Viktor E. Frankl was born in Vienna in 1905.  Between 1942-1945 he labored in four different concentration camps during World War II.  His parents, brother, and newly pregnant wife were also in concentration camps, and all of them perished.  He was the sole family survivor. While in these camps, he realized that no matter who you are, suffering in this life will come to all, in one way or another.  The difference is how we choose to cope with it. While there, he found actual meaning in suffering, and he learned that he needed to move forward with a renewed purpose.  He discovered that our primary driving force in life is not pleasure, but the pursuit of what we each individually find meaning in.  Admist his severe suffering, he found meaning everyday.  He said, “Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the play thing of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of a typical inmate.”

It’s amazing to me that a man such as this would have survived such terrible circumstances.  What was his meaning that helped him survive?  His family was gone and he was a prisoner.  Yet somehow he found  purpose in those horrific times.  Suffering, trials, grief, sadness, heartaches, bad breaks, are part of life.  No one is immune. While I believe that a positive mindset is the ultimate way to live, I am also a realist.  Some of us can’t navigate through hardships with just thinking happy thoughts.  You need to figure out what is best for you to navigate your way through your circumstances.  If you need professional help, then by all means seek it.  We all handle things differently.  But we all have one thing in common, and that is our choices.  We can choose the path that works for us.  We can choose to find a way to heal, and choose a peaceful life amongst the craziness.  What is most meaningful to you in your life? Find out what that is.  When you find it, never let it go.  Go forward and hold tight to your purpose and your meaning.  We are all unique, and I believe each and every one of us has a purpose here on this earth.  Just because you have weaknesses, doesn’t mean you are weak.  When you move forward despite those weaknesses, then that’s where your courageous self shines. Love yourself, love others, find your purpose and meaning, and hope on, always.

“Everyone has a purpose in life, a unique gift or a special talent to give to others.  And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.”-Law of the Dharma

Hope On. Journey On.

Jenna