It has always been difficult for me to accept my neurotic tendency to see – and even overvalue – everything that could go wrong in the future. Catastrophic thoughts, deeply linked to anxiety, have always seemed an inescapable part of my mindset.

For a long time, I couldn’t see anything good in this kind of thinking, because I only associated it with anxiety and “being an anxious person”. But for some time now, I’ve been reflecting on how, in some way, it also helps me. After all, nature is too wise to create something without a purpose.

My tendency to catastrophize makes me stop, from time to time, to ask myself: who would I be if I lost everything? My family, my home, my friends — basically, life as it is. Because, like a good neurotic mind (!), you learn (often more by observation and rumination than by experience) that practically nothing is guaranteed in this life.

And it is in this exercise that I once again feel genuine and immense gratitude: for people, for the experiences I can have, for material goods and for the person I am. A gratitude not only for the joy of having and being all this, but for the recognition that everything can be taken away from me at any moment — and that’s exactly what makes everything more valuable, rare and special in its essence.

That’s when I asked myself: if all this could be taken away at any moment, what would be left of me? In other words, what is the most essential thing in life — the thing that not even life itself can take away from me?

I could say that family and health are the most important things for human beings. But are they really? Life can take those things away too. And if we can live beyond these losses, even though a large part of who we are is lost with them, then perhaps they are not the most essential.

But then… what is the most important thing in life?

The most important thing is the meaning that we give to our lives. This is what sustains the human soul the most.
And that meaning doesn’t have to be grandiose — but it does have to be real. Whether it’s through connections with other people, creative expression, spirituality, contributing to the world or simply being fully present.

Finding meaning it’s not a fixed point. It’s a living, dynamic and often subtle process. What made sense before may no longer make sense now — and then we find ourselves in a new phase of searching for purpose.

And in order to create and re-signify the meaning of our lives, we need to cultivate four qualities:

• Presence –to understand what is alive in us at the moment.
• Courage –to let go of what no longer makes sense.
• Imagination –to dream up new paths and co-create new possibilities.
• Acceptance –It’s a good way to deal with the fact that sometimes the meaning isn’t clear.

This cultivation is the starting point for assigning meaning to life.

As Victor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaningwrote:

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but by a lack of meaning and purpose.”

“Everything can be taken away from a man, except one thing: the last of human freedoms — to choose his attitude to any circumstance.”

†

Mindset as an Instrument of Meaning

At the end of the day, it’s an open, curious and flexible mindset that sustains these qualities. It is the instrument with which we give coherence, value and purpose to our lives.

That’s why I think mindset is the instrument for the creative support of meaning — and maybe, the greatest form of freedom. It’s also a form of deep self-love. And that’s the one thing that life can never take away from you. It’s what you have the most power over.

Think with me: If life takes away everything you have, what’s left? What’s left is your self-love. The “black box” of your mind, containing all your beliefs, values, attitudes and self-dialogues that shape the way you see the world, yourself and actions towards life’s situations.

These are the so-called personal constructs — and I’ll tell you more about them in this post here.

Final Thoughts

Deep down, perhaps living meaningfully isn’t about having all the answers, but about asking the right questions with honesty and courage. And taking care of our mindset — with presence, curiosity and love — is the most intimate way to honor the life we’ve been given, even when everything around us seems uncertain.

What no one can take away from you is what makes you whole.

And it was in this way — with this mindset — that I came to understand that my tendency to catastrophize the future is not only linked to anxiety, but also to a deep impulse to reflect, reframe and find meaning in life.

With love and purpose,