Book Review: Prisoners of Our Thoughts

Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work by Alex Pattakos

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My copy of this one is stamped "discarded" across the bottom of the pages... a no-longer-circulated library book I purchased at a discount. (For those of you who don't know the secret, visit www.abebooks.com and prepare to be wowed. It will take you to a network of discount booksellers offering new and used books at super-low prices.) 

But taking this one out of circulation is a shame.  It's a relatively young book, published in 2004, and it strikes an excellent balance between old-world philosophy and new-world quality of work life.  Pattakos made it his life's work to make Viktor Frankl's life's work more accessible to more of us, and that is a wonderful service.  Most exciting, Pattakos read Frankl's extensive bibliography with the purpose of synthesizing and presenting the best bits about meaningful work.  Prisoners of Our Thoughts is the result of that effort.  What a fantastic idea. 

Here's the big "Aha" for me: "Meaning is also flexible. What makes sense for us at one time in our working lives might not make sense at another time. When we are awake to life's meaning inside us, we too can be flexible. If we are rooted in meaning, we can sway much more flexibly, be it in a breeze or a hurricane."  Phew!  To me, this means that the work I obsessed over 15 years ago, work I cannot imagine doing now, was not wasted.  I was pursuing what I found meaningful then.  What is meaningful to me now is different, and may well change again in the future.  I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to pursue my life's passions - plural - and as I am learning from Frankl and Pattakos, we can all do that, no matter our external circumstances.

I thought a lot about Viktor Frankl during the days leading up to my grandmother's death and even mentioned his work in my eulogy.  No one I know of better embodied the ability to choose her own reaction to events and be liberated through self-mastery.  Posting this review at this time seems like a fitting tribute.

Prisoner of Our Thoughts is worth the effort at reading it and now that I am through the book, I will go back and do some of the chapter-ending exercises.  I may even use one or two of those to assist client groups working on their organizational mission or vision. Watch for more in 2016 as I work my way through The 8th Habit.


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