Uncomfortable Talking About Nazi Concentration Camps?
Welcome to the one day at a time podcast where we forget about yesterday. We don't worry about tomorrow. It's what are we going to do today? This all matters because you've only ever had or will ever have the fantastic twenty four hours a day you're about to embark on. So hopefully this episode is going to give you some daily dose of wisdom that you can take action on today to improve your life.
Speaker 1:And remember, all it takes is one day at a time. Hello everyone, good morning. Just finished with a book club session of A Man's Search for Meaning and what an amazing chat with everyone. This book, like people say, is uncomfortable to read of course. You're talking about someone's personal perspective of Auschwitz and the concentration camps and how humans endure such horrible things.
Speaker 1:But the reality is this, if it's uncomfortable to read, imagine being that person during that time. Perspective on it, we're living in such a especially if you're listening to this, one, you're able to improve yourself every day. That's a very like, that's a privilege. You have the chance to wake up and go, do I want to improve myself today? Do I wanna improve my body?
Speaker 1:Do I wanna improve my nutrition, my mindset? Am I able to? Yes. Well, you should do it then because you've actually got the ability to do it. There's so many cases in history.
Speaker 1:And if we specifically think about World War two and stuff, they only had the option to survive or die. Like, survival was, like, the bare minimum. No food, extreme conditions, torture, mental torture, losing all your family, family, all this kind of extreme stuff. And when we've got the ability to wake up every day and decide, we've actually got choices, like we've got freedom and as much people can complain today about capitalism and all the bad stuff, the reality is living today in whatever like first world country we live in is a massive improvement on what it's been. Yes, it's got flaws, but God, like if we don't appreciate like, what you've got after reading that book, then I don't really know what to say to you.
Speaker 1:Like, it should bring this perspective. Really good thing, like I mentioned, like, should do we have to remind ourselves every day? But great point by the MI was saying that you don't often read things I guess every day, but by reading it, you know you've got them in the back of your head like a tool. So next time you go through hardship, you go like, do know what? Like, this is nowhere near as bad as what it was back in the day and specifically that time.
Speaker 1:And a lot of people would say, oh, you don't do that. You know, your suffering is just as bad. Of course, suffering is suffering. Going through terrible periods of time is terrible. But I think I'm I am a person that does look at the extremes and go, do know what?
Speaker 1:Like, there was way worse before, and it does bring perspective, and I can start looking at it in a different light. And in the book, it talks about humor. So when we're going through hardship, they would deploy humor in the concentration camps. They would laugh, and they'd turn things into turn things to to laugh because it's, like, it's it's, like, it's the only like, humans laugh. We we've got the ability to laugh.
Speaker 1:Another I don't think other animals anyway do laugh. So it's kind of like a coping mechanism. But if they were able to laugh about having a cold shower as opposed to being gassed in the concentration camps, can laugh about maybe slipping up any macros. You can laugh about how these the trivial things. Because humor is a great way to deal with things and actually then take a step back.
Speaker 1:You have to broaden your view. Right? You have to take a bird's eye view with stuff. If you're putting your head in your sand and thinking your life is the only life and this terrible and this is the world I can't believe I was born, la la la la la, on your head's in the sand, you've got very tunnel vision. Of course, you're gonna think everything's terrible and the world's about you.
Speaker 1:But if you actually do what Donald says about the Stoics, the view from above and you go even further, not just the view from above of the world right now, but the view from above from all of human history. And this is why history is such an important thing to learn. Learn about the Romans, learn about the Middle Ages, learn about World War one, World War two, learn about the Korean War, the Vietnam War, learn about Iraq, learn about all these things. Learn about good parts of history as well, obviously. But if you are able to learn and start connecting all of time human existence, you can actually start feeling a lot better about the position we're in right now.
Speaker 1:It's definitely the best time to be alive as a human being. You zoom out, you're like, wow, God, like this is there, that was there, this was there. And it just is a lot, but it's a it's a it's a coping mechanism and a way to bring perspective to situations, to cool yourself down, and to rationally deal with whatever it is you're going through. And, this is not to dismiss any people suffering losses, all that stuff, it's all terrible. But as it says in the book, man can endure anything, just don't ask us how.
Speaker 1:And I mean, man and woman can endure anything, just don't ask us how. I don't know how we do it. I don't know how we get over death. I don't know how we get over devastations, but we just do it. And humour is a tool, perspective is a tool and appreciate the more we got is one of the main tools.
Speaker 1:And like he says, there is no meaning to life. There is no meaning to life. If you think about and you zoom back even more from human existence and you look at the start of time and this like universe is such a huge, huge place, which is absolutely crazy to think about. That doesn't mean you can't put meaning into your life. You can put meaning to your life, have to put them to the moment so and that's what he talks about in his book, it's the sun rises, it's the sun sets, it's about those times and you're not trying to, you're not trying to like perverse these thoughts like just enjoy the moment, don't think about it, don't think about it's gonna go, don't think about when you're gonna see it again, be in the moment and enjoy those moments and you put a meaning to them and then your life is made up of those and that's it.
Speaker 1:And you live a good life, Simple as that. It is simple, but it's also hard. But having perspective to know what what to do is probably important. But thanks everyone for the book club. It was awesome.
Speaker 1:I look forward to next week and, I learned a lot. And thanks to everyone for sharing. It is an uncomfortable topic. But if we're not going to talk about it now, we're not going to you know discuss it and spread these kind of you know tell all our friends to read this book and stuff then this history will be lost. This perspective of time and that World War two and the concentration camps will be lost if we don't promote to our friends, don't talk about it in our group chats and stuff.
Speaker 1:Talk about celebrity gossip, all you want. Let's talk about the real shit. That's what we should be talking about. Oh, don't talk about that. No, let's talk about that.
Speaker 1:Like why do you have to why does everything has to be so, like, shallow in group chats when you meet someone up? Like, we talk about the real shit and get perspective? And then, of course, it can turn grim. And at the end of the book, they'll be like, oh, well, it's a great way to finish. But then you bring the humor in and you appreciate what you got.
Speaker 1:And that's what I want you to think about today. You have got the chance to improve yourself today. You've got the choice and you can do it to track your macros to get better and mindset. Just do it, enjoy it, you've got the chance to do it and these things did happen right, it's not fake films, these horrors did actually happen and they happened on the doorstep of where we live, they happened in Europe, happened in Germany, not that far away, very close to home. So think about it.
Speaker 1:It was reality. Now go and enjoy your day and make the most of it, and I'll speak to you soon. And that's it. Thank you for listening to the one day at a time podcast with your host, Golf Leer. Hopefully, you understood something I said.
Speaker 1:I hope that some wisdom kind of distilled through into your mind, and I want you to now action it today. I don't want you to think about tomorrow. I don't want you to think about yesterday. I don't want you to think about leaving a review on this podcast. I don't want you to think about going to another website.
Speaker 1:What I want you to do is as soon as this podcast ends, you will take action and make the most of today. Ground yourself today. Follow the one day at a time philosophy and your life will change.
