Viktor Frankl on Humor as a Lifeline to Sanity and Survival
by: Maria Popova – Brain Pickings
“Humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.”
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, author of “Man’s Search for Meaning” places the emphasis for meaning on actions, experiences and attitude. “A deed we do, or a work that we produce, an experience, such as love, and finally the attitude we take toward an unalterable fate.”
The ability to choose to find humor in tough times can help us through when things feel bleak.
