
والتي تستخدم الركائز
something to live and die for.
لأجله ويموتون لأجله.
within our families and our institutions
داخل عائلاتنا ومؤسساتنا
we're constantly creating our lives,
صنع حياتنا الخاصة
I had with my father.
I graduated from college,
that should have killed him.
والتي كانت ينبغي أن تقتله.
what was going through his mind
ماذا كان يدور في عقلك
was needing to live
هو أنه بحاجةٍ ليعيش
for my brother and me,
to fight for life.
for emergency surgery,
the last words he spoke on earth
يقولها على الأرض
he had a reason to live:
حيث كان لديه سبب ليعيش :
repeating our names --
why he survived.
الأسباب التي جعلته ينجو.
something to hold on to.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Emily Esfahani Smith - Journalist, authorIn her book "The Power of Meaning," Emily Esfahani Smith rounds up the latest research -- and the stories of fascinating people she interviewed -- to argue that the search for meaning is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness.
Why you should listen
Emily Esfahani Smith is the author of The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed With Happiness. In her book and TED Talk, she argues that we're chasing the wrong goal -- a life of meaning, not happiness, should be our aim.
Our culture is obsessed with happiness. Even though we devote vast amounts of time and resources trying to be happier, many of us feel aimless and alienated nonetheless. With depression and loneliness trending upward for decades and the suicide rate rising around the world -- recently reaching a 30-year high in the United States -- it's clear that something is wrong. In recent years, social scientists have been trying to understand what exactly the problem is. What they've found is striking. What predicts the rising tide of despair sweeping across society is not a lack of happiness. It's a lack of something else -- a lack of having meaning in life. In fact, chasing and valuing happiness, the way our culture encourages us to do, can actually make people unhappy.
This set Smith on a journey to understand what constitutes a meaningful life. After extensive research and reporting, she came to see that there are four pillars of a meaningful life -- and she lays them out in her TED Talk. Ultimately, she discovered that the search for meaning is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness -- and we all have the power to build more meaning in our lives.
Smith's articles and essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and The Atlantic. The former managing editor of The New Criterion, Smith is also an editor at the Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where she advises the Ben Franklin Circles project, a collaboration with the 92nd Street Y and Citizen University to build meaning in local communities.
Emily Esfahani Smith | Speaker | TED.com