Meta Description: Discover how subconscious meaning-making shapes your emotional experience—and how to break free from limiting interpretations.
Do you know the difference between events and meanings? Most people have no idea what the difference is. Events and meanings are so fused together that the meanings are subconsciously attributed to the events as though events mean something in and of themselves.
Usually we evaluate events automatically, subconsciously without thinking or reflecting. We just assume we know what an event means. Here are some examples. “She didn’t reply to my text after three days. She must not like me. My boss yelled at me. I am a bad employee. I failed the math exam. I am no good at math.”
What if you started questioning whether those meanings are true? Could there be other possibilities? “She didn’t reply to my text after three days. Maybe she is sick or too busy. My boss yelled at me. He must be having a bad day. I failed the math exam. I didn’t use the solution the teacher showed on the board. He didn’t understand my correct solution.”
You see, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between events and meanings. What happens though is that we decided definitively, in the past, what events meant and our subconscious minds keep supplying the same meanings every time. The brain uses such automatication strategies to save time and energy. If we had to figure everything out anew every time that would use a lot of energy. So the brain invents shortcuts.
What if, however, some of our habitual meanings don’t fit the situation? What if we are making some events mean things that are detrimental to us and that make us suffer? What then?
We would have to deautomatize our meaning-making. We would have to become aware of what we are making events mean. We would have to question the meanings we are assigning. Are they beneficial or detrimental. Then we would have to decide whether to keep the meanings or assign new ones.
If this speaks to something in you, I invite you to download my free guide: Uncovering Meaning. It offers a deeper reflection on the difference between events and meanings—and how to shift long-standing patterns in your emotional life.
