Greetings readers!
It is hard to believe November has arrived. I don't know about you but for me, this year has flown by. When I think about how fast time flies it makes me want to make the most out of every moment and take meaning from every experience. That is why in this newsletter I would like to share more about meaning and how it relates to EMPOWER Possible. Every letter of "EMPOWER" in the name of the business EMPOWER Possible, LLC stands for something. EMPOWER is an acronym. E=Engage, M=Meaning, P=People, O=Organization, W=Well-being, E=Empathy, R=Regenerate. All the letters combined are part of a journey of empowerment. This week's newsletter is dedicated to the letter "M" in order to provide a better understanding of the importance of meaning in our lives. My hope is to engage members of the EMPOWER Possible community in this work so we all can thrive. In "Man’s Search for Meaning" Viktor Frankl provides a valuable perspective on meaning. In his book, he shares his experience of arriving in Nazi Germany at a concentration camp. As a description of the book states, Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our “primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.” In a sentence, Viktor Frankl shares that pain is inevitable but suffering is not. Viktor Frankl suggests instead of asking, “What is the meaning of my life?,” we need to ask: “What is life asking of me?”.
I am going to ask you, what is life asking of you?
By zooming out and asking, “What is life asking of me?” we connect ourselves with the outside world. Frankl suggests you are the only one that discovers the meaning in your life. It is a personal journey-no one else can tell you what it is and it may be more than one thing. More important, finding meaning in your life is greater than who you are—it’s whatever life is asking of you. Maybe we aren’t pleased with some of the conditions of our life then we can ask the question, how can we own our sense of meaning in those circumstances? How can we transform suffering into meaning? How can we face our lives with bravery and courage and create meaning out of them?
When Frankl was asked to share the meaning of his own life in one sentence, he wrote it on a piece of paper and then asked the students to guess. One student raised their hand and said, “The meaning of your life is to help others find the meaning of theirs.” And Frankl replied, “That was it, exactly. Those are the very words I had written.” I have found Frankl's work inspiring and I hope you do as well. When sharing information about meaning I always like to include worksheets to help explore our own sense of meaning and purpose. I have found it helpful to start with our own identity when exploring meaning in our lives. I have included a link to a worksheet that explored identity. It is linked below. The purpose of the worksheet activity is to: Identify various factors that contribute to your identity it will take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The worksheet helps you to think about "Who am I?”, this is a question we all ask at some time in our lives. As we search for answers we begin to define ourselves. How do our identities inform our values, ideas, and actions? Once you ponder and explore these questions, we can get a big-picture look at who we really are, what matters to us, and what provides a sense of meaning in our lives, This activity will help you reflect on the question: Are you using your gifts on things you really care about in environments that really fit? And therefore are you creating meaning in your life?
**Scroll to the end of the newsletter for upcoming EMPOWER Possible events and more information about EMPOWER Possible courses including the Meaning mini-course.
Cheers to the journey!
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