Meaning is already here, and therefore doesn't need to be recreated.
You are certainly right, in that we believe that thought creates. Truth is, thought is an effect.
Our perceptions of the world are effects.
Effects of what and how we are truly feeling inside. And sometimes, that's a very difficult pill to swallow.
We live in a world that believes in good and evil. Our ideas of good and evil is source from how comfortable and uncomfortable we feel about... well, anything.
We also have this idea that to be happy, you have to control your external environment. If someone annoys you for example, you tell them to shut the fuck up. Or worse.
We rarely look inside ourselves because to how much discomfort it feels doing so.
And it's very uncomfortable doing so because we've been suppressing how we truly feel since we were kids. We noticed very early in our lives that the world doesn't value authenticity, just happiness. We noticed that we as kids weren't given attention because of our authenticity, only when we "fell in line", so to speak. So we supressed how we really felt, which we have now mastered.
Sounds like it's therefore our parents' fault we're like this right?
Except it isn't. They did the best they could with the tools they had. We were shown (and are following) the highest road available to us from our parents. Who were shown the highest road available to them from their parents. Who were shown the highest road available to them from their parents. Who were shown the highest road available to them from their parents...
etc. etc. etc.
There's therefore no one to blame.
No one.
So the first step is self-awareness. Since we've suppressed how we truly feel, it seems to us that the world is happening to us, rather than because of and/or through us.
For example, a common theme in this thread is that life is meaningless.
Now think back to when you typed this here. how did you feel?
How did you really feel?
To go a little further, where did you feel this? In your body? Outside your body? Where in/outside your body did you feel it?
Now, could you observe what you're feeling without judgement, without any conditions, without wanting it to go away? Could you observe your feelings as you go through your day/life like you would observe a bird on a tree doing its thing?
Or even a little easier, notice how your inner voice sounds like as you read this. Does it sound it cheerful? Frustrated? Nonchalant, etc?
This is where things seem a little New Agey: emotion is energy in motion. Anytime we feel a "negative" emotion, it's because the energy has been blocked from moving. By just observing how we truly feel, we give emotions attention, and therefore permission to move.
And emotions move at there own accord, in their own time, in their own path. You will never figure out or analyse (anal eyes) how it's gonna move. You're just gonna feel. And the world changes around you. When you least expect it.
What we as a species are coming back to realise is that emotions are the source of your life experience. We're coming to realise that the reason we suppressed and tried to control our emotions is because we found that emotions cannot be controlled.
Causal points cannot be controlled. They can only be left to be.
It's like our current economic situation right now. The source of all economies is the boom-bust cycle. If you're going though a boom, you're gonna go through a bust, and vice-versa.
And we feel the effects. The banks collapsed. And we blame them for our recession because what we wanted was an infinite boom.
It just so happened that the collapse brought us face-to-face with just how dependent we are in them, and we got scared shitless. But because of our persuit of infinite happiness (which is impossible), we suppressed our fear, and blamed the banks.
Except they're not to blame. No one is.
A boom never lasts. And neither does the bust. Especially when we embrace the bust, since it's part of the source.
It's the same thing with out emotions, especially when they're blocked, or as we say "negative". If we feel negative, we can allow ourselves to feel negative, as long as we don't suppress how we feel, nor do we take it out on others, particularly when other trigger us to feel that way. By allowing ourselves to feel whatever we're feeling - comfort, discort, no feeling - we operate from the source.
And source isn't about results. It's about cause and effect - consequences.
This is something we as a species are all going through. Because we can't get around this, or run away from it. We've been running away from your fear, anger and sadness for God knows how long, and it's come back in full force in order to be noticed. And it comes via events that trigger a lot of discomfort, e.g. 9/11, the War on Terror, political grodlock, the economic crash, the tsunami, the hurricanes, etc.
And we can't hide. The only we can do is feel without condition.
The way out is through.
Edit: this is longer than I thought it would be...