Word 1 - logotherapy
Or: Who thought that the endless noise in our head could also heal?
Last week, following the wave of foreign passports, we mentioned the issue of anchors that everyone has and the phenomenon of "mobile roots". That is, the ability of everyone to fixate on reality or feel rooted in a place, for example with the help of an object. Lipstick, a pen, or a book. My anchor to my roots and heritage is from the age of 16, a book by Viktor Frankl, he wrote the book "Man's Search for Meaning". In 1946, immediately after the end of the Holocaust, when the Austrian Jewish neurologist was released from the concentration camps, he sat down to write a book that was half testimony of an extermination camp survivor, and half philosophy.
And so was born the third school of psychotherapy called logotherapy, which is sister to the other philosophies, all of whose authors had one common mentor: Freud.
"Logotherapy" means how with the help of words and thinking a person can heal himself. Viktor Frankl had one unfinished task left during the Holocaust: he had a scientific book on the nervous system that he had written and had not yet been published. He carried the journal with him to the concentration camps and it burned in him to publish the book. He convinced himself with thoughts that he had something to live for, to publish the book. And when the war was over, he realized that healing words were connected to future fulfillment.
A recommended book to read.
And I will mention here another Holocaust book, written by the psychologist Dr. Edith Agar called "The Choice". Like Frankel, she also says that the choice of words and the inner story you tell yourself during and after a trauma will determine the quality of your life now. And so what you say, it is a choice.
Edith is now 95 years old and she only wrote the book at the age of 92. Remember that it is never too late to write a book and it is never too late to influence the world.
I visited her last month, and about that in the next newsletter.
How to practice logotherapy?
A bit like how to give speeches in public, finding the opposite explanation for the same argument. For example, if you didn't find the car in the parking lot, stop, look from the side and name 5 things that could explain the same phenomenon (different floor in the parking lot, the husband took the car, I got to the office on foot).
️Word 2 -️ Storytelling
Why can telling stories take you to a very dark place?
Storytelling, the art of conveying a message through senses such as hearing or sight (speech, written book, painting, blog, podcast, ballet, opera), plays an essential role in the preservation and transmission of knowledge, culture, and human values. An effective story is usually structured, with a beginning, middle and end, evokes emotions, and allows the listener a clear understanding.
Today, storytelling is widely used in marketing, in order to convey a message about your product or your reputation that is clear and focused with the intention of getting you interested in buying in order to get a solution to the problem you have.
Storytelling, as we saw from Dr. Viktor Frankl, is not only what we tell others, it is also what we tell ourselves. In other words, what goes through my mind.
On Tuesday I opened the zoom for a class in the Bio-Innovation Academy course, and instead of 50 people participating in the course, I got a blank black screen. no one came And I was in the market.
Our academy is a place of study by personal choice, of people from all continents, of "both" people who want to be more professionals, more innovative, and who know that it is possible to act in a good place and have an impact.
In other words, these are students who really like to study and our content.
For 10 minutes, in front of a black screen, thoughts ran through my head.
Personal storytelling that includes: no one wants the material I teach anymore, I've lost my cool on innovation issues, maybe I'm the problem and I'm boring. In the meantime, I already opened the website of the last university where I worked to see if there were vacancies for deans.
And the stress rose and rose, but suddenly the token fell.
Two days before, the United States switched to daylight saving time. That is, I arrived an hour too early to any Zoom location around the world, and at the designated time, all the participants in the course got up and did not know the storm that went through my head just an hour before.
In a meeting with friends that afternoon, it was revealed to me again that everyone has a tune that disturbs their head: one told, for example, that in her youth she was very organized and today she is ashamed when they criticize her because the children are not organized. Even if they are just sitting in the living room, she is worried that someone might open a drawer in the bathroom and discover that it is not in order.
Each of us is a storyteller. Everyone is a master of marketing their own messages. Some promote him and some sabotage him in thinking and many times in results. So when the head starts with the endless noise, stop sometimes and offer it another alternative: like for example - maybe it's just the summer time that moves tonight in Israel.
How to practice storytelling?
Both to practice telling stories and to take care of the inner storytelling. Stop and ask myself: what is the story I'm telling myself, will it help me survive?, or succeed?, or is it just getting down on myself. Leave only the promotional stories.
Interested in taking a "parallel universe" course in April
Word 3 - Pause
Or: there are also really stupid laws
Pause is a biblical sign that marks a separation between the first part of the verse and the second part. We are used to a short musical break. Now we will talk about a legal settlement, in the spirit of what is happening in Israel, but differently. Straight from US courts, the place with the constitution is probably the most stable.
Louise Barron from the state of Massachusetts (Boston), this week sued her town after refusing to allow her to participate in public meetings. and why? 70-year-old Louise is known for her wild and impolite behavior. For example, at the town hall hearing, she accused the council members of wasting taxpayers' money "like drunken sailors". The court ruled in favor of Louise so as not to violate the constitutional right of citizens to criticize public employees. Great news for supporters of free speech, especially the fights that have been common since the corona in public meetings in American towns.
This ruling reminded me that there are some really strange laws in the United States:
- In the state of Florida, it is forbidden to have sex with a hedgehog, it is forbidden to feed alligators, it is forbidden to fight bears (who even tries?), the doors of buildings must open outwards, and it is forbidden to fall asleep in the barbershop when you are being made fun of. By the way, if you sing while you're in a swimsuit and drunk, you'll get a fine.
- Did you get divorced in the state of Massachusetts? It is advisable that you move to live separately, or you will be charged according to the law of adultery.
you must not keep a horse on the second floor of your house, or deny God (up to a year in prison or a $300 fine). And Massachusetts also has a law related to singing: you must not stop singing the national anthem in the middle, or you may be fined $100.
- The record is probably reserved for Florida: do not fart in public (sorry) after 6 o'clock in the evening. Until then it's legal.
These are some of the strange laws that are mostly not enforced, but exist in the statute books of states in America. As mentioned, I will rest easy from the drill of the courts in Israel.
How to practice optimism these days?
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