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September   7th

OUR HIDDEN  POWER

“Consider   who you are.    Above   all,    a   human   being,  carrying    no  greater power   than    your    own

reasoned    choice, which   oversees    all other   things, and is  free    from    any other   master.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.10.1

he psychologist Viktor Frankl spent three years imprisoned in various concentration camps, including
Auschwitz. His family and his wife had been killed, his life’s work destroyed, his freedom taken
from him. He quite literally had nothing left. Yet, as he discovered after much thought, he still retained one
thing: the ability to determine what this suffering meant. Not even the Nazis could take that from him.
Further, Frankl realized that he could actually find positives in his situation. Here was an opportunity
to continue testing and exploring his psychological theories (and perhaps revise them). He could still be
of service to others. He even took some solace in the fact that his loved ones were spared the pain and
misery that he faced daily in that camp.
Your hidden power is your ability to use reason and make choices, however limited or small. Think
about the areas of your life where you are under duress or weighed down by obligation. What are the
choices available to you, day after day? You might be surprised at how many there actually are. Are you
taking advantage? Are you finding the positives?