Living in the Present: Lessons from Alfred

Shay Qais

As one of the leading psychologists of the modern times, Alfred Adler made remarkable contributions to the field, particularly to psychology, education, parenting and counseling.

Some of his teachings may have been controversial at the time but he eventually became one of the most popular personalities in these fields as Adlerian Psychology became highly influential in these areas due to the holistic approach of understanding individuals and their social interactions.

The most famous concept developed by Adler was the idea of “community feeling” or social interest.

The main idea is that an individual can only attain full happiness when they make society around them happy and comfortable as all humans are intrinsically linked with each other.

In other words, Adlerian Philosophy states that individuals should strive to contribute to the well being of their communities while being able to successfully interact with other human beings.

Interestingly enough the concept described above is very similar to the main message of The Courage to Be Disliked book which promotes an individualistic approach of being true to oneself regardless of what other people think about us.

According to Adler regardless of being disliked or not disliked, a person should not focus on the perceptions of others since those who truly matter will accept them for who they are.

However one should not aim to please everyone as it is impossible to gain the approval of everybody. Instead by contributing to the well being of society and acting morally an individual can feel full happiness since they would be living up to their ideals of being good people regardless of outside criticism.

Another important teaching of Adler’s is that he strongly emphasized the need to live “in the now”. According to his philosophy, individuals should not dwell on the past as it can only define a person to a certain degree.

In other words although one cannot deny the effect which past events and personal history have on the current state of an individual a person should not be held hostage by it. Instead a person should live in the present moment and do their best to shape their future because there is nothing else which can define them besides themselves.

Adler’s view on problems and struggles is that they mostly stem from poor interpersonal relationships. Therefore a great focus should be on improving relationships with others as well as learning to cooperate and support each other.

Alfred Adler was indeed a genius as his contributions to the field of psychology are very valuable and helped to shape the modern perception of the human psyche. I believe that many people today are influenced by his work and continue to follow his teachings. Therefore, there is nothing better than using the wisdom generated by him to improve the state of the world. After all, many individuals strive to achieve their goals while also trying to help others and have strong social bonds, which ultimately leads to personal fulfillment.