lives by contributing to the solution of pressing global issues through occupation-based initiatives.
To navigate towards a solution of meaninglessness in peoples’ lives, occupational therapists must also develop a useful framework that they can use to guide their clients in meaning-making through occupational performance. This book is designed to contribute towards meeting these objectives. Its purpose is to help occupational therapists and occupational scientists think of new ways of applying their knowledge of the nature, form, and function of occupation to help all people, not only the sick and disabled, develop strategies to overcome their existential vacuum and in the process, resolve either the problem of meaninglessness in their lives or recognize and begin to address the social origins of the experience of meaninglessness. It is hoped that this book will offer occupational therapists and occupational scientists useful guidelines that they can use to be effective consultants in helping people orchestrate daily occupations in such a way that their work, self-care, and leisure occupations contribute towards an experience of positive emotions, creation of positive identities, connection to something larger than themselves, and ultimately towards experiences of life as optimally meaningful.
Part 1
In chapter one, we examine the definition of meaningfulness from multiple perspectives. The purpose of the chapter is to help clarify what the constructs meaningfulness and meaninglessness precisely mean, so that as therapists using the book help people organize their occupations to enhance meaning in their lives, they are able to identify indicators of meaningfulness that they can use to measure the effectiveness of chosen strategies.
However, an intellectual definition of meaningfulness is not enough. It is important to find out what people perceive to be meaningful in their lives. To achieve that objective, we analyzed autobiographies published by a community of “worker writers” in England using heuristic interpretive methods, with a view to teasing out what these individuals perceived to be the meaning of their lives and how they saw their daily occupations contributing to that meaning. Our findings of the analysis are reported in chapter 2. By understanding the experienced phenomenon of meaningfulness/meaninglessness as described by “worker writers”, we set the stage in this chapter for the content discussed in subsequent chapters.
Based on Frankl’s (1992) postulation that meaning in life derives from love for someone or something, creative activity, appreciation of beauty and art, connection to something larger than ourselves, and moral integrity, in chapter three, we embark on an exploration of how human beings have gone about, through the ages, searching for meaning in their lives. Frankl suggested that part of the cause of the existential vacuum in our times was disconnection from the natural environment and from traditions, including religious practices. Therefore, in chapter three we examine how culture and social norms, religion, and philosophical and scientific inquiry, are used by many people as vessels to convey them to an experience of meaning in their lives. This theme is continued in chapter four where we examine how occupations fit into meaning-making endeavors by grounding one in culture, religion, and social life.
Part 2
In the second part of the book (consisting of chapter 5), we explore the notion of occupations as media for meaning-making in life. We bring all the constructs discussed in the book together by examining how occupations are used as means of meaning-making by helping people develop the needed skills and accomplish developmental tasks at each stage of life. We also discuss how these occupations are grounded in the vehicles of meaning (culture, religion, social life, and philosophical/scientific inquiry) as discussed in chapter 3.
Part 3
In the third part of the book, consisting of chapter 6, we present a framework that can be used to guide individuals in structuring their occupations so as to optimize the sense of meaning in their lives.
Part 4
Finally, in the last part of the book consisting of chapter 7, we conclude our discourse with an examination of how major global issues such as climate change, poverty, and material inequalities are not only caused by human occupational performance, but also can be resolved through change in such performance. We argue that occupational scientists and therapists can broaden their scope of influence by finding occupation-based solutions to these issues. This can be achieved by helping people achieve optimum meaning in their lives by changing their occupational behavior in such a way as to contribute to amelioration of these issues, and in the process to experience themselves as contributing to a cause that is larger then them (in the process, helping them achieve a sense of transcendence through occupational performance).
Introductory case
Sarah is 38 years old, married, and she and her husband have 3 children. She is a college professor by profession. Her worker and mother roles take most of her time. For leisure, she likes to exercise, particularly running. She competes annually in the marathon and thinks that running is good for her physical and mental health, enhances her productivity at work, and gives her energy to take care of her children. Her religious faith is also a big part of her life. She says that attending church every week and engaging in activities to foster her faith, and to bring up her children according to church teachings are all very important activities for her. She enjoys watching sports, participating in outdoor activities, and maintaining connections with her extended family.
Sarah states that what gives her life meaning includes: participating in marathon competition; being a good mother and wife; attending church and engaging in other religious activities; watching sports on TV; engaging in outdoor activities; maintaining contact with her extended family; and having a meaningful career that gives her a feeling that she is doing something worthwhile with her life. She feels that because she is able to engage in all the above occupations, she experiences her life as meaningful, and that everything that she is doing has a purpose or a meaning behind it. She sums up her perception of what gives her life meaning as follows:
I think that comes back to whatever I am doing, that I am giving everything that I have to it, that I am putting my best effort into whatever I am doing. It comes back to faith because that’s one of the ways that I demonstrate what my God wants me… that’s how I demonstrate that his love for us is to do everything in our day for him.
Sarah creates meaning in her life by: engaging in leisure occupations that make her feel competent (competing in the marathon); participating in activities that facilitate connection with other people including extended family; loving her family; connecting to a reality that is larger than her (her religious faith), and engaging in a profession in which she feel that whatever she does is worthwhile, that she makes a difference in peoples’ lives. All the above are postulated by Viktor Frankl (1992) as criteria for a meaningful life. In this book, we will use Frankl’s principles as outlined in logotherapy to examine how people can be guided to use their daily occupations to make their lives meaningful just like Sarah’s life as described above.
In addition, because this book is about using occupations in new ways to enhance health and well-being for all people (not just those who have clinical diagnoses), in the final chapter, we offer our thoughts regarding the direction in which occupational science and occupational therapy can go in order to contribute more broadly to addressing broad social concerns. We hope that the ideas presented in this chapter will encourage debate in the profession of occupational therapy and the discipline of occupational science regarding how to join other scientific disciplines in engaging the population to solve major social challenges of our times.
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