“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
- Viktor Frankl

 

This is one of the most popular quotes from Viktor Frankl's book 'Man's search for meaning'.

 

Viktor's story is an incredible example of the ability we have as humans to choose our attitude and how we respond to what happens to us in life. It shows us that we have free will.

 

Victor Frankl was a Jew living in Vienna, Austria. He was a psychologist. During World War 2, when Hitler started imprisoning Jews in Europe in concentration camps, Victor, along with his brothers, wife and daughters, were imprisoned in the worst of the camps, Auschwitz. There he suffered extreme torment. He was separated from his wife and daughters and later on learned they had been killed. Freezing, starving, and forced to do hard labour, the reality of death hung over him at every moment.

 

During his time at Auschwitz, Viktor noticed the different ways that other prisoners responded to their circumstances. He realised that he had one freedom that nobody could take away from him; the freedom to choose his own thoughts, the freedom to choose his own moods.

 

At the end of the war, he began practicing psychology again and established his own school called logotherapy and wrote the book 'Man's search for meaning', which has sold over 25 million copies. He travelled and spoke in hundreds of universities around the world. 

 

For more context, here is the expanded text from Victor's book that includes his famous quote:

 

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.  They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

 

And there were always choices to make. 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 plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.”
- Man’s Search for Meaning, p. 86-7.

 

What lesson can we take from Viktor's horrific experiences and incredible insights?

 

The idea that someone in such horrific circumstances could choose to feel peaceful, could choose to find comfort in his imagination and memories, and could choose to appreciate moments of beauty that still did exist, fills me with a sense of intense hope and empowerment.

 

If Viktor could exercise his free will under those circumstances, we all can.

 

Bad things do happen in life. People mistreat you. Sometimes the world is unjust. At times your merit is not recognised, you're not appreciated, or you have ill health.

 

Often, life serves you with a bitter lemon.

But how do you respond to it?

Do you become bitter inside?

 

There are many possible attitudes that you could apply to any situation.

You have to decide. 

 

Will you approach what you are facing with honesty, courage, and dignity?
Will you look for the good in the situation?
Will you use your imagination to focus on your hope for the future or a positive outcome?

 

"You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you."  - Viktor Frankl

 

For most of us, we either don't realise we have this choice or we're not able to put our ability to choose to use.

 

This is because we're so close to our thoughts and emotions. We think they are us and we are them. We get pulled and pushed to go wherever they take us and it feels like we don't have any choice.

 

But we do have a choice and we can get better at exercising this choice by practicing it.

 

In what small way can you exercise your free will today?

 

Ask this question -

 

Can I use my free will to choose a better thought than the one I'm having now?

 

Nadine 🤸‍♀️

For a daily reminder of your power to choose, download and print Viktor's inspiring words -