meaning-making

"It's that essence, that essential quality life that gives us a sense of aliveness. [...] It's far beyond anything we can box up and label in any satisfactory way."

― Mukti Gray on the unknowable nature of the essential self

Each of us are already storytellers, but often we’re not the authors of them.

We are storytellers by default—assigning meaning to our experiences according to the cultural and familial scripts we’ve inherited and missing the chance to choose our own beginnings, endings, and adventures in the middle.

No one lacks meaning in their lives.

What many of us

When fed a chunk of information, a computer processes it in the same way on each occasion, whether it’s been at work for five minutes or five hours, whether it is located in a fluorescent lit office or positioned next to a sunny window, whether it’s near other computers or is the only computer in the room. This is how computers operate.

But the same

Why hadn’t I heard anyone advocate for taking charge of your own story before—for reviewing it, and rewriting it as needed?

Why had no one explained that if you want authority over your own life, you literally need to take the time to author it?

This is why you should start living in your past.

Because the stories we tell about our life experiences

At its core, finding meaning in anything is simply recognising what’s most important to you and valuing it at that level. Meaning can be as simple as loving what you do every day or as complex as striving to leave the world a little better than you found it after you depart this world. The more meaningful your work is to you, the more likely you

That’s when it hit me.

I knew my stories.

Suddenly, I was beating the blank page. The more life experiences I recalled, the more enriched and enlivened I became. It was as though I was just discovering the gifts hidden in my past. I’d never understood the importance of self-reflection. The truth is, life moves too quickly to fully appreciate or craft

knew the fastest way to count quarters by hand, roll them, and exchange them for bills with vendors in the public market where I performed.

I knew how to juggle 5 balls.

I knew how to move quietly backstage during a theater performance.

I had traveled by bicycle across Australia entertaining in town squares, got chased out of the country by local