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Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Category: EBooks
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $5.96 (37%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  77 reviews
Sales Rank: 3698
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 196
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.8914
ASIN: B001BT0KRC
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
This timely book expands on Viktor Frankl's seminal Man's Search for Meaning, examining the book's concepts in depth and widening the market for them by introducing an entirely new way to look at work and the workplace. Alex Pattakos, a former colleague of Frankl's, brings the search for meaning at work within the grasp of every reader using simple, straightforward language. The author distills Frankl's ideas into seven core principles: Exercise the freedom to choose your attitude; Realize your will to meaning; Detect the meaning of life's moments; Don't work against yourself; Look at yourself from a distance; Shift your focus of attention; and Extend beyond yourself. By demonstrating how Dr. Frankl's key principles can be applied to all kinds of work situations, Prisoners of Our Thoughts opens up new opportunities for finding personal meaning and living an authentic work life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 72 more reviews...
 The Key to Happiness August 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Finding peace or happiness in every situation, no matter how dreadful the circumstances. Some are lucky enough to do it naturally, others need a book like "Prisoners of Our Thoughts" to guide them. "Prisoners" offers readers the principles, tools and examples that teach us to stop being carried away by our negative reactions to difficult situations, to step back, find perspective and creatively realize the good that can come from not getting what we think we want in the moment. Frankl's life and work epitomize the triumph of the human spirit in transforming suffering into peace and turning the sourest lemons into the sweetest lemonade. Pattakos has paid homage to this great man by interpreting and reframing his work for new generations.
Integrating Spirituality with Pragmatism March 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In this inspirational book, Dr. Alex Pattakos takes the work of his mentor Dr. Viktor Frankl to a new level. With anecdotes and case studies that address the spiritual and pragmatic needs of the 21st century reader, the author shows how future-oriented thinking and applied intuition can help us retain an optimistic outlook regardless of external circumstances.
In today's volatile times, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the multitudes of uncertainties that present to us every day.
In "Prisoners of our Thoughts" we are given a set of cognitive and spiritual principles that we can use to form an imaginary periscope with which to look ahead to a meaningful future.
Bravo, Dr. Pattakos!
Meaning is an idea whose time has come March 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Meaning is an idea who time has come...and none too soon.
Have you ever known someone you admire and respect and wanted their esteem?
Alex Pattakos succeeds at this masterfully, i.e. Victor Frankl would indeed be proud of him, and we the readers are the beneficiaries.
"Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Victor Frankl's Principles at Work" takes the wealth of Frankl's ideas out of the psychotherapist's office and makes it available for understanding, using and living in our professional, personal, interpersonal, intrapersonal and even transpersonal worlds.
If you have ever stared into the darkness and wondered what is meaningful to you and come up empty, this book will help you fill your cup and then some.
I highly recommend this book.
-Mark Goulston, M.D.
"The Leading Edge" at Fast Company
"Solve Anything with Dr. Mark" at Tribune Media Services
author: "Get Out of Your Own Way at Work" (Perigee, 2006)
The gift of a 'meaningful pause'... October 19, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is the `pause' that is needed for all of us as we live in this world of constant change and chaos. It takes us away from the `busy-ness' of it all and gives us time to reflect on what is ultimately important to us and in our lives...the meaning within each moment. And it is that `meaning' so many of us may have lost in our lives and our work which causes us to react to situations (and to others) rather than being fully present and aligned with our values.
If you have ever been challenged by change, relationships, a stressful life situation, a seemingly meaningless job, or something within yourself you wish were different, you may have found yourself behind bars - as a `prisoner of your thoughts' - believing things about yourself (or others) that are not real. Dr. Pattakos offers you the `key' to unlocking that `prison' and invites you to begin your journey to the freedom found in meaning.
This is not just another `how to' book or `self-help' program that will `transform' your life, but rather it is a catalyst for understanding the deeper part of what drives you. Drawing on solid theories, this book is written in a powerfully practical manner that can be immediately applied by answering the questions Dr. Pattakos poses throughout the book, and by working the exercises at the end of each chapter. Please - do not gloss over these! For it is in the `working' of these exercises and the `answering' of the challenging questions that the real personal discovery and growth happens. Let your learning `cook' for a while...and then...take action! Apply what you have learned and share it with others.
Whether you are a leader, an employee, a parent, a partner, or a fierce independent, this book will guide you through the principles needed to find meaning in your life and in your work. Although the book is written from a work perspective, keep in mind that we are all `working' at something and these principles are here for us to use as we seek out and accomplish the meaningful work we were meant to do and the meaningful lives we were meant to live!
 Why do we feel so bad? September 25, 2007
It's a question that each of us has asked at some point in our lives. It's been contemplated and argued for decades by some of the greatest minds in religion, philosophy and science. The feeling had become so prevalent in society, that in 1992, Forbes magazine dedicated its 75th Anniversary issue to answering this ominous question.
We live in a world of unprecedented abundance; arguably, the most "prosperous" time in the history of mankind. Yet so many of us lead lives of unhappiness and despair. The paths we have chosen have filled our pockets while emptying our souls of purpose and meaning. Victor Frankl addressed this troubling paradox through his life's work. Alex Pattakos picks up the torch and carries Frankl's message to a new generation.
It has been many years since I first read Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning". To this day, it has been one of the most influential books I have ever purchased. As a survivor of the Nazi death camps, Frankl had every reason to "feel bad". He was surrounded my torture and murder - atrocities which most of us will never fully imagine. Yet through this incredible suffering, Frankl found meaning and a sense of renewed purpose.
Although most of us will never face the horrors of a concentration camp, we still reside in our own self-imposed prisons as a result of unfulfilled jobs, failed relationships, and misguided searching. Alex Pattakos' book, "Prisoners of our Thoughts" rekindles the fire of Frankl's work with practical application to today's world.
Pattakos expands upon the significance of Frankl's philosophy of one's "choice in response". As Frankl believed, "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness." Being responsible for our own choices in times of hardship often comes with great challenge. However, these challenges provide the source of authentic meaning. As Pattakos points out, these times of suffering provide the greatest test to our courage and that "courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness and ability to walk through the fear - to tread, if you will, into the darkness of life's labyrinth of meaning."
Pattakos' 7 Principles provide a simple and concise framework for applying the essence of Frankl's teachings to our current "condition" whether it be in our professional or personal life or both. His references to Frankl's work are timely and insightful. The visualizations, exercises and points of reflection which Pattakos details throughout the book provide additional assistance in connecting these important concepts to the applicable points in our lives.
As we integrate Victor Frankl's teachings into our life, we begin to realize that the freedom to choose our response in any given situation makes us a product of our decisions and not of our conditions. With that being said, "feeling so bad" truly becomes a question of choice.
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