meaning making and social networks

Meaning making is a very interesting concept. One of my favorite books of all time is Victor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning." Victor was a well-known and respected Jewish Psychologist who was born early in the 20th century and lived in Eastern Europe where he went to school and practiced his work.  He, like so many other poor victims, was abducted and put into concentration camps to do work-labor during the Holocaust. This makes me sick every time I think about it: how innocent people can be put into such unthinkable circumstances, for utterly no reason. How could you even exist if you happened to make it out alive without having such deep hate, post-traumatic stress, or lack of self? I know these are things that I would certainly struggle with, if not everyone, should we have gone through something similar....however, not Victor. No, Victor, even in his moments of deep despair, suffering, helplessness, isolation, he found a way to make meaning....because he understood, that with meaning making, life continues on no matter what the circumstance. Pretty hard to picture, but this man had the strength and courage to put himself into a place where he knew, that no matter what happened, how cold he may have been, how lonely he felt being away from his wife, that if he could just vizualize what life WILL be like after he gets out, because he believed in getting out, gave him MEANING, and thus, his life. You know, it was stated in his book that the men and women who gave up on meaning making, and visualization, soon came down with viruses and illnesses that eventually were their demise. Meaning making, according to Victor, saved his life...and believes it is the essence of life itself.

Whew....!! Fast-forward to present moment.......pause......meaning making......does it exist today? How about social interactions and are they meaningful and productive?

Now some candid thoughts:

I believe, meaning making is why we exist…we want to know that someone believes in us and who we are as individuals…I definitely feel isolated, as odd as that seems, with today’s social media offerings because I feel forced to ‘keep up’, rather than interact in a meaningful and productive way…I played sports, and do triathlons, and from this my strongest bonds have been created, yet once I go home, and get on my computer, I find I do not have a means to continue that interaction…that is why I launched http://www.heynelly.com, which is a team-based social utility that automatically connects people on the premise of team…be sure to visit, and if you do not see your team, please create one…we think this will bring meaning to this specific type of connection teammates or group members experience.

In honor of Victor, I pledge to make meaning, and create meaningful interactions everyday. How will you create meaning today?