‘I’m not a good cook, so I save everyone and no longer try to cook.’
‘I have a short temper. My whole family has short tempers. It’s genetic.’
‘This situation isn’t going to change so why fight it?’
‘Poor darlings - their father is an addict. I wonder what their addictions will be.’
We’ve all heard variations of the above statements – predictions of the future based on beliefs about the current state. They are the thoughts that become the prisons in which we place others and ourselves. All of them reflect a lack of belief in the meaning and purpose filling the life of each person on this earth and their ability to rise above and use their current situation in service to that greater meaning and purpose.
Dr. Viktor Frankl, a world-renowned Jewish psychiatrist, observed these prisons of the mind while experiencing the harsh realities of the Nazi concentration camps. They were often the only difference between those who survived the camps and those who did not. These observations became the basis for his seminal work Man’s Search for Meaning, the text on which Alex Pattakos based Prisoners of Our Thoughts.
Why do you believe that you are here? When life is particularly challenging, how do you understand your trials? Do you see them as opportunities to expand your understanding of your life’s purpose and meaning? Or do you see them as another in a long line of struggles and problems that you just need to get through and hopefully there will be something better on the other side? Have you given up on the idea that there could be something better on the other side? These are the questions that we are tackling.
The challenge for week 1 – identify in a sentence what is your life’s meaning or purpose.
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