While wandering through the Birmingham public library as a
teenager 30 years ago, I came accross Victor Frankl's classic book
(considered by the Library of Congress to be one of the 10 most
influential books ever published).
Dr. Frankl was a practicing physician before being sent to a war
camp in WWII where he saw friends and family destroyed. His writings
about how he saw some people find meaning and dignity and others
behave as "swine" haunted me as a teenager and haunts me
still. But, the message helped me cope with everything from work as
a janitor in high school to dealing with the death of innocents in
the ER.
Though it seems to me that it should be simple for me to find
meaning in daily life if people could find meaning in the
unspeakable German war camps where Dr. Frankl made his observations,
sometimes "meaning" still evades me when considering the
unpleasant or the mundane.
A brilliant clinician, Dr. Alex Pattakos, PhD, recently wrote a
book that makes Dr. Frankl's teachings practically obtainable in the
workplace: rather than look for pleasure or power at work, look for
meaning and so possibly uncover both pleasure and power. The title
of the book is Prisoner of Our Thoughts.
Peace and meaning improve immune function and hormonal balance
and metabolism (not to mention just opening the door to happiness).
Dr. Pattakos offers tools and advice and the book on his website,
prisonersofourthoughts.com (click link below).
If you haven't read Dr. Frankl's book, Man's Search for
Meaning, you may want to read it alongside Dr. Pattakos' book.
There's a 24 hour discussion of the book to be found at
www.globaldialoguecenter.com
