7 human freedoms to remember in tough situations

Viktor Frankl was a survivor of a nazi concentration camp where he was tormented for 5 years.

He was stripped of almost all the freedoms that a human being needs to survive.

However, in those appalling conditions, he discovered that no one can take your freedom to choose your response to a situation.

No situation dictates our reaction by default. We always have a choice to respond in a way that aligns with our personal values. That's freedom built into the fabric of the universe for all human beings.

Here are some freedoms that we usually forget in tough situations.

We can always have a dream that we want to achieve. A change that we want to see in the world. A problem that we want to solve.

Having a purpose gives us the energy to keep going in tough situations.

Having a purpose is a practice of hope. It can act as an anchor for our decisions that are needed to achieve whatever we want to achieve.

Sometimes we made mistakes that break our confidence. That makes us look bad. That forces us to dwell in the past.

But we can remember that we can always make a comeback.

No matter how bad a situation gets, we can always learn the right lessons. We can start doing the right things that we did not do in the past. We can work towards benefitting the people whom we may have let down.

Sometimes we realize that we did something that was wrong. We try to change the past by finding ways to fix our mistakes and it gets difficult. We argue and look for excuses.

But we always have the capacity to face the consequences if we genuinely believe we were wrong.

Accepting the consequences saves our minds from unnecessary excuses. It makes it easy to move on and find other possibilities to make things better next time.

Sometimes we face situations where everything seems against us. We find that everyone is our enemy and we do not have any option but to hit back.

But we can always choose to have faith in humanity.

Rather than thinking about protecting our interests, we can empathize with others and look for a win-win situation that benefits everyone without taking sides.

Sometimes we find ourselves surrounded by a lot of negativity. We find that we are dealing with irrationality that has no end in sight so easily.

But we can remember that we can stop that negativity at our level, we don't have to pass it along.

We can choose to stop the negativity at our level. We can be determined to not do the things that we don't like were done to us.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that are designed to annoy us.

But we can always refuse to play the games that are obviously designed to get us.

Instead, we can turn to humor or acceptance to get out of that situation without harming relations.

We often encounter situations that trigger some fear inside us.

But we can remember that if our intent is not bad or to harm anyone, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Fear is just an indicator that we lack some knowledge about the situation. We don't have to take a step back. We can choose to go beyond our fears and continue on our path with good intentions.