Have you ever wanted to know what your therapist has figured out about the meaning of life? I know I have.
Do you want to know how to build more meaning and purpose into your own life?
Perhaps you are feeling vague frustrations with your career or your
relationships, or are feeling that there must be more to life than you are currently experiencing. Perhaps you are at a transition point; moving into or out of college, deciding whether to take a next step in a relationship or career, deciding if you need to move to a new location or make a radical lifestyle change.
Do you want to know how to read your own emotions and understand the difference between a mental health problem that needs a treatment or a problem that requires you to change your life situation?
This blog and podcast is here to help.
Join me, Dr. Dirk Winter, Board Certified Adult and Child Psychiatrist, Cell Biologist, amateur mycologist and meaning seeker as I explore these and other questions.
The Developing Meaning Story
Ever since I was an angsty teenager, I worried about having only a finite amount of time to live, and struggled with how to make decisions that lead to building meaning and purpose in a world that sometimes seems like it has gone mad.
As an undergraduate my interests shifted from philosophy, to economics, and finally toward biology and psychology as sciences for self-examination and improvement. While my primary love was humanities, I felt that ancient debates needed current science in order to replace endless classical debate loops with more definitive answers.
In order to understand myself and my purpose in life, I became fascinated with human development from a neuroscience perspective and decided to pursue a Ph.D. in developmental biology.
Below is a short video that describes how our neurons that underly our brain and mind wire during development. These processes are fascinating …
But they leave a lot of my questions unanswered. Even after I completed a Ph.D. with an interest in neuroscience and human development, I still felt that my career and life lacked meaning and purpose.
After some soul searching and therapy, as well as a life detour in which I became a fungal field biologist project in the El Yunque rainforest of Puerto Rico, I decided to go to medical school and pursue psychiatry, because I felt this approach would be the most satisfying way for me to build meaning and purpose in my own life. I wanted to learn how to treat other peoples’ deepest psychological struggles in large part because I believed that this would help me understand how to create fulfillment and meaning in my own life.
For me this has been an amazing experience. I have encountered amazing mentors, and learned from my patients, peers, and personal therapy.
And yet, I believe that while many psychiatrists and therapists have been able to glean amazing insight and understanding that are widely applicable to alleviating human suffering and helping all of us to build more meaningful lives, we are largely keeping our light under a bushel. There is much more that we could be doing to share our learning and make our knowledge accessible.
The goal of this Developing Meaning Podcast and Blog is to talk with psychiatrists and therapists, and examine books, podcasts, and creative works that expand our understanding of how to create lives that are more meaningful and satisfying.
Disclaimer/Conflict of Interest.
This site has no embedded advertising or promotion. I just want to have fun and find meaning.
My aim is to create an informal, candid discussion, so feel free to email me your questions and opinions, but please don’t take any opinions on this podcast and blog as personal medical advice, and make any medical or mental health decisions together with your own licensed
provider.
DEVELOPING MEANING is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE and NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS, Please talk with your own healthcare people before making any decisions that could impact your help