I don't think meaning is found in huge, external ways. I think it is the daily engagement in small ways that reflect one's personal beliefs/values through which we create a meaningful life. Action motivates: the active participation in our own lives creates the full expression of the meaning. The usefulness of a daily practice--whether it is religious, meditative, reflective, or behavioral--is often that it provides a space within our consciousness that allows our inner talent/desire to come to consciousness.

There are a lot of memoirs in which people describe the daily rituals that have led to such awareness. For me, such moments are clearest through engagement with nature/animals. While I'm not religious, such practice encourages a spiritual consciousness that enriches my life. It facilitates the letting go of life-negating emotions and dysfunctional control, and invites self-acceptance and joy.

Therapy helped only to the extent that it removed the obstacles to engaging in this way, and gave me an experiential model for the positive emotions that were possible.