Foundations of Meaning

Greetings Traveler!
Today I want to talk to you about the first place to start with having a life full of authenticity, meaning, and purpose.
 
Firstly, recognize that the predominant societal guidance will not lead you toward this kind of life. It’s generally designed to create low-agency (lacking choices and free thinking) consumers, that produce wealth for the systems (government and big businesses) that cause as little trouble as possible. It does this by controlling the narrative of your life goals. Go to school, get a job, buy shit, (maybe) start a family (to further feed to the system), and work until you die. And that leads two groups of people to my door:
-young people with the sneaking suspicion that the guidance they have been given their entire lives will likely lead them to where they don’t want to be (and unfulfilled life with no sense of meaning, authenticity, or joy)
-older folks, possibly going through a crisis, that followed the default rules until they look around and feel empty with the lives that following those rules have gotten them.

Don’t worry though, as in both cases, the situation is fixable. But we have to do some work, do some deep exploration, and become comfortable with some uncomfortable processes.

So where do we begin?
We leverage conscious and unconscious information about the most important meaning framework in your life: the meaning of you (and your life).
We do this by digging into contemplative aspects of your authentic identity (your archetypes, values, and virtues) while accepting (and documenting) unconscious feedback during the process.
 
We journal all emotionally relevant dreams and “gut feelings” while we explore you in a conscious manner to allow for your subconscious intelligence to express. Your subconscious mind processes around 500,000 times more information per second than your conscious mind, so we collect all “insights” that pop up during our conscious work.

Next, we discuss and contemplate the results of three assessments, to get clarity on what makes you feel most engaged and alive. This is what we start to build your foundation for meaning and authenticity upon.
The first test is the Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator (PMAI) available at https://www.storywell.com. This tool is used to start to clarify what primary narrative motivation for the guiding activity of your life. What intention feels most important for you to dedicate your life toward:
-to heal/help
-To know/discover
-to build
-To create beauty
-To defend
-To trade/create wealth
-To lead (collaboratively)

Why do we limit this to only 7? Well, there will usually be some overlap in archetypes that you blend in your life, but there is usually a primary intention that serves as the driving force of doing something in the world with your time and energy. And at the end of the day, there only so many (evolved) motivations for human activity. There are only 35 different shapes for snowflakes. And there is no inherent value difference between archetypes. They serve as the engine of a meaningful life.
This is where we begin.

Next, we have a Personal Value Assessment (PVA), which is offered some several places, but I like https://personalvalu.es or https://www.valuescentre.com/pva. Your values serve as the general navigation parameters of your journey. Knowing your values helps to navigate you into a life that is in alignment with what is deeply important to you. And when you engage in a relationship or job that is in conflict with your values, you are in for a rough time, like you drive your street car off road. I once had a civilian military contractor offer me a very lucrative job opportunity, that I flat out turned down. Why walk away from to a of money? Because it conflicts with my value of non-violent human interaction. And I know that that money would have eaten me alive inside over time. Similarly, you will have a terrible time trying to make a relationship work with someone who has radically different values to you.

Finally, we examine your virtues and character strengths through the VIA Institute on Character’s strength test https://www.viacharacter.org. This is the framework of your meaningful life and serves to outline what is excellent about you. What super powers do you bring to the table just by being who you are?

This is how we begin our work together. And then we go through a process of exploring and pinpointing what areas make you feel most enlivened. It’s a gradual process that requires consistent effort. But more and more, the problems that you have will feel like good problems. Problems that you draw a deep sense of purpose and meaning from solving. You will feel more and more enliven by the contributions that you make to the world. And you will feel like you are honoring the responsibility that you have to the life that you were gifted.

Until next time.
Be Blessed
Be True