What is the relevance of the message of hope to the people who are struggling for food, housing, addicted by drugs, alcoholism, addicted to ideologies, religion and philosophies, victims of modern day slavery, debt bondage, threatened by illness and those who are being oppressed by the system. “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.” Said Friedrich Nietzsche. Many people today have the means to live, unlike our forefathers, but no meaning to live for.
How do we deliver joy, happiness and hope? You might be living your
life in a vast, desert, or an un-populated wasteland. You might be thinking or asking this question what
I am going to do here and why I am here. Why take the risk of going for the extra mile. Floating
across the Pacific Ocean, watching the moon’s light and flow for over a
year, Salvador Alvarenga who had been lost in one of his fishing trip in the
cost of Mexico for about 14 months, had battled loneliness, depression and suicidal thinking. It is undeniable that we all have a deep desire to
make sense of being alive.
Existential psychotherapies help the clients to find
a meaning in life, a purpose to live for or finding a reason for living. What
is the whole point of being born only to die? Human beings seem to have an
innate need for finding the meaning of life. Stephen R. Covey said; “I believe
the most important attribute for a leader is being principle centered.
Centering on principle that are universal and timeless provides a foundation
and compass to guide every decision and every act.”
The purpose in life can be categorized into two, such as lack of meaning and lack of control. The lack of meaning is because
there is no purpose, unable to articulate a passionate striving or reason for
being. The lack of control due to stress, depression and helplessness resulting from feeling powerless. Victor Frankl faced
this in his life which drive him to create logo-therapy. He lived it fully,
when his father died of starvation, mother and brother killed at Auschwitz,
wife killed at Bergan-Belsen, manuscript stolen and destroyed up on transfer to
Auschwitz. His story did not stop with that, he started to search for meaning. He wrote the book Man’s search
for meaning, which is over 12 million copies currently sold and New York Times
called it one of the ten most influential book of all time. We can find meaning
while we are suffering, at all circumstances, we remain with our freedom to choose
our reaction to a given event in life. People
who find meaning in their life often experience or have a goal in life that is
challenging enough to take up all of their energies, a goal that can give
significance to their lives.
If you ask the question how many people ever
lived in this planet called earth. The number will be based on the question how
long human beings lived on this planet. According to some human species is
50,000 years old and close to 109 billion people lived. What is the meaning of
life for many people who lived on this planet? It does not depend on how many
people lives on this planet or how many are currently living. It is matter of your
uniqueness. If you are lucky enough to be different, don’t ever change. I hope
you wake up each day feeling different and exceptional because you are
important, unique and needed and never can be replaced. Many people feel hurt, alone, depressed, and
hate this world. Be yourself, accept yourself, trust yourself, love yourself, empower
yourself, value yourself, forgive yourself and bless yourself. The gift of
forgiveness is given to every one so that each one can help each other. Create
your own style, uniqueness is part of your creativity and you will stand out as
identifiable. Feeling of unworthiness is a learned behavior.
Feeling important is natural.
- The journey of hope starts with your inner critic identity. The voice that says I am not good enough, worthy enough, I don’t have needed skills, I can’t learn, I am bad in this area. It is not genius, but passion that differentiates the beat-less and Bill Gates from their contemporaries.
- The journey of hope starts with your system maintenance and re-boot. Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Between 75 to 90% of visit to the family practitioners are stress related. That means we need more psychiatric and counseling centers than hospitals treating with drugs.The word of God says in Jeremiah "Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walked to direct his steps. (Jer: 10:23). Create a clean heart in me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
- The journey of hope starts with freedom of choice. Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. It is in our response lies our growth and freedom. When we are no longer able to change our situation we change ourselves. Happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune, random chance, or something the money can buy or power command. It is a fact that is conditioned, prepared for, cultivated and defended privately by each person.
- The journey of hope starts with you. You are one need to break the chain of addiction. You are more important to you than anyone else in this world.
The Bible is full of
hope, liberation, restoration and rescue. In Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Blessings,
Binu Peniel
Binu Peniel
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