Human beings are natural storytellers, constantly seeking to make sense of the world around them. This process, known as meaning making, shapes how we understand ourselves, others, and our experiences. It is the lens through which we interpret the events in our lives, crafting a narrative that aligns with our beliefs and values. While it is a fundamental aspect of being human, meaning making can sometimes lead us astray when misinterpretations or distortions take hold.
Meaning making is the process of interpreting events, relationships, and experiences to construct a coherent narrative about life. It helps us answer profound questions such as “Why did this happen?” and “What does this mean for me?”
We engage in meaning making both consciously—when we reflect on our actions or ponder life’s big questions—and unconsciously, as our minds automatically categorise and interpret daily experiences. Meaning making is deeply personal, often influenced by our cultural background, upbringing, and personal beliefs.
We do meaning making in a number of ways: through stories, life lessons, other’s experiences and through reflection. It helps us to find purpose, reduce uncertainty, build our identity and to cope with adversity. But just because we can do it, doesn’t mean we will always do it well.
Ideally we want to create supportive meanings, those decisions about ourselves that allows us to freely express who we are. But sometime this process can backfire and we create unsupportive meanings, decision about who and how we are to be that are limiting. Decisions like “I am a bad driver”, “I can’t keep a relationship”, “I’m not worthwhile”.
This unsupportive meaning making stems from not being able to make sense of the particular experience, traumatic or otherwise. We can’t find a way to “tell the story” that allows us to prevail without limitation, without finding ourselves “wrong” in some way.
Why is this important? Unsupportive meaning making anchors us into flight-flight (survival) behaviours because we need to be prepared in case it happens again. While ever we are unable to re-evaulate and resolve the unsupportive meaning, we will continue to manifest the limiting beliefs that come from them and we will move into a state of prolonged survival which ultimately costs us and shows up as symptoms of disease.
Meaning making is both an art and a science. When done well, it empowers us to grow, adapt, and thrive, even in the face of adversity. However, when it goes wrong, it can hinder our growth and trap us in patterns of negativity. Changing your life starts with changing the meanings you have made about your life – by cultivating self-awareness and challenging harmful narratives, you can harness the power of meaning making to lead more fulfilling and purposeful life and it starts with Resolve.
