After a brief guided mediation, we had a great evening discussing Viktor Frankl's Theory of Meaning. The three basic concepts that all humans share are: life purpose, attitude, and suffering. He believes that all humans suffer but it's the attitude we choose to apply to that suffering and finding meaning in it that leads us to our life purpose. Dr. Frankl had developed his theory some time before being interred in Nazi Concentration Camps where he lost his entire family except for one sibling. It was here that he tested his theory and found those that found meaning in their unbelievable suffering were the ones to literally survive. Helping another in any small way to alleviate their suffering gave his fellow prisoners purpose.
Discovering your own life purpose can be found in the meaning in the little things in life. When you suffer in any way, do you say "whoa is me?" or do you choose to learn from it? As Dr. Frankl discovered in the concentration camps where he was stripped of every indignity, the only thing they couldn't take away from him was his attitude and how he chose to see the meaning in the situation. Hopefully none of us will ever know such suffering, but still we all suffer. It's the way we chose to attach meaning and move forward that one's life can flourish.
Self-transcendence comes when we choose to find a way to help others in some small way alleviate their suffering. To find some meaning in life that's bigger than us. A larger purpose.
What is your life purpose?
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