Creating meaningful experiences: Theoretical foundations and design strategies

This article was written for Uncover magazine - Meaningful Leisure Experiences. 

Author: Marcel Bastiaansen is professor of Leisure and Tourism Experiences and director of the BUas Experience Lab.

Memorable experiences
Bastiaansen et al. (2019) articulated the process whereby individuals activate existing mental models to segment their stream of consciousness into experiential episodes. While most of these episodes are perceived as ordinary and therefore have no long-term impacts on individuals’ lives, a smaller subset of experiences produces specific impacts. Research suggests that the most immediate impact of such extraordinary experiences is memorability (Bastiaansen et al., 2019; Duerden et al., 2018). Memories of experiences that accrue over time become part of an individual’s autobiographical episodic memory. However, it is important to distinguish between the mere remembering of an experience and the memorability of it; while an experience may be remembered by an individual, the experience only becomes truly memorable when it is accompanied by strong emotions (Duerden et al., 2018). A variety of factors may contribute to an experience producing emotion in an individual, including novelty (Mitas & Bastiaansen, 2018). Crucially, then, in addition to a process (remembering the experience), a certain experiential quality (the strong emotions which are remembered) is required for an experience to become memorable.

Sources of meaning in life

However, experiencing and remembering strong emotions in itself is necessary but not sufficient for meaning to arise. While philosophers often ask questions pertaining to the meaning of life, questions about meaning in life (put differently - what makes life meaningful and worth living) are typically addressed by psychologists. A review of the scientific psychological literature of the past 20 years on what brings meaning to life reveals that there is considerable conceptual consistency across the different works (e.g. Martela and Steger, 2016). To summarise this consensus, we identify four sources of meaning in life that are quite consistently distinguished:

1. Social connection 
Social connection is an important source of meaning, as it represents a fundamental and pervasive human need. Having strong relationships with family, friends, and loved ones provides a sense of belonging and support, feeding into the meaning aspects of coherence and significance. Having shared experiences, sharing individually lived experiences, or socially constructing meaning through shared narratives at the level of close relatives or communities are all examples of how sharing and establishing social connection with relevant others create meaning. Shared experiences often lead to the development of shared meaning and result in what has been described as communitas or sense of community. It has been proposed that communitas is most likely to emerge in shared rituals and traditions that existed in liminal spaces outside of everyday contexts like work and home life. Due to the liminal nature of most tourism and leisure experiences, communitas that arises from such shared experiences has received significant attention from scholars studying leisure and tourism. 

2. Fulfilment
Connected to the more abstract notion of purpose as defined by Martela and Steger (2016), we see the fulfilment of both short-term and long-term goals, and the fulfilment of ambitions, wishes, or desires as more concrete sources or domains of meaning in life. Reaching pre-set goals is intrinsically rewarding, leading to positive effects and a clear sense of meaning in life. While some authors equate goal pursuit with meaning in life, others distinguish between goals and fulfilment, arguing that the objective pursuit of goals gives purpose and direction in one’s life but that the actual subjective experience of fulfilment is what provides a sense of meaning. 

3. Contribution
Contribution, or the feeling of making a difference in the world is a third and well-established source of meaning. It involves doing something beyond your self-interest, like helping others, doing volunteer work or engaging in other forms of social service. As such, this source of meaning in life is closely connected to the positive psychology concept of eudaimonia. 

4. Growth 
Growth is the fourth and final source of meaning in life - striving to become a better person and to learn new things. Dating back to the original notion of self-actualisation put forward by Maslow, personal growth, including related concepts such as curiosity, identity development, and growth mindset, has been consistently identified as providing a sense of meaning in life. Note that although growth is sometimes confounded with goal setting and goal fulfilment, there is a wide variety of goals that do not necessarily entail any personal growth, and vice versa - personal growth is certainly not always goal-driven.

Reflection as meaning-making process
As said, the memorability of an experience is necessary but not sufficient for meaning to be extracted from the experience. A memorable experience is simply remembered and associated with strong emotions. By contrast, reflection involves a more intentional cognitive unpacking of an experience, which often leads to the articulation of lessons and insights. Lessons are narrowly focused on specific actions that should take place in specific settings (e.g. you should turn off the light when you leave the room) whereas insights tend to apply more broadly and be more self-relevant. Insights are more directly associated with meaning-making than lessons are. 

We draw upon existing conceptualisations of reflection as a process of meaning-making from experience over time. Reflection can occur prior to an experience (i.e. ‘preflection’), during an experience (i.e. reflection-in-action) and after an experience (i.e. reflection-on-action). Reflection, whether before, during or after an experience, allows individuals to remember memories of the experience and extract insights from those memories. Crucially, if individuals connect these insights to one or several of these sources of meaning, they perceive the experience as meaningful. 

In sum, for a memorable experience to become meaningful, it requires a process (reflection) and an experiential quality (the reflection leading to insights that are connected to one or several sources of meaning). Again, it follows that meaningful experiences emerge from a larger pool of memorable experiences. We therefore see a temporal progression from extraordinary experiences to become memorable and then meaningful, as visualised in Figure 1. Go to the full article to view this figure: https://buas.hflip.co/99a7615cf8.html#page/1.

Designing for meaningful experiences
However, reflective thinking is not an automatic psychological function. It has been argued that deliberate reflection is a relatively recent cognitive adaptation rather than an ingrained evolutionary trait. Many individuals pass through emotionally intense experiences without extracting meaning because they fail to engage in the reflective processing necessary to transform raw memory into integrated narrative. Notably, everyday experiences can be fertile ground for meaning if approached reflectively. A family dinner, for example, may seem routine. Yet, if participants are encouraged to reflect on the bonds being reinforced, traditions being honoured, or growth being witnessed, such experiences can assume profound significance. The extraordinary potential of ordinary moments highlights the potential power of reflection in meaning-making. This insight has critical implications for fields such as tourism, education, healthcare, and management, where experience design can intentionally scaffold reflection to enhance meaningfulness.

Given this theoretical foundation, practical strategies can be developed to enhance the meaningfulness of designed experiences. These strategies can be deployed at three distinct moments in time. Prior to the experience, 'preflection' activities - such as goal setting, value clarification exercises, or expectation discussions - prime participants to engage more deeply. During the experience, facilitators can promote savouring, mindfulness, and intentional engagement to heighten emotional activation. Following the experience, structured reflection activities - such as storytelling, group debriefs, journalling, or creative expression - enable participants to articulate and integrate their insights. Examples of targeted design strategies for creating meaningful experiences are given in Table 1 - but many more such strategies can be considered. Go to the full article to view this table: https://buas.hflip.co/99a7615cf8.html#page/1.

For instance, in tourism, designing journeys with curated moments for introspection - such as guided walks, narrative-sharing circles, or personal challenge activities - can increase the likelihood that travellers extract meaning from their adventures. Educational programmes can incorporate reflective writing assignments, portfolio development, and mentorship relationships to transform coursework into personally meaningful milestones. Healthcare experiences, particularly in chronic care settings, can integrate narrative medicine approaches, inviting patients to construct meaning from their health journeys.

Evidence supports the effectiveness of these strategies. Duerden et al. (2023) found that experiences intentionally designed to evoke emotion, prompt reflection, and/or facilitate personal narrative construction were significantly more likely to be rated as meaningful by participants. Moreover, participants reported enhanced life satisfaction, resilience, and engagement following such experiences, underscoring the enduring benefits of meaning-making.

The meaning of meaning
Meaning provides an existential framework that sustains motivation, acts as a buffer against despair, and anchors personal and social identity. Experiences that cultivate meaning thus contribute directly to individual thriving. But the implications of our theory and the research agenda that results from it extends beyond individual well-being. Societies that facilitate opportunities for meaningful experiences - through education, community engagement, work design, and leisure activities - are likely to foster citizens with greater psychological resilience, civic engagement, and life satisfaction. In an era characterised by technological distraction and superficial engagement, the deliberate cultivation of depth and reflection in experience design represents both a moral imperative and a strategic opportunity.

In conclusion, while emotion makes experiences memorable, reflection makes them meaningful. By linking experiences to core human needs - for connection, growth, achievement, and contribution - individuals weave the fabric of a life imbued with coherence, purpose, and significance. Intentional experience design, grounded in empirical evidence and psychological theory, holds the power to transform transient moments into enduring milestones of personal and collective meaning. In doing so, we honour not only the richness of human experience but also the potential for individual and societal flourishing.

Sources

• Bastiaansen, M., Lub, X. D., Mitas, O., Jung, T. H., Ascenção, M. P., Han, D.-I., Moilanen, T., Smit, B., & Strijbosch, W. (2019). Emotions as core building blocks of an experience. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(2), 651–668.
• Bastiaansen, M., & Duerden, M. D. (2024). Conceptualizing Meaningful Experiences. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research.
• Duerden, M. D., Lundberg, N. R., Ward, P., Taniguchi, S. T., Hill, B., Widmer, M. A., & Zabriskie, R. (2018). From ordinary to extraordinary: A framework of experience types. Journal of Leisure Research, 49(3–5), 196–216.
• Duerden, M. D., Hodge, C. J., Melton, K., Ward, P., Bagley, M., Anderson, L., Meredith, T., Rushton, A., Eggett, D., Lacanienta, A., & Widmer, M. A. (2023). Empirically testing the experience type framework. Journal of Leisure Research, 1–26.
• Martela, F., & Steger, M. F. (2016). The three meanings of meaning in life: Distinguishing coherence, purpose, and significance. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 531–545.
• Mitas, O., & Bastiaansen, M. (2018). Novelty: A mechanism of tourists’ enjoyment. Annals of Tourism Research, 72, 98-108.