I think about this question often. Is it love? Giving back to others? Is it having a job that feel purposeful, or (finally) living our lives authentically? Maybe it’s having a connection to something greater than ourselves. This question sits underneath so much of what I teach — how to design our most meaningful lives.

So recently while listening to a podcast with Darryl Anka, who’s channeled Bashar (IYKYK) for over 40 years, I was delighted to hear him answer this question.

He says, life doesn’t come with meaning built in – we are the ones who give it meaning. 

“Without you, life has no meaning, and I don't mean that in a negative sense. I mean it's blank, it's neutral,” says Anka. We are the ones designed to define what it means to each of us, and the meaning we give it is exactly how we’ll experience it. 

He offers the idea that nothing that's happened to you has an outside fixed meaning attached to it — not the challenging years, losses throughout your life, the in-between seasons where you felt stuck (or going in a downward spiral). You get to decide what it means. And that decision has power: the power of responsibility.

Not as a burden, but as the ability to respond. You get to choose how you define what's happened to you, and how you respond to what's happening now. That's not the same as pretending hard things weren't hard. It's choosing what you carry forward from them.

I think about how many of us are searching for our meaning — like it's hidden somewhere, waiting to be discovered. We just need to look harder! But what if it's less about searching and more about deciding. Less "what is the meaning of this season of my life," more "what meaning do I want to give it."

So maybe that's the question to consider this week as we are moving through something in our lives. Not what does this mean, but what do I want it to mean.

📖 Speaking of designing a meaningful life — The Freedom Transmissions Summer Book Study kicks off July 22, eight weeks of Wednesday sessions running through September 16. This whole book is about coming home to who you actually are — not who you've been performing for everyone else. Spots are open now — come join us!

📿 Spiritual psychologist and circle facilitator Paige Appel is offering Feminine Archetype Voice Notes. Guys! These are so cool! This of them as short pep-talks. You can choose from seven feminine archetypes (I downloaded The Queen archetype!) Get one, get some, get on it!

💙 What if disorienting, unmoored periods in our lives aren't problems to fix but invitations to transform? What if surrendering to uncertainty rather than rushing to fill it is what allows something truer to emerge? My friend (and beautiful writer!) Lisa Duffell explores in “The Void.” Be sure to subscribe to her email to keep receiving her Notes from the Nest.

🎇 Everyone is talking about the energy of July. I’ve taken many notes. “… This is a year for turning up the volume on your passions and your creativity — not subtly. It’s a permission slip to take up more space, share your gifts generously, and let your inner ten-year-old take the director’s chair for a while. If it feels like a lot, that’s the point." ~ Chani Nicholas

🍎 Maintaining shame-free pantries for families in need.

Rosie Cataldo is one of those light-holders I am thrilled to highlight. She's a trauma-informed anti-human trafficking consultant, educator, and healing conduit, and the founder of Consult Rosie, where she offers holistic healing modalities and trauma prevention education to help people thrive.

In September, Rosie is leading something that sounds so nourishing and gorgeous: Navigating the Shift, a 6-night retreat in Zakynthos, Greece, September 25–October 1st. It's built around returning to who you were before, who you truly are at that soul level — gently peeling back the layers until what's underneath can breathe again.

The retreat is designed for deeper inner work — nervous system regulation, private 1:1 healing sessions, workshops and guided energy work.. and play! All held at a private villa surrounded by olive groves and the Ionian Sea, with daily yoga led by Rosie's daughter (who's also worked on a Mediterranean sailing crew — how perfect is that) and meals from a private chef throughout the week.

Exchange is $4,444 for single occupancy or $3,333 shared. Learn more here.

About Rosie: It is her privilege to serve as a trauma-informed anti-human trafficking consultant, educator, and healing conduit. Through Consult Rosie, she offers holistic healing modalities and trauma prevention education to help people thrive and soften the impacts of traumatic experiences. If you've been craving a real reset — not just rest, but an actual return to yourself — this retreat was built for exactly that.

REACH OUT TO ROSIE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NAVIGATING THE SHIFT →

→ To be clear is to be kind.

→ Honestly, I don’t know what you’ll think about this, but I’ve watched this several times! And it gave me a big laugh! What? It’s natural. And also, wow!

→ Daddy & Duke. Little heart-warmers.

Join me for Conversations, a space for women who get lit up by spiritual conversation.

We start with a topic, but intuition and the energy of the group decide where it actually goes — that’s the magic of this type of thing. It's live, it's unscripted, and it's small enough to feel like an inviting, inclusive community.

We meet twice a month, and it includes a WhatsApp group so the conversation doesn't just stop when we log off.

$37/month · Sign up for July: Mondays, July 13 & July 27 · Zoom

LEARN MORE ABOUT IT HERE→

💜 P.S. Forward this email to one person you think might like it. That’s how this grows — one light-builder at a time. And if someone forwarded this to you and you’d like to keep receiving it, sign up here.

Find Laurie between issues: Instagram · Substack · Hold the Light podcast

Disclosure: Some newsletters contain affiliate links where I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the “lights” on. (So, thank you!)