Life of Happiness or Life of Meaning?

There is a time when one should ask themselves that what exactly they want from life, a life of happiness or a life of meaning? The idea is that you cannot have both at the same time because they are two entirely different paths. A life of happiness means a man should only live in present and has nothing to do with the past or future. Earn for today, spend it today, have fun and do not care about relationships (these people are sometimes the happiest soul). But for a life of meaning the man is condemned to wander in the past and to be obsessed about the future. You have to worry about the uncertainities of life and then have to make your decisions based on your past experience. You are wise but then this wisdom has come at a cost. The amount of pain and suffering you have endured has made you like this and you have taken everything inflicted on you just because you believe that all this has a meaning.

Well, a dialogue between Linderman and Nathan (in the pouplar TV series HEROES by Tim Kring) made me think about this topic that what is more important "happiness or meaning"? Well when we say that these 2 are different basically we assume that "happiness has no meaning at all". But I guess it does have a meaning. These 2 are different paths but then the different roles you play in your life, you can always find a trade off to become a better person. Being obsessed about future and carrying the burden of past does not mean that you loose out on the finer aspects of human life or your present. Life is really beautiful and everything has a meaning. Happiness too has one.