35,000 decisions each day.  That is the current estimate from research at Cornell University.  That is a lot of opportunity to choose Meaning.  Or not.  Here are a few of Dr. Frankl’s thougths from Man’s Search for Menaing.

“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.

And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.

His choices every day impacted whether he lived or died, whether he simply survived another day, or perhaps thrived and helped others to survive as well.  Our choices may not always be so dire – sometimes they are – but we are confronted with choices daily, every moment.  However, we live in a world where many of our choices have become automated and automatic – so much so, that we often forget we get to choose.  Every moment, you are confronted with the opportunity to choose meaningfully, or not.  Even in not choosing, you are making a choice.  Choose meaning.

…in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually.

Choice.  We all have this power – even if it only to choose our attitudes.  But usually, in our world, we have more choice than that.  We have to face these “inner decisions” every day.  When we choose meaningfully, we can experience positive consequences, and when we choose otherwise, well there are consequences for that too.