you ALWAYS have a choice.

4/20/20

We are all dealing with some sort of loss right now.  

However, we ALWAYS have a choice. 

We can choose our reactions.

We can choose our attitudes. 

We can choose to find meaning and purpose in our lives.  

Even when things are dark. Even when we have suffered pain and loss. 

We still have a choice. Even now. 

Anytime you feel helpless and like the world has taken away your ability to choose,  consider the story of Dr. Victor Frankl. 

In his groundbreaking book “Mans Search for Meaning” he details his experiences in a Concentration Camp in World War II Germany.  During his horrific time in he lost everything- his wife & family perished, he lost position as a doctor and all semblance of his former life. 

He and his fellow prisoners were starved, cold and sick. They were robbed of nearly every freedom and dignity and yet Dr. Frankl witnessed that there was a common theme among the men who seemed to fare better than others- it was their ability to choose their attitudes. 

Dr. Frankl called this choice “the last of the human freedoms: to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way”.

He discovered that it was the men who made the decision to not lose their humanity in the face of inhuman treatment that fared better than others. those who survived seemed to have made the choice to focus on what they could control. 

No matter what our circumstances are we too can choose to focus on the “last of our human freedoms”. 

With every new day we have the opportunity to choose. 

We can choose joy. We can choose gratitude. We can choose optimism. 

The ability to choose our attitude cannot be taken from us.  

So please be kind and gentle with yourself. And know that you always have a choice. Yes even now.