This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam.

I recently found myself speaking to a group of high school students.

There were lots of questions about the worlds of podcasting and journalism, about the rise of AI,

and about physical and emotional well-being.

But looming over all the questions was the big one.

What should I do with my life?

High school students are not the only ones with that question.

Young adults in college agonize about their majors.

30 and 40-somethings worry about whether they are on the right track.

60 and 70-year-olds look back on their lives and ask, is this all there is?

At every age and every stage, many of us are intimidated by the question of what we should do with the remaining

days we have left. The older we get, the more we realize that time is fleeting. A lifespan

of a few decades is but a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of the planet, to say nothing

of the universe.

How can we spend this time meaningfully?

This week on Hidden Brain, and in a companion story on Hidden Brain Plus,

we explore the science of finding a life that is meaningful.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer for everyone.

But there are scientifically tested ideas about how we can feel more in harmony with ourselves

and the world, and what happens to our minds and bodies when we come to see our lives with

pride and happiness

rather than regret? Imagine for a moment that you've inherited an extraordinarily complex and mysterious contraption, one that arrives without operating instructions.

...