Balance comes in threes.

Image credit: prjobcoach.blogspot.com

I have often heard authors compare writing and publishing a book to the experience of giving birth. Well for me, it feels more like climbing a tree; each time I write something it branches off into another related area. It’s exciting but at some point I need to return to the roots and get grounded. I can’t wait for the time when I can rest against its trunk and feel the coolness and protection of its shade. For now, I offer a snap shot of a branch within the context of this Hive, Triads.*

Viktor Frankl has incorporated into his work of “man’s search for meaning”, the triad of body, mind and spirit. In his article, Victor Frankl and Logotherapy, Stephen J. Costello writes:

"He views the human person as being in three dimensions: body, mind and spirit, and according to Frankl, the spirit can never be sick. There is always something intact even in illness, which he calls the ‘noetic’ core of the person."

Costello continues to write about, what is interestingly enough, Frankl's triadic approach:

"According to Frankl, there are three main ways through we may find meaning in life: Creativity (giving something to the world through self-expression), Experience (receiving something from the world through nature or culture or the environment), and Attitude (changing our mental attitude toward a condition especially if confronted with unavoidable suffering)."

In her article, A Leg (or Three)to Stand On, Molly Weinburgh writes:

"Ask a mathematician to tell you about “balance” and he or she will tell you that having three nonlinear points allows you to create a plane that is one-dimensional (a triangle) and therefore very stable."

Frankl’s three ways of finding meaning provides us with the balance and stability to assist us in our search for meaning.

But the search is only the first of yet another triadic process in Frankl's work; searching, finding and challenging.

"Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human." - Viktor Frankl 

*The Hive, Triads was inspired by @Ali Anani's Buzz, Triads Are Everywhere.