If we knew the future, we’d sign up for 10% of our experiences tops, 10% of our acquaintances perhaps, 10% of entertainment tops, 10% of knowledge, 10% of effort – and to those 10% we’d choose we’d give our best, and it would be a truly satisfying life. We’d leave parties earlier, sleep more, give ourselves enough rest, enough time to digest information and process our feelings about it.
Unfortunately, we’ve been misled about what a meaningful life is and that quantity almost never lives up to its hype and we haven’t been taught how to detect, appreciate, and grow quality. What may be significant reveals itself by trial and error, piece by piece. Some kind of manual to draw from would be so useful!
Of course, there are many philosophers, neuroscientists, meditators and sacred traditions that have offered answers to conduct, cause and effect, and sustainable contentment. In almost every craftmanship, there are criteria about what quality is and how to discern quality from shoddy production. Nutritional science can answer what’s healthy versus what will tamper with your health. Time management and organizational coaches can maximize your 24 hours in a way that follows your own rhythm, needs and lifestyle and tailors your schedule to your priorities.
When it comes to creating durable well-being, the individual is told to figure it out, or to hire experts. But we have very little formal education on how to go about it — while there’s hardly a more important topic in life. It’s helpful for children to dwell on it early, to visualize a future for themselves and to know that they have agency. Even if they find themselves in situations of dysfunction and doom, a contrasting message at school can trigger thoughts like “Perhaps I can do it, after all. Perhaps I can do it in a different way. Perhaps there’s a solution for me that I haven’t considered so far.” Or open the mind to “My imagination is green and blank now. But I can exercise it, and I’ll learn how.”
28 February 2026
Nanda Jurela 