From Searching For, to Building Meaning

  The world is becoming busier and more complex. In these situations,it's a good idea to find out what's happening in your life, and to make peace in your heart. This sounds very sappy, but if one thinks about it, only they can really affirm their own existence as meaningful in the world. And through that process of affirming meaning, one can also begin to see life--any kind of life, in fact---as a valid building of meaning.
   Now why did I change the metaphor from "search" (a common one) to that of building meaning? It's because more and more, I am starting to see how narratives affect the way we can function in the world and understand how the world works. Even the idea of "how the world works' is a construction, and there is no end to that sense of constructing the world. But to know that one's meaning is constantly created is to be vulnerable to uncertainty: who knows where that sense of meaning is going to come from next? All we can guarantee is that we will be kind to ourselves and offer something that is unconditional, no matter what spaces one inhabits in life.
  The other reason for the shift to building meaning is that it places the onus on me to build and foster a sense of meaning. I think this is quite valuable because trying to tell someone else that they are the arbiter of my worth or value is my decision, not the other person's choice.