Why bother: building a meaning practice in troubled times
“Of all the dangers we face, from climate chaos to nuclear war, none is so great as the deadening of our response.”
—Joanna Macy
These words feel true on any day, and especially true on days when our hopes got shattered and we realise that we need to keep doing more work for social change before broken systems, increasing polarisation and deep-seated oppression will be dismantled.
As we navigate life’s challenges, tensions, possibilities and big emotions, it’s easy to lose track of meaning.
Suddenly days seem stale or empty and our bones feel tired. We might feel perpetually deflated or overactivated. If you ask, ‘Why bother?’ - it’s an entirely reasonable response.
Exploring meaning is often part of the inquiries my coaching clients embark on. I’ve learned to be curious when someone asks, Why bother? This question tells us something about the loss of meaning. It could mean that you temporarily misplaced meaning like a set of keys. But it could also mean that you lost meaning some time ago, like an umbrella left behind in a café. And one rainy day you notice that it’s missing.
Meaning is experienced in the small moments scattered across our day-to-day.
Meaning exists between the layers of life’s mundanity and repetitiveness, its highlights and special moments, between our grief and despair, as well as our joy and hope.
“To be a human being among people and to remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent and not to lose heart – that’s what life is all about, that’s its task.”
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A meaning practice helps us not lose heart. It keeps our ability to be a human being, no matter the circumstances, finely tuned.
We can fall back on a solid understanding of how, where and when we can create meaning opportunities, reconnect with our inspiration, hope and vision for living in the face of adversity, pain or disappointment. It also helps us to fine-tune our ability to take note of the small and fleeting moments of meaning that could easily go unnoticed without due gratitude or celebration. It creates a foundation on which we can build a future that has room for individual and collective meaning, wellbeing and thriving.
Reflecting on Meaning is a place where you can form and cultivate your personal meaning practice.
This 4-month online program anchors your practice and reflections in an evidence-based framework, the Map of Meaning®. The Map of Meaning is grounded in over twenty years of research. It’s an intuitive and accessible framework which comes with the necessary flexibility to be tailored to your life and your way of being.
It was a no-brainer to infuse the design of this program with what I know about the dimensions of meaning.
You’ll experience all the ingredients of meaning while you discover the framework and develop a reflective meaning practice that can evolve with you and your life.
How the six dimensions of meaning are reflected in this online program:
A collage version to represent my Map of Meaning.
Practice belonging
Reflecting on Meaning has deliberately been created as a small group program with a maximum of six participants. This provides a space where you can show up with vulnerability and lean into the energy of a group for inspiration, support, care and celebration. Feeling connected is a universal human need and being part of this program is an opportunity for belonging in action.
Making a contribution
A reflective practice is the foundation for showing up in the world with clarity, courage and compassion. It sets you up for making an impact and adding your unique contribution to the world. In this program, I don’t record sessions for privacy reasons and also because I believe that by being present at the live sessions and participating actively each of us will make a meaningful contribution to one another’s meaning practice. We cannot experience the same level of connection through watching recordings. We need community care more than ever and it can start with your contribution in a small group of co-creators.
Meaningful achievement
Developing new skills and a reflective meaning practice are meaning-giving activities in and of themselves. You won’t be following a step-by-step guide or blueprint; instead, you will shape your practice as an expression of yourself, tailored to your vision for life, your practical reality, who you are and who you are becoming. As you get clearer on where you want to direct your energy, attention and focus you will discover how to bring your unique gifts to a world which aches for meaningful achievements in the spirit of collective wellbeing over purely personal gains.
Deeper self-knowledge
Reflective practice and exploring meaning dovetail seamlessly in a meaning practice.
Since meaning is inherently personal, I invite you to shape your own practice which will reflect your values, needs, morals and principles.
This requires us to stay present to views that may be different from our own and remain curious about the way in which each of us experiences meaning and envisages our collective future. This process may not always be easy and depends on the quality of connection we can achieve in a small group. It also benefits from the qualities of arts-based and trauma-informed practice which I bring to all my group programs.
Reflecting on Meaning will help you deepen your self-awareness and tackle life from a place of integrity.
Anchored in reality and fuelled by inspiration
Meaning remains a theoretical exercise unless you consider and accept the circumstances of your real life, with all its imperfections. In this program, we’re holding the tension of envisaging a meaning practice that inspires and stimulates us and implementing it in our life as it is, not in a life imagined.
In the spirit of being anchored in real life, four months are short enough to make committed participation manageable. In the spirit of creating space for inspiration and meaning experiments, four months are long enough to see the initial shape of your practice emerge.
With the rhythm of the 4-month program as your scaffold, you can immerse yourself in a series of experiments to create a practice that feels grounded and is a source of inspiration, a practice that will uplift you, not be yet another thing on your to-do-list.
This program is not a top-down teaching of theory. All our interactions are centred around having hands-on and real experiences in-the-moment.
Reflecting on Meaning starts on 27th January 2025.
I would love to welcome you as a co-creator of meaning during these turbulent times.
To find out more:
Sensemaking Studio is a series of four-month online programs to cultivate a reflective practice in a small group of 6 like-minded Sense Makers.
Each program can be booked individually or you can create your own longer-term program by joining more than one. In each Studio group, we’ll focus on a specific modality, theme or framework to shape and cultivate a personal and sustainable reflective practice.
Reflecting on Meaning focuses on the exploration of meaning and fulfilment in work and life using The Map of Meaning as a framework.
It doesn't matter whether you have a reflective practice or any knowledge of the Map of Meaning. Reflecting on Meaning is a place to be curious about your personal meaning practice.
The program starts on Monday 27th January and finishes on 28th April 2025.
You will join 4 online live sessions (on Zoom, each session is between 1.5-2 hours long).
In-between our live sessions you'll receive video prompts to deepen your practice with self-paced reflective experiments. During the 4-month program, you also get free access to monthly drop-in studio sessions to experiment with some loose guidance from me.
This program is for anyone who wants to start or deepen their reflective practice and create the conditions for meaning, success, change, joy, rest, connection… whatever it is you seek more of.
If you have any questions, please ask them - get in touch!