Creating meaning

I've been reading the book: 'The Van Gogh Blues - The Creative Person's Path Through Depression' by Eric Maisel. The premise of the book is that creative people suffer a different type of depression than others because we spend our days continually questioning the meaning of what we do, our life, and life in general. Our depression arises out of the lack of meaning we find in the world around us or in our own lives (especially when we happen to be suffering a creative slump). The theory is that if we create our own meaning, and articulate a plan as to how to live a meaningful life and do meaningful work, we will have the tools to proceed though the bouts of depression that we will continue to experience whenever we have one of our meaning crises.

To create meaning in our lives we first must ask ourselves what we want our life to mean, what do we want to stand for? When we know this we can then articulate a life plan, what constitutes worthy work, and how our time can be spent meaningfully.

I'm still a bit skeptical about whether or not this will be of help to me, but that I suppose is my nature, being a creative person who questions the meaning of everything, (grin) But considering that I'm no stranger to writer's block, false starts, and the debilitating inaction of self doubt, I decided, what the heck; I'm desperate, I'll try anything. ... Seriously, I do believe there to be some truth in what I've been reading, so I decided to put the theory into practice, and reflect on what will bring meaning into my life. And maybe the next time I have a crisis I can look back on what I wrote and find something that will help get my life back on track.

First entry in my little black book of meaning:

I want my life to stand for love, truth, and open honesty. I believe that living a life by these principles are the only way to make true connections and free ourselves of the bounds of our individual isolation.

To live a meaningful life, I need to both, engage with the people in my life openly and honestly, and have my writing reflect these principles, so that other's may: make a connection, relate, come to an understanding of, and possibly learn from what I've experienced and seen.

My life plan is that I intend to communicate and connect with other's openly, honestly, and clearly, through the perfecting of my creative writing, and subsequent publication of it, and through my interactions with the people in my life, and in doing so, enrich both mine and their lives as much as is possible.

Well, it's a start. I have to flush it out a bit more, but I think it's a good beginning, and it doesn't hurt to confirm your values and try to create a way that what you do with your time is in keeping with what you believe.