Purpose in Your Life

We human beings have an innate capacity to survive psychological adversity. Survive . . . In Spanish, the word is sobrevivir, to "over-live," to overcome. We may be physically wounded; our bodies may be irreversibly damaged by abuse or disease. We may confront disappointment and loneliness and fear again and again. But our hearts and souls—the essence of who we are—are able to overcome.

How can this be? The answer was discovered by Viktor Frankl, a medical doctor who was imprisoned by the Nazis in 1942 because he was Jewish. Over the next three years, Dr. Frankl was sent to Auschwitz, Dachau, and other concentration camps. His family, including his pregnant wife, died in the camps.

After his release, Viktor Frankl became a professor of psychiatry at the Vienna School of Medicine. He spent the rest of his life writing about his experiences, and how he was able to help others to find hope when there was no hope.

In Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy, Frankl detailed his theory. Logos is a Greek word which we could translate as "meaning." Frankl found that human beings who have meaning or purpose in their lives can remain psychologically healthy, no matter their circumstances.

I thought about Frankl the other day when I was listening to National Public Radio. The reporter described a project in which penitentiary inmates are raising guide dogs for the blind. Thirty-three prisoners had been carefully selected for this project. Their sentences had to be long enough to allow for the long process of training a dog, but they could not have been convicted of a crime of personal injury. In addition, they had to commit to a rigorous training process, which included class time demonstrating the techniques they were learning, as well as extensive written work. For example, they have to document every activity with the dog. In addition to feeding and grooming, this means touching the dog with their fingers all over the body—the eyes, the mouth—as the blind will do. On weekends, volunteers from the outside take the dogs into the community for further training.

Tears came to my eyes listening to how these men’s lives were changed. They talked about how odd it was at first, speaking lovingly to the dogs, as they had never done and never heard in their own lives. One inmate had a picture of his first dog by his bed. He told how proud he is of the service the dog now provides to someone who cannot see. These men’s lives have been forever changed by the purpose they have found.

What is the purpose, the meaning, in your life? We invite you to think about that this week as you find your own Courage2Change.