"Consider who you are. Above all, a human being, carrying not greater power than your own reasoned choice, which oversees all other things, and is free from any other master."-EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.10.1
("자신이 누구인지를 생각하십시오. 무엇보다도, 당신은 인간이며, 다른 어떤 것에도 지배받지 않고, 모든 것을 통제하는 당신 자신의 이성적 선택이라는 힘을 지니고 있습니다." - 에픽테토스, 담론집, 2.10.1)
The psychologist Viktor Frankl spent three years imprisoned in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz. His family and his wife had been killed, his life's work destroyed, his freedom taken from him. He quite literally had nothing left. Yet, as he discovered after much thought, he still retained one thing: the ability to determine what this suffering meant. Not even the Nazis could take that from him.
Further, Frankl realized that he could actually find positives in his situation. Here was an opportunity to continue testing and exploring his psychological theories (and perhaps revise them). He could still be of service to others. He even took some solace in the fact that his loved ones were spared the pain and misery that he faced daily in that camp.
Your hidden power is your ability to use reason and make choices, however limited or small. Think about the areas of your life where you are under duress or weighed down by obligation. ...
