Arthur C. Brooks’s The Meaning of Your Life builds its framework on established positive psychology research. Positive psychology is a strand of psychology focusing on happiness and helping individuals establish contentment in their everyday lives and amid hardship. This framework “helps to foster happiness and emotional wellness […] by helping people capitalize on their strengths, heighten their gratitude and awareness, connect to others, and develop the wisdom needed to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life” (Marshall, Mallika. “Positive Psychology.” Harvard Health Publishing, 13 Apr. 2023). Scholars typically define meaning through a three-part construct, a model measured by tools like the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, which assesses the presence of meaning in an individual’s life or an individual’s search for meaning. As researchers Frank Martela and Michael F. Steger explained, “Meaning in life comprises three distinct but related facets: coherence, purpose, and significance” (Martela, Frank, and Michael F. Steger. “The Three Meanings of Meaning in Life: Distinguishing Coherence, Purpose, and Significance.” The Journal of Positive Psychology, vol. 11, no. 5, 2016, pp. 531-45).

As a practice, positive psychology leans on ancient religious philosophies, many of which stress the power of self-reliance and self-belief. Modern positive psychologists argue that if the individual knows their true self, they know and understand their values, can live through their personal moral code, and can thus make healthy, lasting relationships and living a fulfilling life. Instead of seeking external rewards or fulfillment, positive psychology urges the individual to seek internal balance and joy. For example, making money, earning a title, or even having children won’t guarantee success if these circumstances don’t align with the individual’s true desires and core beliefs. 

In The Meaning of Your Life, Brooks adopts this scientific scaffolding, stating that “[m]eaning = coherence + purpose + significance” and using a self-assessment to help readers make sense of their distinct identities, tendencies, and aspirations (26). Brooks then offers accessible strategies for understanding and reaching each facet of the “meaning equation”: Coherence might be cultivated through right-hemisphere engagement, purpose through finding a calling with intrinsic motives, and significance through love and service to others. He argues that the marked technological distractions of the modern age diminish presence and misdirect the individual’s search for meaning. His solutions, such as mindful boredom and tech boundaries, create the conditions to rebuild meaning across these three scientifically grounded domains.

The concepts and philosophies at the heart of The Meaning of Your Life are in conversation with other positive psychology texts like Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga’s The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day and Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want.