The Power of Perspective
The Power of Perspective
Consider this…
Midway through the last Century, Viktor Frankl (a world-famous Psychiatrist) withstood life in the Nazi Death-camps for 4 years after having lost his entire family and life’s work with one vital understanding;
That no matter how challenging our lives can be on the outside, we always have the power of perspective within our control to make sense of life, even when it seems cruel…
Accordingly, he exited the Death Camps an optimist about humanity (despite his trials), and thereafter spent 9 days in Vienna dictating “Man’s Search for Meaning”, one of the most inspirational books of the 20th Century…
I awoke this morning as you probably did; running over the day’s worries about my life and wondering if I was “warm, safe and dry” for another day…
I knew I had a long day ahead of me with 8 Coaching calls, and that by day’s end, I would be somehow impacted by all that I was to experience…
Then I opened the paper and read about a man who had it worse than I could imagine…
This man lost his job in 2008 and moved to Boulder to find work. Shortly thereafter, his wife contracted breast cancer and begin undergoing treatments to save her life.
Next, his daughter contracted the same, and had to go through a double-mastectomy, along with a hysterectomy at age 32…
Then, last week, his only son was killed in a head-on accident in the countryside around Boulder by a drunk driver, and his daughter and granddaughter riding in the car with him were also critically injured.
The daughter is now recovering in a hospital, and his granddaughter is in a medically-induced coma at Children’s Hospital while they try to treat her severe brain injuries…
He is asking for help from the community, and I intend to help him.
But why do I tell you such a dark tale this beautiful Summer morning?
Because we are all Viktor Frankl at some point in our lives. We are all this gentleman who will face heart-stopping challenges like Job in the Bible at some point in our lives.
We will all face the time when we must be able to call upon that deeper place within us that allows us to remember this:
No matter what your worries this day, you have it significantly better than 90+% of other people on the planet;
No matter what you think is a big problem today, you will handle it;
No matter how dark or heavy reality can be at times, you are blessed this day with people who love you and you love;
And no matter how challenging things outside you can seem at times, like Viktor Frankl and this poor man going through all he is going through,
You have the power to control your perspective to one of faith, courage, resolve, resiliency and gratitude…and love….
And those will not only allow you to endure those dark days to come back and enjoy the days of Light that also visit us all,
You will prove worthy of the great test that we must all face eventually…
That of controlling our perspective to look at each day as a blessing to even be here with people we can love, a purpose we can fulfill, and the ability to help other people who, at that moment, may be going through their own dark circumstances…
Maybe in those moments, we can help someone else remember that they, too, have
The Power of Perspective…
Therefore… please engage in life and Light as your response to using your power of perspective to make something bright out of such darkness, and like Viktor Frankl you will help others remember where their power is, and where it is not…
Blessings to you and yours on your Path this day, wherever it may lead…
(Post-script… As I shared this with my first client this morning as to its appropriateness to share with you, he said this to me in response:
“I can assure you that the Universe is Benevolent, and that it is all powered by Love… That’s the only real energy that exists, the power that comes from heart…”)
