Early in 2006 I received a letter from a friend who was ruminating over what to do with the second half of his life. He wrote that what he would do was not clear, but he was certain it had to be significant--something larger than himself.

My friend is not alone. Over the years I have had several conversations with people who desired to "do something meaningful" or "make a difference" or "leave a legacy." Books have been written with the attempt to answer the question, "What should I do with my life?" This yearning to feel significant is experienced by people who have done little with their lives up to now and by those who can tout a long list of achievements. Success in the form of wealth, position, status, or fame has not satisfied this wanting to matter.

Why is it that we wait until we have lived a half century before we decide to do something that we can label as significant? Does the yearning only begin then? Is it that we begin to think that our time is running out? Is it that we lose our amusement with the capitalistic carousel? Is this mid-life angst just a reflection of our voracious appetite for bigger and better?

Have you experienced the yearning?

You were born to be significant. This life is your one opportunity to shape the world in which you live. You can choose to be a volunteer and shape your world to your specifications, or you can be a victim and let circumstances dictate your design. You can choose to ensure your significance in this world for your whole life or only for a term. that is to say, you don't have to wait until much of your life is past before thinking about the legacy that you leave. The earlier you begin to live meaningfully, the greater the impact you make on your world.

You can never know how long, when measured by time, your life could be. Fortunately, the significance of your life will not be measured by its length. Significance is determined by breadth of experience and depth of spirit--in other words, what you do and why you do it. Your activities and actions and the motivation for them are relevant regardless of how much time you feel you have left in life.

Life is short when measured by the things you can do with it. The challenge, then, is to choose your actions and activities meaningfully. Every moment you give to insignificance diminishes your life's significance. If you devote forty to fifty years of life to things that don't matter, your soul's yearning for significance will become overwhelming. You were born to be significant, and this innate instinct can be ignore but for so long.

This month's message on making the moment meaningful is taken from my newly developed material on the subject. I welcome and invite your comments on its value to you.

Do you have thoughts, feelings, and/or experiences about meaningfulness in your life that you are willing to share with me? Maybe you have a question about meaningfulness. I use the information and questions to develop other messages. Write to dana@danalamon.com.

Please share this month's message with someone you care about who can benefit from it.