Today’s Teacher: Viktor Frankl (1905 – 1997)
The Teaching
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
— Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Who Was Viktor Frankl?
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor who endured unimaginable suffering in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. He lost his parents, brother, and pregnant wife to the Holocaust. He was stripped of everything—his profession, his manuscript, his identity, his family, his freedom, even his name (replaced by a number tattooed on his arm).
Despite experiencing the absolute worst of human cruelty and suffering, Frankl made a profound discovery: even when everything is taken from you, you still have one freedom that cannot be stripped away—the freedom to choose your attitude toward your circumstances.
While imprisoned, Frankl observed something remarkable. In the camps, where everyone faced identical horrors, people responded in completely different ways. Some prisoners became cruel and animalistic. Others became saints. Some lost all hope and died quickly. Others found meaning even in suffering and survived with their humanity intact.
What made the difference? Not the circumstances—everyone faced the same unbearable conditions. The difference was in how people responded to those circumstances. In the space between what happened to them and how they reacted, some prisoners found freedom even in chains.
After liberation, Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning, which has sold over 10 million copies and been named one of the ten most influential books in America. He went on to develop logotherapy—a form of psychotherapy based on finding meaning in life as the primary human drive. He published 39 books and continued practicing psychiatry and giving lectures into his 90s.
What makes Frankl extraordinary is that his philosophy wasn’t developed in the comfort of an academic office—it was forged in history’s darkest crucible. He didn’t theorize about human freedom and meaning; he lived it when everything else was taken from him.
Understanding the Wisdom
The Space Between Stimulus and Response
Frankl’s teaching identifies the most important moment in human experience: the gap between what happens to you and how you respond to it.
Stimulus: The event, the trigger, what happens to you (outside your control)
Response: Your reaction, your choice, how you interpret and act (within your control)
The Space: The crucial moment of freedom between the two
Most people live as if there is no space—as if stimulus and response are connected directly and automatically:
- Someone insults me → I get angry
- Traffic is terrible → I get stressed
- My plan fails → I feel defeated
- Someone rejects me → I feel worthless
- Life is unfair → I become bitter
It feels like the stimulus causes the response automatically, like a billiard ball hitting another. No choice, no space, no freedom.
But Frankl says: There is a space. And in that space lies your ultimate freedom—the freedom to choose your response.
No one and nothing can force a particular response from you. Between what happens and how you respond, there is always a gap—even if it’s milliseconds—where you have the power to choose.
The Three Levels of Freedom
Frankl identified three types of freedom, from least to most important:
- Freedom FROM circumstances (external freedom)
• Freedom from imprisonment, poverty, oppression
• This is what most people think freedom means
• It’s important, but it can be taken away
• Frankl lost this completely in the camps - Freedom TO act and choose (freedom of action)
• Freedom to pursue goals, make decisions, take action
• This is limited by circumstances
• In the camps, prisoners had almost no freedom to act - Freedom OF attitude (ultimate freedom)
• Freedom to choose your attitude toward any circumstances
• Freedom to decide what things mean
• Freedom to choose who you become in response to what happens
• This can never be taken from you
• Frankl discovered this was the only freedom that mattered when all others were gone
The space between stimulus and response is where this ultimate freedom lives.
The Power of the Pause
The space exists whether you use it or not. But most people collapse the space—they react so automatically and quickly that there might as well be no space at all.
Frankl’s wisdom is about expanding that space, slowing it down, and consciously using it.
Automatic reaction (collapsed space):
STIMULUS → (no pause) → REACTION
Boss criticizes me → I immediately defend myself angrily → conflict escalates → I feel terrible all day
Conscious response (expanded space):
STIMULUS → (pause, breathe, think) → CHOSEN RESPONSE
Boss criticizes me → I pause, notice my impulse to defend, consider my options → I ask clarifying questions and thank them for feedback → I learn something useful → I feel capable and professional
Same stimulus. Completely different outcome. The difference is in how you used the space.
How to Practice This Wisdom Today
1. Morning Intention: Claim Your Space (5 minutes)
Start your day by consciously claiming the space between stimulus and response.
Write or reflect:
Today I will likely face these stimuli:
- Stress at work
- Frustrating interactions
- Unexpected problems
- Disappointments
- Criticism or judgment
- Things not going according to plan
My commitment:
“Between each stimulus and my response, I will pause. In that space, I will remember I have a choice. I will choose responses that align with who I want to be, not automatic reactions driven by impulse or emotion.”
The person I choose to be today:
- Patient instead of reactive
- Curious instead of defensive
- Calm instead of anxious
- Kind instead of harsh
- Growth-oriented instead of victim-oriented
2. The Sacred Pause Practice (Throughout the Day)
Every time something triggers you today, practice the sacred pause—expanding the space between stimulus and response.
The Practice:
Step 1: Notice the stimulus
Something happens that typically triggers an automatic reaction from you.
Step 2: Pause (this is the key)
- Take three deep breaths
- Count to five
- Say internally: “There is space here. I have a choice.”
Step 3: Expand the space with questions
- “What is my automatic reaction urging me to do?”
- “Will that reaction serve me or harm me?”
- “What response would I choose if I were at my best?”
- “Who do I want to be in this moment?”
- “What would growth look like here?”
Step 4: Choose your response consciously
Not the automatic reaction, but the chosen response that serves your highest self.
Step 5: Act on your choice
Respond according to your conscious choice, not your automatic impulse.
3. The Meaning-Making Practice (Midday Check-in)
Frankl believed that finding meaning transforms suffering. At midday, pause and reflect on meaning.
Ask yourself:
What difficulties have I faced today?
(List them honestly without judgment)
What meaning could I find in these difficulties?
- What might this teach me?
- How could this make me stronger?
- What opportunity is hidden here?
- How can I grow through this?
- Who could I become by responding well to this?
Frankl’s key insight: Suffering without meaning is unbearable. Suffering with meaning becomes purposeful. You can’t always control whether you suffer, but you can always control whether you find meaning in it.
4. Evening Response Review (10 minutes)
Before bed, review how you used the space today.
Reflect:
Where did I collapse the space today?
- Where did I react automatically without pausing?
- What were the consequences?
- What automatic reactions still have power over me?
Where did I expand the space today?
- Where did I pause and choose consciously?
- What was different because I chose instead of reacted?
- How did it feel to exercise this freedom?
Tomorrow’s practice:
“Tomorrow, when [common trigger] happens, I will pause for [specific amount of time] and choose [specific response] instead of my automatic reaction of [automatic pattern].”
Example: “Tomorrow, when someone criticizes my work, I will pause for three breaths and choose curiosity instead of my automatic reaction of defensiveness.”
A Modern Application: The Notification Trap
Let’s apply Frankl’s wisdom to something extremely common in modern life: smartphone notifications.
The Stimulus: Your phone buzzes with a notification.
Typical Automatic Response (collapsed space):
- Immediately grab phone
- Check notification
- Start scrolling
- 20 minutes disappear
- Feel scattered and unfocused
- Repeat 50+ times per day
Cost: Constant distraction, fragmented attention, inability to do deep work, anxiety from continuous partial attention, loss of presence with people you care about.
What actually happened? A device made a sound. That’s all. A mechanical stimulus.
Frankl’s Approach (expanded space):
Stimulus: Phone buzzes
Pause: Notice the urge to check immediately. Breathe.
Ask in the space:
- “Do I choose to respond to this stimulus right now?”
- “Am I using technology, or is it using me?”
- “What am I doing that’s more important than this notification?”
- “Who do I want to be—reactive to every ping, or intentional with my attention?”
Chosen Response:
- “I’m in conversation with someone I care about. This notification can wait.”
- “I’m doing focused work. I’ll check my phone at my next break.”
- “I choose where my attention goes. Not my device.”
Result: Phone stays in pocket. You remain present. You finish the conversation, complete the work, maintain your focus. You check phone when you choose to, not when it demands attention.
Same stimulus. Completely different life. Not because the notification changed, but because you used the space between stimulus and response to choose freedom instead of reactivity.
This is what Frankl teaches: Your freedom doesn’t depend on external circumstances. It depends on how you use the space.
The Deeper Philosophy
The Last of Human Freedoms
Frankl wrote: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
He discovered this in the concentration camps, where literally everything else had been taken:
- His family (murdered)
- His profession (stripped away)
- His manuscript (destroyed)
- His name (replaced with a number)
- His clothes (replaced with rags)
- His food (starvation rations)
- His freedom of movement (imprisoned)
- His safety (constant threat of death)
- His privacy (none)
- His dignity (systematically attacked)
And yet, even there, even in hell on earth, Frankl discovered he still had one freedom:
The freedom to choose his attitude toward it all.
The Nazis could control his circumstances, but they could not control his inner response to those circumstances—unless he gave them that power by collapsing the space and reacting automatically to their cruelty.
In the space between their actions (stimulus) and his response, Frankl found the last unconquerable territory of human freedom.
Growth and Freedom Live in the Space
Frankl said: “In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Not in the stimulus. The stimulus might be terrible, unchosen, unfair, painful. But your growth doesn’t come from the stimulus—it comes from your response.
Example:
Two people get fired from their jobs (identical stimulus).
Person A (automatic reaction, collapsed space):
- Responds with shame, despair, paralysis
- Stops trying, becomes bitter
- Sees themselves as a victim
- Still unemployed and resentful a year later
Growth? None. Freedom? Lost in victimhood.
Person B (conscious response, expanded space):
- Pauses, feels the pain, acknowledges the difficulty
- Chooses to see this as redirection, not rejection
- Takes action: updates skills, expands network, explores new industries
- Discovers opportunities they would never have found otherwise
- Six months later is in a better job doing more meaningful work
Growth? Tremendous. Freedom? Maintained by choosing their response.
The stimulus was identical. The growth and freedom were completely different—and that difference happened entirely in the space between stimulus and response.
Suffering and Meaning
Frankl’s core insight from the concentration camps: You can’t always avoid suffering, but you can choose what it means.
In the camps, Frankl saw prisoners respond to identical suffering in radically different ways:
Those who found no meaning in their suffering:
- Gave up quickly
- Lost their humanity
- Often died from losing the will to live
Those who found meaning even in suffering:
- Maintained hope
- Preserved their humanity and dignity
- Had much higher survival rates
The difference wasn’t in the suffering itself—everyone suffered equally. The difference was in the meaning they chose to assign to that suffering in the space between what happened to them and how they responded.
Some prisoners said: “This suffering is meaningless. I am nothing. There is no point.”
Others said: “This suffering is a test of who I truly am. I will maintain my humanity. I will survive to tell the story. I will find meaning even here.”
Same suffering. Different meaning. Different outcomes.
Frankl’s lesson: When you can’t change your circumstances, you can still change what those circumstances mean to you. And that changes everything.
Your Practice for Today
Here’s your challenge based on Frankl’s teaching:
Today, practice expanding the space between stimulus and response.
The Practice:
- Identify your typical automatic reactions:
What consistently triggers automatic responses from you without pause?
• Criticism → defensiveness
• Delay → frustration
• Rejection → worthlessness
• Difficulty → giving up
• Notification → immediate checking
• Conflict → anger or avoidance - When triggered today, practice the pause:
• Notice: “I’m being triggered”
• Pause: Take three breaths (expand the space)
• Choose: “What response do I choose?” (use your freedom)
• Act: Respond according to your choice, not your automatic pattern - Evening reflection:
• Where did I successfully use the space today?
• Where did I collapse it and react automatically?
• What did I learn about my freedom to choose?
• How will I expand the space more tomorrow?
The goal isn’t perfection. You’ll react automatically sometimes—that’s human.
The goal is awareness and practice. Can you catch yourself more often? Can you expand the space even a little bit more? Can you choose your responses consciously instead of reacting automatically?
Over time, you’ll discover what Frankl discovered: Your ultimate freedom—the freedom no one can take from you—lives in that space.
Essential Reading: Dive Deeper into Viktor Frankl
If this teaching resonates with you, explore these books:
Primary Sources:
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Frankl’s account of his concentration camp experiences
- The foundational text of logotherapy
- One of the most influential books of the 20th century
- Short, powerful, essential reading
Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything by Viktor Frankl
- Three lectures Frankl gave shortly after liberation
- Raw, immediate wisdom from someone who just survived hell
- Powerful affirmation of life even after trauma
Modern Applications:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- Habit 1 is based directly on Frankl’s space between stimulus and response
- Practical framework for applying this wisdom
- Shows how proactive people use the space effectively
Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Deeper philosophical exploration of logotherapy
- More theoretical than Man’s Search for Meaning
- For those who want the complete philosophy
Related Wisdom:
The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday
- Stoic philosophy (related to Frankl’s insights)
- How to transform obstacles through your response to them
- Modern examples of choosing powerful responses
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- Creating space between stimulus and automatic response
- Presence and conscious choice
- Breaking free from compulsive reaction patterns
Closing Reflection
Viktor Frankl experienced the absolute worst of human suffering. He lost everything that most people believe makes life worth living. He faced death daily. He witnessed unspeakable cruelty. He had every reason to become broken, bitter, or hopeless.
Instead, in the darkest place imaginable, he discovered humanity’s ultimate freedom: the freedom to choose your response to any circumstances.
He discovered that between what happens to you and how you respond to it, there is a space. And in that space lives your power, your growth, and your freedom.
No one can take that space from you. Circumstances cannot eliminate it. Suffering cannot destroy it. It’s always there, waiting for you to use it.
Today, you will face things you don’t choose:
- Frustrations and disappointments
- People who are difficult
- Plans that don’t work out
- Circumstances that aren’t fair
- Moments that test your patience
You cannot control these stimuli.
But between each stimulus and your response, there is a space.
In that space, you have ultimate freedom:
- The freedom to pause instead of react
- The freedom to choose instead of being driven by impulse
- The freedom to respond wisely instead of automatically
- The freedom to grow instead of being diminished
- The freedom to find meaning instead of succumbing to bitterness
A man who survived Auschwitz taught this. A man who lost everything discovered that the one thing that could never be taken was his freedom to choose his response.
If he could find and use that freedom in a concentration camp, you can find and use it in your daily life.
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
What will you choose in the spaces today?
Reflection Questions
Take a moment to journal or contemplate:
- What are my most common automatic reactions that I’d like to transform into conscious responses?
- Where in my life am I collapsing the space and reacting automatically instead of choosing consciously?
- What meaning could I find in my current difficulties that would transform my relationship with them?
- How would my life be different if I consistently expanded the space and chose my responses instead of reacting automatically?
Tomorrow’s Wisdom
Join us tomorrow as we explore a teaching from Maya Angelou, poet and civil rights activist, on resilience, rising after falling, and the indomitable nature of the human spirit.
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Essential Reading:
📚 Man’s Search for Meaning – Start with Frankl’s masterpiece
📖 Yes to Life – Frankl’s immediate post-liberation wisdom
🎯 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Practical application of the space
💪 Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning – Deeper philosophical exploration
Posted February 2, 2026 in Daily Wisdom by Paolo Peralta
Tags: Viktor Frankl, Stoicism, Personal Growth, Freedom, Meaning, Logotherapy
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