The space that allows choice

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms- to choose ones attitude in any given set of circumstances”- Viktor Frankl, from Man’s Search for Meaning

If you haven’t read the above mentioned book by Viktor Frankl, I highly recommend that you do.

It is a wonderful book. Viktor Frankl was a doctor/psychologist who was also Jewish and because of that second fact, he was placed in a concentration camp by the Nazis. His family was murdered while he was in captivity.

His stance is that a human being’s number one motivation is not to seek pleasure (as Freud and many others postulated), but to seek MEANING.

When we can find meaning in any situation, we will overcome any obstacle.

The good news is almost 100% of the time, if we look hard enough, there is meaning to be found either within the struggle or on the other side of it.

So today, when facing a hurdle, large or small, look for meaning within and you will overcome.

Happy Thursday!

-Dr Lindeman

Today…

I Read this today: “No matter what, you’ll never get today back”.
Truth.

But I also think we can read that and think “we better make today amazing” and that’s not the best policy either.

I think the key is to know today whether an amazing day at work or a mediocre one at best, a day of sunshine, birds singing or stormy and cold. Today cannot be saved.

It must be savored.

So the best policy is to be fully IN it today. Be present, appreciate today for being today. Connect with others, give and receive some love and appreciate the fact that today is finite.

You will never get today back.

-Happy Tuesday!

Dr Lindeman

What do you see??

Your life is determined by which lens you choose to peer through.

Obstacles are a constant.

This year, you’ve probably had to navigate a course filled with them.

Number 1: realize that you’ve passed the test so far, you are still here 🙂

Number 2: look at every obstacle as an opportunity, because that is what an obstacle truly is: an opportunity for change/growth/different thinking/discomfort/improvement.

We can look at the obstacles placed in front of us and bemoan them to our (pessimist) heart’s content…

Or we can change our view point, switch out our lens and see the opportunities that lie hidden within.

Choose your view wisely!

Happy Monday!

-Dr Lindeman

Lasting fulfillment

This is so true!

We have a much bigger IMPACT on the world when we help others.

And (if you’ve read any of my other blog posts you know) when we help others we also have a larger, longer lasting impact on our own happiness as well.

The good news is that we are all in a position that we can help others.

Some of us can donate to charities.

Some of us can help our neighbors by bringing in their mail, taking their leaves, etc if they are unable to do so themselves.

Some of us can go grocery shopping for a friend who is ill.

Some of us can lend a helping hand or even a smile to a stranger.

Some us us can send thank you cards to the people that have helped us in our lives.

No matter the method, we can all help someone and I fact lots of someone’s.

So we can all achieve fulfillment.

Have a fulfilling Monday!

-Dr Lindeman

Time and Patience

“Speed is about time, but it’s also closely related to endurance and effort. The faster the speed, the thinking goes, the less endurance or effort required. Patience, on the other hand, requires endurance and effort.”- Taken from Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb

Later, in the same book (about a page later), she quotes the psychoanalyst Erich Fromm: “Modern man thinks he loses something-time- when he does not do things quickly; yet he does not know what to do with the time he gains except kill it.”

Our world is filled with a lot of hurry, hurry, now, now.

We want results/things/growth/success/our haircut/our food/our dose of dopamine (social media, I’m looking at you)/our purchases/our everything as soon as we give even the thoughts our energy.

Patience is not modern human’s virtue.

The conundrum is that the time spent waiting, the time spent in patience, the time spent just BE-ing bears more fruit for the soul than the actual “getting.”

Spend some time in a cam state today. Revel in the patience, it will bring much better dividends than the pressure-filled moments do.

Happy Thursday!

-Dr Lindeman

Never a victim

Just a friendly reminder: we are NEVER victims of circumstance. We are only victims of our decisions/what we do/think/feel in any circumstance.

Life can throw some pretty crazy curveballs at you.

I think a lot of us would agree that 2020 has been one giant spitball/curveball.

The fact remains though, our lives are not created by circumstances, but rather how we CHOOSE to react to those circumstances.

We always have numerous choices in any situation and those decisions are what pave the way to a thriving, vibrant existence (or not).

So today, regardless of what the world has set out in front of you, take some time to notice all your options.

And then choose wisely.

Happy Wednesday!

-Dr Lindeman

Break those chains

“The chains of habit are too light to be felt, until they are too heavy to be broken.”🤔
Warren Buffet

We cannot grow into whom we want to be until we break some habits/anchors keeping us right where we are.

Break old habits, create new wonderful ones.

Examine your day today and find 1 or more habits that you know are keeping you down. Think of habits you would like to employ and create a vacuum to fill with those habits by cutting ties with the old ones.

-Happy Habit Hunting Thursday!

Dr Lindeman