Most of us do not take the time to develop the ability that allows us to travel through life with dignity. It is perhaps the one ability that we have that the vicissitudes of living cannot take away. It shows us how to find direction and worth in all life experiences, even the ones that are most difficult. It is the art of making meaning.

Meaning making is the art of relating to our deep truths. It is the way we understand these truths and reframe our life experience so that we appreciate its connection to a greater reality. It is the doorway to our inner wisdom. Here is the place where the local and the eternal meet, and where our beliefs and values come alive and hope becomes reality. Meaning making gives us the incentive that we need to draw us forward so that we may live fully.

I learned from working in hospice that it is the meaning of our life that we take home with us when the journey ends. In fact, it may be the only thing that goes with us. Probably the greatest gift that we can give our children is articulating our experience on this cusp where internal and external experiences create meaning for us. It is certainly the place from which we leave our legacy, for here our being becomes one with our doing. So, take the time to nurture this innate ability where you make meaning of your life. It may well be your greatest resource.

The month of May always turns out to be one of the busiest of the year. People I encounter complain about how their days are spent running from one event to another. Several have noted that they long for a little quiet where they can enjoy the emerging warm weather and ignore the frantic pace.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we get so busy that we lose contact with the deep quiet center of ourselves that lives and moves at a slower tempo and has different priorities about most everything? I suspect we do it because we don’t really want to go into that space, for if we did we might be invited to change our immediate focus and listen to our deep inner wisdom. It seems unlikely that we would turn away from what has the most meaning for us, but truthfully we do it all the time. We get distracted by the immediate and loudest demands upon our time, and we love instant gratification. Nurturing the slow growth of the spirit seems to be less important, even as we long for it.

So, what do we do about the situation? Probably the most honest answer is to begin to learn the art of simultaneously living with the two realms. This is not easy to learn, but it does allow us to hear our deeper yearnings and the movement of the spirit. Once we are aware we can have these resources as we go about our daily lives, we can depend upon them to help us determine when we have gone too far with our busy schedules. Having internal permission to stop and step back may be all that we really need to learn to take better care of our whole selves.

Like so many of you, I was startled to hear the announcement from the WHO representatives when they raised the H1N1 flu alert to level 5. It may soon go up to level 6. This is the first time this has ever happened and it is a bit shocking. The ease and speed of the spread of this new flu virus alarms us all. It is a strong reminder that all areas of our global community are within easy reach, and we all are vulnerable. What can we learn from this that we need to remember as we go about our daily living?

One thing that immediately comes to mind is that we are not nearly as insulated and safe as we like to think we are. Our lives revolve in a rather predictable way around family, work, and community. Since daily routines are time consuming we usually do not spend much time thinking in global terms. It takes is an event like the one that is unfolding now to remind us that our insular life is easily impacted by a virus from Mexico. Vacations and air travel ensure that distance is no barrier at all. We are just beginning to understand that illness in any area of the world has the potential to affect the entire world.

Given this, it is increasingly important that we pay attention to the health issues in the global community and offer assistance when there are health threats to any of its members. We will accept more responsibility for eradicating disease in other locations if we learn to see this as enlightened self-interest. Clean water, decent nutrition, and appropriate medications are needed everywhere. Perhaps this latest crisis will help us to understand that eradicating conditions that breed disease will also prevent it. Encouraging prevention and making resources for treatment available beyond our borders is truly in the interest of us all.