It sounds like a line from a greeting card, but the idea that success is measured by how many lives you brighten holds up better than it looks: research on meaning keeps finding that contribution, not accumulation, is the part of a life that lasts

Success is measured by how many lives you make brighter is the kind of line that belongs on a greeting card, easy to dismiss as sentimental and slightly too neat. It is worth pausing on anyway, because it names something the research on meaning and wellbeing …