Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

I saw a post on Facebook the other day with a list of things that were guaranteed to happen to you in your twenties.  One of them was that you would read a book that was likely to change your life and they way you think about things.  In light of seeing my first clients ever this week, I've been trying to soak in as much as possible.  I think I've read three self-help types of books in the last week and a half- currently reading my fourth.  Probably going a little over board but I just want to be prepared.  Anyway, I don't know if this book changed my life so much as resonated with the way I feel.  I've said before that I need to stop reading books about the Holocaust (they only make me sick) but somehow I get sucked right in.  A man's search for meaning is about Frankl's experiences as a Jewish doctor who survived multiple concentration camps. He built a life philosophy on what he witnessed from fellow prisoners.  He mentions that everything can be taken from us but we can always still choose they way we respond.  We can live hopelessly or look for light.  He talks about knowing which men would die in the next 24 hours based on losing their will to live.  His theory, logo therapy, argues that finding meaning in our lives is the most powerful motivator.  It can keep us going whatever the circumstance. He says that we make meaning when we create, experience, and maintain a given attitude around suffering.  It's a quick read, but very insightful and I already want to read it again.

Viktor Frankl