Q 1: Dear Todd, how do I accept that life has no meaning? Don’t we have to have a purpose in life?

Q 2: Dear Todd, I find myself depressed because of the realization that is no true meaning or purpose to our lives. Everything is neutral until we assign it meaning. Therefore everything is pointless, without purpose, including suffering and pain, including love and joy. Can you help me reframe this?

TODD ANSWERS: That is perfectly normal to question purpose and meaning. Our thinking minds are incredible analytical machines. They want to put every experience into a box to try and understand and make some kind of order out of the events in our lives.

But it is always this thinking mind when run amok, that causes these problems. When out of control, when thinking without focus or intention, our minds create problems. When we develop presence through practice, we will see and appreciate beauty, we will find it everywhere, and we will be filled with feelings of gratitude, love, and peace. Only the thinking mind wants more, wants answers, wants what it can’t have. If we shift from thinking to awareness, we find that meaning is in every moment but that it is us who create it.