Meaning-Making Part 4
March 7, 2025
Meaning-Making Part 4
“Meaning-making" is to intentionally experience that which we most value. For example, I had a meaningful conversation with someone this morning who I mentor and who I value very much. In mentoring this young person, I naturally pass along what I have learned, and because they are someone I cherish, it's a win-win for us both. We explore many issues of his life that I went through at his age. His honest and non-defensive approach to life is refreshing and inspiring. Therefore, my meetings with him have many levels of meaning. The fact that he, too, enjoys and benefits from the interaction adds another layer of value and meaning for me. It reminds me of when I was his age and other wonderful people mentored me. Those were meaningful times and the precious memories of these remarkable people are very meaningful to my soul.
We can meaning-make even when we are by ourselves. I make meaning when journaling because out of my pen come recollections that connect the dots of my life. My journal entries may include a dream, an interaction with someone, or an experience I had long ago.
Wonderful meaning-making happens when Lark and I share experiences with our brothers Trevor and Jay and our sisters-in-law Karen and Phyllis and their families. With families, there is a history that all experiences build upon, and everything has an immediate sense of meaning. However, meaning-making in families can be intentional. For example, all three generations played "Dirty Santa" together last Christmas at Trevor and Karen's home, and the bonding and laughter were priceless.
Since we were young couples together, Lark and I have had meaning-making with Charlotte and Buddy, David and Marcie, and John and Cam. We meaning-make with David and Kate, our family in England, and our nearly life-long friends Jacques and Maria Therese in France. And we meaning-make with the special couple who introduced us fifty-two years ago, Tommy and Suzan who now live in Manhattan. We have meaning-made since our college days and continue with our dear college friends Rodney, Toni Bradley, Krista, David, Katrina, Bob, Carol, Rob, and Sandy.
We meaning-make with the staff and members of ICB every time we are together. We cherish our fellow staffers and have been through many profound experiences as we prepare for and present conferences and programs. And the membership of ICB has networked so much that we members see and communicate with one another in between conferences and intensives.
Many members of The Institute for Conscious Being tell me that they meaning-make at the intensive weekend retreats. They report that they feel safe and can be truly themselves among the seekers at ICB, so they enter into discussions and experiences that they find nowhere else. Such deeper conversations shed light on their own journeys while providing spiritual companionship and hope. Many meaningful relationships have formed because of the meaning-making at ICB events. I have never experienced an intensive retreat when I didn't meaning-make.
Spiritual practice: Allow yourself to reflect on where, when, and with whom you meaning-make.
Self-inquiry: Why does intentional meaning-making require energy and forethought?
Dear God,
I am humbly grateful to all those who bring meaning into my life.
In your name, Amen
