Emily Esfahani Smith: There's more to life than being happy
Emily Esfahani Smith: A vida é mais do que ser feliz
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
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
was pursuing happiness.
era sair em busca da felicidade.
to happiness was success,
para a felicidade era o sucesso,
that beautiful apartment.
they struggled with this, too.
também se sentiam assim.
to graduate school for positive psychology
de psicologia positiva
faz as pessoas felizes.
changed my life.
can make people unhappy.
pode tornar as pessoas infelizes.
around the world,
vem subindo no mundo,
a 30-year high in America.
nos EUA, ao ponto mais alto em 30 anos.
objectively better
padrões imagináveis,
gnawing away at people,
clinically depressed to feel it.
deprimido para se sentir assim.
acho que todos se perguntam:
what predicts this despair
o que prediz tal desespero
além da busca pela felicidade?
between being happy
as a state of comfort and ease,
como um estado de conforto e relaxamento,
é algo mais profundo.
Martin Seligman says
Martin Seligman afirma
and serving something beyond yourself
e servir algo além de si mesmo
is the more fulfilling path.
é o caminho mais gratificante.
que encontram um sentido na vida
who have meaning in life,
uma vida com mais sentido?"
interviewing hundreds of people
entrevistando centenas de pessoas
of pages of psychology,
four pillars of a meaningful life.
de uma vida com sentido.
construir uma vida assim,
of these pillars in our lives.
esses pilares em sua vida.
from being in relationships
for who you are intrinsically
pelo que somos intrinsecamente
deliver a cheap form of belonging;
geram uma forma barata de pertencimento:
to cultivate belonging with others.
cultivar pertencimento com outras pessoas.
buys a newspaper
Jonathan compra jornal
simplesmente uma transação.
a transaction, though.
didn't have the right change,
não tinha dinheiro trocado,
and bought something he didn't need
algo de que não precisava
para o dono da banca,
like this without realizing it.
de maneiras sutis sem nem perceber.
and barely acknowledge them.
e mal cumprimento.
when someone's talking to me.
enquanto alguém conversa comigo.
invisible and unworthy.
se sintam invisíveis e sem valor.
you create a bond
criamos um laço
is the most essential source of meaning,
é a fonte mais essencial do sentido,
is the second pillar: purpose.
é o segundo pilar: propósito.
is not the same thing
não é a mesma coisa
que nos faça felizes.
than about what you give.
do que com o que queremos.
her purpose is healing sick people.
seu propósito era curar pessoas doentes.
is using your strengths to serve others.
os pontos fortes para servir os outros.
that happens through work.
isso acontece através do trabalho.
that issues like disengagement at work,
como desmotivação no trabalho,
they're existential ones, too.
econômicos, mas existenciais também.
purpose at work,
de achar propósito no trabalho,
something to live for,
algo pelo que viver,
is also about stepping beyond yourself,
também tem a ver com ir além de si mesmo,
são aqueles raros momentos
the hustle and bustle of daily life,
da correria do dia a dia,
to a higher reality.
a uma realidade maior.
transcendence came from seeing art.
a transcendência veio ao apreciar arte.
and it happens through writing.
veio por meio da escrita.
that I lose all sense of time and place.
perco toda a noção de tempo e lugar.
experiences can change you.
podem nos transformar.
at 200-feet-tall eucalyptus trees
olhassem para eucaliptos de 60m de altura
they felt less self-centered,
de forma mais generosa
of meaning, I've found,
do sentido da vida que descobri
about yourself.
a nós mesmos sobre nós mesmos.
of your life brings clarity.
da nossa vida traz clareza.
how you became you.
como nos tornamos quem somos.
that we're the authors of our stories
que somos o autor da nossa história
a forma como a contamos.
uma lista de eventos.
and retell your story,
e recontar nossas histórias,
who'd been paralyzed playing football.
que ficou paralisado jogando futebol.
Emeka disse a si mesmo:
to weave a different story.
a construir uma história diferente.
my life was purposeless.
minha vida era sem sentido.
a pretty selfish guy.
I could be a better man."
que eu poderia ser um homem melhor".
changed Emeka's life.
mudou a vida de Emeka.
essa nova história,
calls this a "redemptive story,"
chama isso de "história redentora",
cuja vida tem sentido
lives, he's found,
crescimento e amor.
podem mudar suas histórias?
change their stories?
on your life thoughtfully,
marcantes nos moldaram,
da noite para o dia;
and we all struggle.
can lead to new insights and wisdom,
pode levar a insights e sabedoria,
transcendence, storytelling:
transcendência, contação de histórias:
by all of the pillars.
por esses quatro pilares.
from our home in Montreal.
na nossa casa em Montreal.
associated with the whirling dervishes
associada aos dervixes rodopiantes
os sufis vinham a nossa casa
and share stories.
e compartilhar histórias.
serving all of creation
servir toda a criação
even when people wronged you.
quando as pessoas nos decepcionam.
to reign in the ego.
tomar as rédeas do ego.
para cursar a faculdade
of Sufism in my life,
do sufismo na minha vida,
that make life worth living.
que fizessem a vida valer a pena.
had a real culture of meaning.
uma verdadeira cultura do sentido.
helped us all live more deeply.
todos nós a vivermos mais profundamente.
that use the pillars
que usam esses pilares
something to live and die for.
pelo qual viver e morrer.
que nós, como sociedade,
within our families and our institutions
dentro de nossas famílias e instituições
seus melhores "eus".
we're constantly creating our lives,
constantemente criando nossas vidas,
I had with my father.
poderosa que tive com meu pai.
I graduated from college,
that should have killed him.
que poderia tê-lo matado.
o que passou pela sua cabeça
what was going through his mind
was needing to live
que precisava viver
for my brother and me,
to fight for life.
for emergency surgery,
para uma cirurgia de emergência,
de trás pra frente,
the last words he spoke on earth
as últimas palavras que ele diria
he had a reason to live:
ele tinha uma razão para viver:
repeating our names --
repetindo nossos nomes,
why he survived.
por que ele sobreviveu.
something to hold on to.
algo em que nos apoiarmos.
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