Today is a reflective day; I don’t think I have thought very deeply these past days because I seem to be full of desire to write. I was thinking about something I just read in Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search For Meaning. I am at the part where he explains logotherapy, his therapy practice and in this particular section I am in, titled “Life’s Transitoriness” he states: “The person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the full. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future that is in store for him? “No thank you,” he will think. “Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of suffering suffered. These are the things of which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy.” (193).
Pertaining to this, I was thinking about how I have heard people my age already say that they long for the yesteryears of being very young and carefree. I too have been guilty of saying and thinking such things but in reality, I had a blast when I was younger and I was always waiting to grow up. I remember how much fun I had, how much teenage suffering I did, and how badly I wanted to grow older and move on to grander things in my life. I am still having a blast (when I have the time to) and I am still looking ahead in angst and excitement for who I will still grow up to be. I happen to believe my largest accomplishments await me in my middle to even late adulthood. I really am excited to be at this stage of my life but I am also excited for the next one to come. I am excited to get to my masters and to become licensed even though I am not even a certified counselor yet. I am excited to read more, learn more, mature more and become wise. I think I will be a very wise old lady some day and I think I will write many books. I don’t dread getting old one bit (except maybe physically) and I know that I will have fun and laugh hard through all stages of life.
I really like what I have learned of Logotherapy thus far. It may not work for everyone but I think it will work for me. It is positive, empowering, and it has a spiritual element to it, almost Buddha-like because it talks about reaching higher perceptions of meaning in your life. Sort of like the highest level of consciousness one can obtain in Buddhism. I think it has a lot of logical and practical elements to it as well, it asks you to confront the situation you are dealing with from productive optimism. I also feel Viktor himself and his practice are exceptionally credible seeing as the guy did live inside a concentration camp for several years, he really must be on to something!
After rereading the passage I have to say that I do not always attack the problems of each day, in fact I often let them float on by. Luc is really good at doing that. He has something to do, something that is wrong, something that needs his attention; he will tackle it right away. He seems to just be programmed that way. I admire that trait in him very much so. What prevents me from tackling problems? I suppose I get distracted or overwhelmed and I have a hard time prioritizing. I am a procrastinator also so I will wait until I absolutely have to do what needs to be done before it’s done.