A New Journey
I was so inspired when I read Viktor Frankl’s book Mans Search for Meaning that I went on a mission to find a Franklian psychologist in Australia.
After a prolonged search I found 1 and only 1 in the whole country!
I was totally amazed by this, as we are a country, like most in the western world, plagued by anxiety, stress and depression with 1 in 5 people reportedly on some sort of anti-depressants.
How can this be in the lucky country?—and for anyone who has travelled the world it is easy to see how Australia has this title—amazing and free beaches,snow in the mountains,deserts that turn into wildflower parks at certain times,a welfare safety net,work opportunities for all those who want to and the list goes on.
Not only that, we seem to have no shortage of psychologists and psychiatrists to offer support.
Before I read this book I had been asking myself -what has gone wrong?
As a young traveller I had crossed overland from India to London,I travelled through countries and regions where people were incredibly poor-and I had also noticed how generous they were to us as travellers and how many had smiles on their faces.
Frankl’s book gave me so many deep insights into the really important drivers that enable us as human beings to live with joy and happiness.This has gone some way to explaining the depression epidemic that exists in many wealthy countries.
I was inspired to learn more and decided to do a short course in Logotherapy the therapy that Frankl based his psychiatry on.
I undertook a short course with Dr Paul Mc Quillan and as they say the rest is history!
However the challenge of getting the empowering message of Frankl has just begun for me.
I want to share these learnings and my life experiences to inspire others to lead lives that are more purposeful and joyful.
This blog is a starting point, as is our book - Finding New Meaning in Life, which is a contemporary version of Frankl’s thinking,a collaboration between a psychologist and a business person.