Most people live unfilled lives, lacking purpose and meaning.

Studies show that 20% of US adults report experiencing a midlife crisis

That's roughly 70 million people.

You don't lack meaning because you're broke. You lack meaning because modern Western culture didn't teach you how to access the four meaning-making systems.

The four meaning-making systems that we as humans beings have access to are:

Heart

What I refer to as "heart" are our emotions and desires—what we really yearn for rather than what we're told we ought to want. Each emotion we feel contains within it a personal truth that if we feel through, we can access and understand ourselves at a much deeper level

What happens when we ignore this meaning-making system?

• We create emotional suffering such as anxiety, sadness, or resentment when we betray the heart's authentic yearning. This can happen from staying in unfulfilled relationships or jobs to please others.

How can we honor this meaning-making system?

• Identify moments in your life of joy and passion. These are clues toward your true path in life.
• Honor your feelings without judgment and make decisions that feel emotionally congruent

Mind

The mind is often shaped by cultural conditioning and false beliefs that can lead us astray from the core of our being (the essential self).

More often than not, the mind or intellect becomes dominated by the left-brain, to the point of near exclusion of the right-brain.

In the book Dante's Divine Comedy, Dante finds himself in the middle of his life lost in a dark forest, led astray pursuing what others told him he ought to pursue.

If you find yourself without meaning, chances are your mind has led you astray (to no fault of its own).

To align this meaning-making system, it's helpful to question your beliefs (old and new ones) as well as conditioned and programmed beliefs from culture and society at large. Shine light on these beliefs and see if they're really true.

Accessing the meaning-system of the mind reveals iftself as if the pieces "making sense", or "the math check outs." These are common phrases that we've created alignment in this meaning-system.

Spirit

By spirit, I mean the core of being. For modern, rational materialists, this likely comes across as woo woo. Don't like the word spirit? Try this one: consciousness or awareness.

To access this meaning-making system, we need to live authentically. This often requires embracing the uncertainty of life, and trusting (and living from) the core of being itself.

We experience inner knowing, guidance from intuition, joy, purpose, and freedom when this meaning-making system is online. When it's offline, we feel it as a lack of freedom.

Body

The body is a truth-telling device. A physical system that can literally distinguish what is true and what is not true based on physical sensations. If you've never used your body in this manner, it is rather mind-blowing.

Physical sensations like fatigue, tension, or unease act as indicators of disconnection from our true path.

And our bodies are communicating this to us all the time.

When we ignore these signals in order to conform to conditioned expectations, long enough, the body will manifest stress and illness.

When we are in alignment with our true path, the body will feel relaxed and free of tension and contraction.

Your body is your guide to reclaiming your integrity.

Notice how certain choices feel in your body. If they make you contract, it's a sign it's out of integrity for you. If they make you feel relaxed or release tension, it's a sign they're in integrity.

The first step to tuning into the wisdom of your body is this: become aware of what you feel regularly throughout the day.

Modern culture encourages us to:

• Listen primarily to the mind.
• Perceive the heart as "soft skills" that can help with promotions.
• Doubt the reality of spirit—it's simply an "epiphenomena."
• Treat the body like a vehicle to take your mind from conference room to conference room

It's not wonder we are going through a meaning crisis.

Rather than living from the mind, start listening to these meaning-making systems and start prioritizing them in this order:

• Body → heart → mind, spirit

Do this and you will access more meaning and more purpose.

-Alex