During a very insightful with a coaching colleague, he kindly took a moment to inquire into my thought process. He had been struck by my use of “create meaning” and had let himself become curious about it.

Stimulated by his question, an exploration unfolded allowing us to learn more about the field between finding meaning and creating meaning.

There is no right or wrong here. It’s true, even if noticing the possibility that there are other approaches can easily lead to questioning oneself. It’s not the point of an exploration.

What I learned from our conversation was how it had been logical for me to focus on creating meaning and consequently found myself with a predisposition to dismiss meaning that simply presents itself to me.

It is one of these typical examples where one’s frame of reference finds itself validated by ongoing events. Creating meaning makes it easy for me to see my thought process being validated as I am using a logic I know and combining ideas I’ve developed. It’s different with thoughts that pop up, these seem to come out of nowhere and need to be validated. In the follow-up process, the excitement of finding an interesting idea will disappear quickly as soon as valid questions appear searching for ways to understand the idea that appeared.

There is nothing wrong with such an approach, it’s one of many ways to think. It’s a choice, even if it had become an unconscious one. Sticking to that choice is a way to avoid finding oneself confused and overwhelmed by too many ideas. However, once it becomes one-dimensional, that is when it rigidly uses one side of the spectrum, it becomes a denial of some aspects of reality.

It’s how becoming aware of one’s thoughts and thinking process can be liberating. Suddenly, a choice becomes accessible and enables choosing how to think. It may not always be comfortable, but it is rich.