Attitude really is everything

Attitude really is everything
                        

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”

—Winston Churchill

Viktor Frankl, a Vienna-born psychiatrist who survived the horror of the Holocaust, noticed an important difference between the survivors and those who sadly died. One word separated them for the most part — attitude. Frankl’s wife, mother, father and brother died in concentration camps. He observed the last freedom man has is the right to choose one’s attitude in any situation.

I am convinced the reason a lot of people are so unhappy is because they let life happen to them. No one can have a life free of problems; that is just a fact of life. However, another fact is nobody can live our life for us. In other words no one can tell us how to feel. Someone may want to bring us down to their level, but we don’t have to feel miserable like they do. Again, it comes back to our attitude.

We can watch the news all day long and hear about wars and fighting on Capitol Hill. Likewise, we can choose to turn it off and watch a heartwarming sitcom or read a good book.

The psychiatrist William James said, “The greatest discovery of our time is that one can change one’s life by changing one’s attitude.”

James was basically affirming what the apostle Paul said in Philippians, almost 1,800 years earlier. Think about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. (See Philippians 4:8; hopefully, you will forgive me for paraphrasing the verse.)

A week has passed since I wrote the last paragraph, and to be honest with you, I need a checkup from the neck up. The day after Thanksgiving I spent 10 hours in Cleveland at the Cleveland Clinic. Stacey had surgery on her neck, and to say the very least, I was worn out. I rested the past two days, knowing the surgery was a success.

Last night I saw family I hadn’t seen for a while. We talked and played games and had a great time. However, today is overcast and cold, and I feel down and no good. I began listening to an audiobook, praying and telling myself the truth about myself. Then I turned on YouTube and heard Zig Ziglar say, “You are where you are, and you are who you are by what has gone into your mind.”


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