Viktor Frankl is the author or the international best-seller Man’s Search for Meaning. In his groundbreaking book Frankl recounts his personal experience in the holocaust during World War II. His mother, father, brother, and pregnant wife were all held captive alongside over one-million men, women, and children.
Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist, had some advantages in that he understood the psyche and how the mind holds an incredible capacity to survive and be positive despite grave experiences. He used his background and his personal desire to disallow anyone to control his thinking, no matter how bad his situation, to keep his mental state as positive as possible.
His now famous quote heralds his belief that while someone may be able to control every other circumstance, they simply cannot control how we choose to think.
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is how I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”
Frankl spent three years in a total of four concentration camps including Auschwitz. He is noted as saying it was his determination to set an intention for what he would do after leaving that gave him the will to survive. He ended up surviving despite the loss of his wife, parents, and sibling.
After surviving the holocaust, Frankl developed Logotherapy based on his time in captivity. Through his experience and helping those around him, Frankl determined that it was man’s desire to find meaning that helped him cope and find a way to psychologically withstand the tortures of captivity.
We can learn so much from Frankl’s experience. We may never have to endure as dire of a situation as Frankl and those who were held captive, but we can honor his plight by taking to heart the teachings he has to offer.
Find meaning and a reason to live. Use your hopes and dreams as fuel to keep a positive attitude no matter how someone else is acting. Even if you are unable to change the situation you are in, you can choose how you react to it.
Our minds are wondrous things, they have the capacity to transport us anywhere. Through the power of our mind, we can transcend negativity and choose positivity. Frankl’s work shows us a pathway and gives us the motivation and inspiration to focus on what’s positive, even when there’s negativity surrounding us.
