How are meaning and happiness related?

These rules for happiness were shared with me a million years ago, though in a different order, which I know because they became a bit of a mantra:

Something to do.

Something to hope for.

Someone to love.

Only in recent years have I realized what a privilege each of those parts is:

How lucky to have something to do!

How luckier still to have something to hope for! to have hope in and of itself!

How very very lucky to have someone (human or otherwise) to love!

**Extra special bonus to feel loved.**

How does all of that privilege affect our sense of meaning?

Is my work more meaningful because I have the foundation for happiness?

Am I happy because I make a meaningful difference in the world to someone?

Where are the intersections for you? or are there intersections for you? Do you see them as distinct and separate notions?

Tell us more.