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by Leslie Fieger Of the many things that determine the levels of success and happiness that a person is able to achieve in life, the foremost is attitude. It is also the one factor that is most within personal choice and control. You may not be always able to control or choose the circumstances that you encounter in life, but you can always choose the attitude that you have in response to those circumstances. And, therefore, to a great degree, your choice of attitude will determine the quality of life you get to have. What is the difference between an adventure and an ordeal? Attitude! I've seen it hundreds of times. So have you. A group of people are caught up in challenging circumstances, say a hurricane. Some choose to feel exhilaration, some choose to feel burdened, even despondent. Once, out on a boat trip with a group of divers, we got caught up in a pretty major tropical storm, heavy rain, strong winds, huge waves. I felt very alive. Some of the others felt as if they were going to die. What I thought of as an adventure, they thought of as an ordeal. I had a great time. They suffered. Same circumstances. Even something as simple as going from one place to another can show you what attitudes people choose to take on. I have traveled a lot and often traveled with other people when conditions got very complex, like getting lost on some back road in a third world country where you don't speak the language. Some get caught up in the adventure of it all; some curse the ordeal. Same situation. Different attitude. What is the difference between gratitude and resentment? Attitude! What adds the color, the depth, the uniqueness, the rewards to your life? The experiences you have. Some choose to resent the experiences (problems, trials and tribulations) that life throws at them. Some choose to be grateful for the experiences (challenges and opportunities) that life offers them. The difference between a problem and an opportunity is attitude; between a tribulation and a challenge is attitude. In other words, the difference between winners and whiners is attitude. A negative attitude turns a mere bump in the road into a mountain of an obstacle. A positive attitude turns a mountain into a challenge to gain both strength from the task of surmounting it and a greater vista to view the opportunities that lie ahead. What is the difference between happiness and misery? Attitude! Just ask my meter readers. I did. "How do you like your job?" I asked. My water meter reader told me, "I love it." Why? "I get to be outside all day instead of trapped in some office. No one is looking over my shoulder and the job itself is so simple, I don't have to even think about it. Walking miles each day keeps me fit. I love dogs and get to make friends with many in my rounds." My electricity meter reader told me, "I hate it." Why? " It's either too damn hot or its raining. If I was in an office, I'd at least have air conditioning. And its boring. No one to talk to. Every damn day is the same. They won't even give me a scooter to ride and I'm sick of walking miles and miles every day. Plus, many people have dogs and I am always afraid of getting bit." Same deal for both. One is happy. One is miserable. Why? Attitude. What is the difference between success and failure? Attitude! In his long quest to find the exact filament that would allow the creation of an electric light bulb, Thomas Edison was asked by a reporter how it felt to have failed almost a thousand times. He replied that he had not failed, he had successfully eliminated a thousand ways that did not work and was thus closer to discovering the one that would work. His attitude determined his continuous perceived success and his ultimate real success. Without that attitude, he may likely have given up. Others before him had already given up on that same quest. With that attitude, he was able to persist until he succeeded. His choice of attitude created his success. Sometimes, even the difference between life and death can simply be an matter of attitude. The survival rates of cancer patients (and those with other terminal illnesses) is proven to often depend on nothing more than their attitude. Read "Humor and Healing" and other books by Bernie Segal. Likewise, people who get caught up in disasters often survive because of an attitude of faith, hope or optimism while people right beside them perish because of an attitude of despondency or pessimism. They give up and die. Their attitude kills them. Of course, if they still could after being dead, they'd likely blame it on the circumstances and not their attitude. What determines your attitude? Your choice. Yes, you may have inherited a predisposition to a certain general attitude towards life from your parents or your cultural heritage; but, in each moment you have the capacity to choose your attitude. You can, by conscious volition, train yourself to have the attitude that will bring you the happiness and the success you desire to have in life. It is always within your power to choose to have the necessary attitude that creates adventure instead of ordeal, gratitude instead of resentment, happiness instead of misery, success instead of failure, a full and exciting life instead of a mere existence or even death. I will even go so far as to say that it is your choice of attitude that determines whether or not you actually deserve to have the happiness and the success you desire. So, get conscious about your choice of attitude. Choose wisely. It may not be everything, but it is pretty darn close. "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past; we cannot change the fact that people behave in a certain way; we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is to play on that one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes." ~ Chuck Swindoll "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that 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." ~ Victor Frankl
© Leslie Fieger. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Attitude is Everything?