“He who has a WHY to live for can bear almost any HOW” –Nietzsche
This is a story of #resilience.
#Viktor #Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning brings insight that even in suffering there is #meaning. He describes his ability to survive in Nazi death camps by focusing on the premise of free will. While everything can be taken away from man, choices cannot. You have the ability and freedom to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances. That does not go without saying that choices do not have consequences, however you are free to choose and bear the consequences that come with your choices.
It is important to understand that what drives resiliency is through creation of meaning and purpose. This is the WHY we work through distress and suffering. How is it that even in suffering you can still serve a purpose? This is the existential question! It is for you to decide. Not deciding is still a decision.
HOW do I work through it?
Do not lose hope, but keep courage in the certainty that #hopelessness of our struggle does not lessen from its dignity and its meaning. I do not mean to glamorize suffering and the place of “stuckness,” rather be firm and secure that suffering takes courage. Avoidance and giving up is much easier.
There is no need to be ashamed of tears, for #tears wear witness that a man had the greatest of #courage, the courage to suffer. This is authenticity in vulnerability and a sign that things matter. Someone looks down on each of us in difficult hours – and would not expect us to disappoint him – so do not hide and disappoint [them] by suffering proudly, not miserably.
Meaning of life in 3 dimensions:
· Creating work or doing a deed
By accomplishment
· Experiencing something or encountering someone
Learning or love
Experiencing something is valuable as achieving
Can be therapeutic because it compensates for our one-sided emphasis on the external world of achievement at the expense of the internal world of experience
· The #attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering
Catherine Trinh, LPC Associate
Supervised by Cynthia Horwitz, LPC-S
