When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.
~ Viktor E. Frankl
This reminds me of when Jesus Christ prayed to escape impending crucifixion. Avoidance wasn’t meant to be. It was his destiny. So, he changed his view of it, went through the ordeal, and triumphed over it.
Viktor Frankelwas an incredible example of his quote. Having lost his wife and children to the Nazisim of the e Holocost, he devoted his life to helping others in dealing with the inhumane conditions of concentration camps. He survived and helped others to outlive the Nazi hell. He remains an example of changing ones outlook and finding blessings in stones. Thank you, Evan for reminding us of the control Love has in the lions den.
Wow! What a different outlook. It shows me that if in a dangerous situation that a change of outlook based on the understanding that God is Love can actually help in overcoming that situation.
Tobias: Thanks, I think you hit the nail on the head.
Applicable to all situations we face. A wonderful “one-liner” I had not heard before. Thank you Evan for being so alert. Thank you Patty for the background on Mr. Frankel.
Thanks for sharing this Evan. Yes, I realized something like this on the above quote and as you said how Jesus Christ invested on the situation he was seemingly going through.
After more than two years on investing in spirituality, this week it was very clearly pointed out by Mind that although for all these years I had new inspirations and improvements in my physical as well as mental health but with some so-called relapses that I had been putting new wines in old bottles thus the breakage. And this recognition is a major scale in the turn around where the quote “When we are no longer able to change a situation —- we are challenged to change ourselves,” speaks true.
Thanks to all Spiritview fans for your sharing(s).
I’m not quite sure if my use of the word seemingly in my above comment is correct. I just based it on what I understand that only God and His ideas are real so whatever is not in-line with truth is where we used the word seemingly, is it?
Yes, tsa, you are correct with your use of the word “seemingly”. The “Christ” or the spiritual idea, i.e., thought, of God, Spirit, is the man God knows. God knows not the opposite of Himself, not materiality or any part of materiality. Materiality, things mortal, are untrue, opposed to the allness and completeness of God and his creation, including his image or reflection, the spiritual idea, man. The opposite of God is untrue, is error, is but a mistaken belief. Thus, such belief only seems to be until corrected to that which is demonstrable, provable fact, the Christ Science.
Thank you, Evan
Thanks Sunshine for clarifying. I appreciate very much.
People on this path, so to speak, can spend years progressing in remarkable ways but until we understand or see what is really driving us, it can be using the Truth to make old ways of thinking ‘work’. hence new wine in old bottles. Of course it comes to point where this all backfires. I have been there many times, thinking I have opened my eyes to my thinking only to find I have to go deeper into my study of the Truth to find what I have really been entertaining in consciousness and the light of the Truth did the rest.
Polly Berien Berends in her book Whole Child Whole Parent, which I read while I was pregnant with my first child, many years ago said ” If you want to change your children, change yourself.” She was referring to children ‘nursing off our consciousness thus reflecting what we love, hate, fear, and cherish. This was very helpful to me many, many times. I was reminded that the only consciousness/thinking I can do anything about is my own.
thanks for the reminder, Evan.
Thanks too Nadine.
Early this morning I was struggling with thoughts of missing my child who passed on over a year ago and before I allowed myself to sink too far, I asked God to help me through this moment. A few minutes later I was doing some work on the computer and came across this Spiritview posting. As I read the Frankl quote, I realized that I was no longer able to change the situation and must accept (again) that challenge to change my thinking about it. I also realized that God was answering my prayer for support because that heavy sense of loss lifted and I felt the ever present arms of Love embracing me. Thank you, Evan, for providing these little nuggets of truth that help to sustain each of us in the way we need at the moment.
You are welcome. And thanks for sharing!
What a lovely example of change you have given, in the example of the acceptance of the cross by Christ Jesus and then the triuph and the crown. Evan you must be so prayerful to receive such lovely inspirations and share them with all of us. Thanks ever so much. Its always always good to be firm, but at the same time flexible, and accept the challenge of a change joyusly and willingly as our Saviour so gracefully did.
Christ was the son of God. He was all good and had all the power on his side, yet he humbly accepted the Cross, without arguments without debating, without resistance. If we love Christ Jesus, we need to follow the example he set for us.