Subtitles section Play video
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Why?
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Can’t I talk like this?
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And what if I actually just sucked on some helium?
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Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business
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and life you love.
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Today’s episode is all about how to create a meaningful life.
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Now, I know that is a big, big topic, but I think this is a very important discussion
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to have, especially at this time of year, because typically in December and January
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is when people start to pay extra close attention to how they’re living their life, if they’re
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happy with their life, and what kind of changes, if any, they would like to make in the year
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ahead.
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Not to mention, any time of year when it comes to really serious things like depression and
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addiction, what can often be a part of those issues is that we feel hopeless or helpless
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or like our lives have no meaning.
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That’s why personally I think this conversation needs to happen a lot more often, and hopefully
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what we talk about today can help you start the conversation both for yourself and for
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the people that you love.
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Now, the best framework that I’ve ever found comes from one of my favorite books of all
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times.
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It's Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.
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This book right here.
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So if you’re not familiar with this book, you need to get it.
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You need to read it ASAP.
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It’s a memoir of Frankl’s life and the spiritual lessons that he learned in order
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to survive Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
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This book is heartbreaking, it is inspiring, it is riveting, and in my opinion, it is a
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must read.
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Now, one insight that I want to share right off the bat.
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According to Frankl, he believed that one component of wellbeing is based on a certain
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degree of tension between what one has already accomplished and what one has yet to achieve.
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So in other words, who you are today and who you hope to become tomorrow.
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So if you’re worried or ever have those thoughts that somehow you’re a failure because
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you haven’t achieved all of your dreams quite yet, listen to me when I say this: you
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are not a failure.
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That tension is a really good thing, so embrace that drive that you have, embrace your ambition,
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and the gap between where you are and who you are today and where you want to go and
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who you want to become over the next year and ten years and so on.
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So when it comes to making meaning in our lives, Frankl shares 3 simple avenues.
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The first avenue is creating work or doing a deed.
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In other words, having a project that you’re working on that requires your skills and abilities.
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You know, one of the most powerful stories in the book for me was when Frankl arrived
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at Auschwitz and he had the manuscript for a book that he was working on, he had it in
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his coat pocket.
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And when he arrived, they confiscated it from him, just like everything else.
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And he was heartbroken, but what he did throughout his time there is he started looking for these
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little scraps of paper and he was collecting them so he could start recreating his manuscript.
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And that really helped keep him focused.
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And there was this other thing that he shared that I really related to.
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You know, while I have a stepson and I have a fur baby, I don't have any biological children.
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And he was talking about this book being his mental child and having the ability to focus
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on that mental child and how important it was for him to nurture it and bring it to
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life and put that manuscript back together was really a key in helping him survive that
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experience.
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The second avenue, by experiencing something or someone.
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So in other words, experiencing beauty or truth or goodness or love, whether that’s
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through nature or by loving someone else.
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You know, Frankl shares these moments throughout the book.
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For example, when he was being transferred from Auschwitz to a Bavarian camp by train,
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how he and everyone was in this crowded train and they were crowding around this tiny barred
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window just to catch a glimpse of the mountainside and the beautiful sunset.
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And in Frankl’s own words, he said, “We were carried away by nature’s beauty, which
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we had missed for so long.”
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Or the other thing that really stood out to me in the book was how much Viktor connected
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with his wife through his thoughts and his imagination and how much his love for her
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kept him fueled and really kept him going.
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And there was one passage that I want to read which sums it up.
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He wrote: “Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and
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human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
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I understood how a man who has nothing left in this word still may know bliss, be it only
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for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.”
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The third and final avenue is the attitude that we take towards unavoidable suffering.
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In other words, our human capacity to transform personal tragedy into triumph.
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This is probably the biggest message that I took away from the book.
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You know, Viktor discovered through surviving what is arguably one of the most horrific
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experiences you could ever imagine that he was able to find meaning and growth and a
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deeper sense of who he was as a human being as a result.
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And there was one really incredible insight that he shared, which was this.
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“In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.”
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We hear stories about this every day, right?
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I mean, where people face unimaginable challenges that could break them, but somehow they wind
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up growing stronger and more resilient and even more fulfilled as a result.
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So while there are many different schools of thought around meaning and fulfilment,
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I found Viktor Frankl’s three part framework really speaks to my heart.
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One of the reasons that I love it so much is because I think many of us can get lost
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looking outside of ourselves for how to create a meaningful life and what Viktor Frankl so
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beautifully teaches us is that each of those three avenues is completely within our control.
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So whether you’re watching this over the holidays or any time of year and you're feeling
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a little down or you’re feeling a little empty, I want you to remember this:
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“Rather than searching for life’s meaning, remember that you always have the power to
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create it.”
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And before we wrap up, I want you to know something.
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That you watching this show and being a part of everything that we do is truly meaningful
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to me, so thank you for that.
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And now I would love to hear from you.
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If you’d like to experience more meaning in your life, try looking through the lens
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of Frankl’s three avenues.
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And then in the comments below, tell me about each one.
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Tell me a little bit about what you’re working on and someone you love.
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And if there’s some unavoidable suffering, what is the deeper meaning that you might
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be able to find in it?
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As always, the best conversations happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com, so head
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on other there and leave a comment now.
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And once you're there, be sure to subscribe to our email list and become an MF insider.
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You’ll get instant access to a fantastic training I created.
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It’s called How to Get Anything You Want.
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And you’ll also get exclusive content and some special giveaways and updates from me
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that I just don't share anywhere else.
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I’m wishing you and your loved ones a beautiful holiday season and I cannot wait to see you
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back again in the new year.
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Until then, stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that
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special gift that only you have.
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Thank you again and I’ll catch you next time on MarieTV.
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Greg, you know I’m always happy to see you.
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Always happy to see you, brother.
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Now it’s not a smushed brownie.
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Gentle.
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Like this.
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Like silent meditation like the stink bomb’s over there.
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I say we give it a go.
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What’s the worst thing that could happen, right?