In last week’s podcast, I discussed Parenting for Meaning and Family Dynamics – topics that seem to be quite pertinent in our times today, or at least in my clinical work, they have been.

Dr. Elisabeth Lukas, a student of Frankl’s, shares these “rules for the family” based on her work in logotherapy and family counseling:

1. The endurability of life is related to the perception of meaning.  – The perception of meaning in the family is the acknowledgement of needing one another and being needed by one another.
2. The perception of meaning is not related to favorable external living conditions.  –  Happiness for the family can and should be independent of favorable living conditions.
3. The perception of meaning is not related to a harmonious life history.  –  The development of a family is not predetermined by its history.  The meaning orientation of the family members’ present actions alone decides the future of the family.

That last one rings true for me – our lives don’t have to be dictated by our past.  Our family life is not predetermined by what happened years ago, or even yesterday.  We have the opportunity to choose a meaningful course of action each day, each moment.

For more on this, check out last week’s podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/41260432

And if you would like to read the books I discussed in it, click on the books below.  Take care!  – Dan