One True Thing

Life's questions, big and small.

Jennifer Haupt is writer based in Seattle, Washington. She has written for O, The Oprah Magazine, Readers Digest, and The Christian Science Monitor. See full bio

What's your one true thing?

What's your one true thing? God, love, and meatballs.

Published on November 11, 2009

Whether it's God, love, or eating a meatball a day, we all need something to believe in. Obviously, there’s no right answer. I do believe, however, that everyone has a personal truth (or one every month in Oprah’s case) that keeps them believing in something more, hoping for something better than the verifiable facts of life. Or, for some, it’s more of a question about what really is true that fascinates them. (For example, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's bestseller Superfreakonomics, which examines questions about everything from why prostitutes are like Santa, to the truth about global cooling, to why suicide bombers should buy life insurance.)

This blog is my excuse to ask people who have an interesting take on sex, relationships, religion,reducing stress, faith and more what their one true thing is and how it shapes their journey in life. For starters, I decided to poll my community of more than 2,400 Facebook friends and here’s some of what came back:

Find a Therapist

Search for a mental health professional near you.

Find Local:

There were some lovely, but not unexpected answers:

God's love.
Love.
We’re all connected
God is. (IMO, different than the first answer)
Life is short.
Unconditional love (IMO, different than #2.)
This is it.
Gratitude works.

Then there were the slightly unexpected:

The only thing that is permanent is change.
The only truth is “I don’t know.”
We are all stars, but not celebrities.

And the very unexpected.

We all eat, therefore we all poop.
If you eat a meatball each day for 100 years, you will live to be 100 years old--at least!

Okay, maybe there’s not just one true thing. Maybe it doesn’t matter whether it’s about God or meatballs. For me, it’s all about asking the question and seeing what happens next.