What’s the Meaning of Life?
In his great book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl said; “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Frankl realized that there’s no meaning to the events of one’s life except the one we give it. We have the responsibility to choose how we respond to any given situation.
Frankl, a man who lost his entire family and barely survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps of WW II, developed this philosophy in the midst of the most brutal experience any human being will ever go through. My contention here is that if he could do it under those circumstances, why can’t we?
Life is full of surprises and we’ve all experienced many things we wish never happened. But, the reality is only very few among us have experienced anything as shocking as losing our entire family and nearly losing our own lives in the horrors of a concentration camp. And if this man can choose his attitude in his situation, we can certainly choose our responses. Don’t you agree?
So, what’s troubling you at present? You got a ticket? IRS is auditing you? Have challenges with your kids? Just had a car accident? Lost your job? Going through a divorce? Most of our worst problems pale in comparison with what 90% of the planet is experiencing now, let alone what happened to Frankl. So, be grateful for all the good things in your life and stop nagging about what’s wrong with it. Because there really isn’t anything wrong with life. It’s just our limited perspective and bad attitude that blow things entirely out of proportion.
DO NOT be a victim to the multitude of petty things that we can CHOOSE to let bother us. Own your attitude. CHOOSE how you will respond to any given situation and see how things begin to change when you change your attitude about them.
What I have learned in my journey through life is that things are never as bad or as good as they appear to be. They fall generally somewhere in between, but we make them worse by the meaning we give them. So, learn how to flip it around and give each event in your life a meaning that will empower you…..and YES, you do have a choice.
Best regards,
Sam
