Transcendence

This isn't the easiest virtue to tackle, simply because this value means different things for different people! Some people will find happiness and meaning through religion, while others will find meaning without it. Some will want to find it through their profession and others will look to their family. No matter how you want to find meaning, you need to develop that sense of purpose that will drive everything you do and make your life worthwhile.

Some readers will want to improve on this after they tackle some of their more fundamental problems, but those who can't find the motivation to improve their lives, or have started their studies in virtues with a goal to find meaning or overcome depression in mind will want to give transcendence more expediency. No matter where you are, however, you will need to face the greater meaning of your life sooner rather than later.

Most of the traits under transcendence involve making everyday life more enjoyable on a higher level. Spirituality, on the other hand, involves finding the greater goals and ideas that will serve as a backdrop for your days, months and years. If you are not sure about the good you can accomplish with your life or are feeling down in general, you might want to first work on the skills that will make day-to-day life more enjoyable and also give you the motivation to try your best. If you are living well from day-to-day but are troubled because you feel your successes has no meaning, you will want to focus more on your spirituality. Whatever the case may be, you might not be able to do the work you need to improve your life if you are not excited about its potential and destination.

Success in a lot of these goals is simply based on changing your attitude. If you can try to push negative thoughts (that serve no purpose) out of your head, you will naturally have more hope and develop a better sense of humor about the world around you. If you develop the attitude to enjoy and improve the life you have rather than construct the ideal world that you (or others) have envisioned for you, you will be much more open to living a life in a way that is transcendently happy.

The other task you have on the journey to transcendence is a lot of self-evaluation; you need to learn to see your life for what it is, along with all your faults and good traits, and not give into the urge to justify your shortcomings or beat yourself up over your faults. It is indeed know you are an imperfect being and still love yourself and have hope for your future—learning how to do this is, in fact, essential for almost any growth. Once you know your potential and where you need improvement to reach that potential, then you are better prepared to construct a greater goal and life-story that you will use to give your life meaning. If this doesn't make full sense now, don't worry, it will be explained in detail later.

While trying to achieve this virtue, you will be benefited by taking the time and energy to experience life and enjoy new things. You will also benefit from keeping a record, not only to track your progress like we advocate throughout the rest of the site but also for constructing the story that you will use to ponder over your life and give it purpose.