2-Minute Tips: 43# Creating Meaning in Life

Viktor was struggling in agony – limping several kilometres on battered feet through the bitterly cold Bavarian winter. Looking down at his torn shoes, Viktor’s mind was stuck in a loop of endless little problems that characterised his miserable existence. 

Should I trade my last cigarette for a bowl of soup now or wait for a colder day? How might I find a bit of wire to replace my frayed shoelace? Can I avoid being moved under the command of a brutal foreman?

Viktor became conscious of his thoughts – he was fed up with the constant trivial gripes and worries which flooded his every waking moment. He forced his mind to turn to another subject. 

Suddenly, he saw himself in a warm lecture room, speaking in front of an attentive audience about the psychology and learnings from his experiences in a concentration camp. As Viktor focused on a bigger meaning, it somehow diminished his feeling of suffering in the present.

By concentrating on surviving Auschwitz, not for his own sake, but to help other people going through their own suffering, Viktor had created meaning in his life. It allowed him to find a level of equanimity in a cruel and unjust world. He had his why, his reason for being.

“In some way suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.”

Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl had been a successful psychiatrist and head of Neurology in Vienna, helping to lower the suicide rate, especially amongst teens in the city. That all changed in 1942, when Viktor and his family were taken to Auschwitz. For three long years he saw the worst of humanity and ultimately lost his wife, parents and brother.

Frankl did survive however, and from his unique vantage point as a camp survivor and psychotherapist, he wrote ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’. 

“The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her own life." 

According to Frankl, meaning can be found in 3 main ways; through work, creation, or accomplishment; through experiences or encountering someone; or through unavoidable suffering.

Frankl believed that everyone has the freedom to define their life meaning, but with this freedom comes a responsibility to accept this challenge.

Viktor's profound book (which I would highly recommend reading) has empowered people to define what really matters to them and to live a life aligned to that meaning. So far 20 million people have benefitted from Viktor's own search for meaning.

“The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her own life."

Viktor Frankl

WISDOM 💎

“What matters is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.”

Viktor Frankl

Tip 1 - A SMART PLAY ✅

Getting clear on your values and what truly matters to you in your life at the present time. You get to define what your life means to you, not your family, partner, workplace or society.

Tip 2 - AVOID 🚩

A life of comfort. Frankl believed that a degree of tension between where one is and what someone should accomplish or become is crucial for our mental health and to give us purpose.

Tip 3 - ACTION 💪

Have a think what brings meaning into your life? It really doesn’t matter what it is as long as it matters to you. Committing to live a meaningful life is in my opinion, the greatest gift one can give to themselves.