Meaning permeates every aspect of your life—in joy and in sorrow, in the extraordinary and the mundane. By cultivating a grateful perspective and living with intention, you open yourself to discovering meaning in every moment.

This reflective practice is designed to help you find the meaning that already exists in your life.

Step One: Embrace the Gift of Life

Ground yourself in this moment.  As you tune into your life – whatever may feel stable and whatever may feel overwhelming – acknowledge this fundamental truth: Your life is a precious gift.

Now reflect on these questions:

  • Where might I be taking this gift for granted?
  • How am I intentionally acknowledging and expressing what I am grateful for in my life?

Remember, how you respond to the gifts in your life is your choice. But the choice you make will shape your entire perspective and experience of whatever is before you.

Step Two: Remember the Good

Meaning is an “act of remembering”. Continue this practice by remembering what is good in your life.

First, think of a recent joy:

  • What made this moment meaningful to you?
  • How did this experience connect you to something larger than yourself?

Now recall a moment of difficulty in your life. Look deeper:

  • Who or what supported you during that time?
  • What goodness carried you through that challenge?
  • What strength or wisdom did you discover within yourself?

As you remember these experiences, notice how meaning reveals itself not in the events themselves, but in your perspective and the good that you recognize within them.

Step Three: Discover Meaning in the Present

Finally, turn your attention to this very moment. Look around you with fresh eyes:

  • What do you see, hear, or feel that you’re grateful for right now?
  • Where do you sense an invitation to respond to life with purpose?

Remember, meaning isn’t something you need to chase or manufacture. It’s already here, waiting to be discovered. Your task is simply to notice and appreciate it.

May this practice serve as a gentle reminder to pause, reflect, and discover the meaning within and around you. Your life is speaking. How are you listening?

Photo by Jeffery Erhunse


Joe Primo, Grateful Living
Joe Primo, Grateful Living

Joe Primo is the CEO of Grateful Living. He is a passionate speaker and community-builder whose accomplishments made him a leading voice on resilience and adversity. Gratefulness for life, he believes, is foundational to discovering meaning and the only response that is big enough and appropriate for the plot twists, delights, surprises, and devastation we encounter along the way. A student of our founder since his studies at Yale Divinity School, Joe is committed to advancing our global movement and making the transformational practice of grateful living both accessible to all and integral to communities and places of belonging. His TED talk, “Grief is Good,” reframed the grief paradigm as a responsive resource. He is the author of “What Do We Tell the Children? Talking to Kids About Death and Dying” and numerous articles.

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Perspective
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