COURAGE | HOPE | DESTINY | INSPIRATION | LIFE
Attitude Isn’t Anything~It’s Everything!
To get what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done.
When you look at the picture above, what do you see? The beauty of nature or the threat? Whichever you choose says something about your attitude. Do you see the positive or negative first?
As Star Wars Yoda once said: Do or do not––there is no try. The same can be said of attitude. The attitude we carry each day of our lives is either positive or negative––there is no neutral.
As I wrote my memoir, I stumbled with a nagging question lingering in the back of my mind. Why do some people collapse in the face of adversity while others conquer problems and emerge with renewed resolve?
My thoughts spun. So, I took a break. I pulled my ring off to wash my hands, but it slipped from my fingers, rolled across the floor, and landed under the fridge. Annoyed, I bent down on my hands and knees to search for my treasured possession.
Neck strained with my cheek to the floor, I scanned the dusty darkness and noticed a piece of paper covered in filth, wedged between the pipes and metal. I pulled the sheet from its hiding place and tossed it toward the trash, but the word “Attitude” caught my eye as the paper floated down to land atop the garbage.
I reached for the page again, brushed off a scrap of food and read further. A chill flushed over me as I realized the relevance of the words on that lost, worn scrap of paper…
Attitude
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past … we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you … we are in charge of our Attitudes. — CHARLES SWINDOLL
The serendipity of a dusty piece of paper, yellowed with age, which years before slipped from worn tape and fell to rest under my refrigerator, felt like more than coincidence. I can’t confirm divine intervention. Perhaps dumb luck, but something conspired to break through my haze with the answer I needed.
“Coincidences” influencing my manuscript continually amazed me. I couldn’t help but wonder what I might have accomplished had I protected my own childhood hopes and dreams from jaded pessimism.
Life doesn’t always play out according to my plans. Stuff happens… especially during this pandemic! It’s easy to feel defeated, and when you repeatedly get knocked down, it sometimes makes little sense to get up again.
The thing is, it is that getting up that builds character and gives you strength and self-worth. Empower yourself.
You only get one chance at life and this is it! You may have every reason to feel like a victim, but the truth is, when you crawl into your victimized shell, you are empowering other people, situations, or circumstances to steel the one life you get to live. Changing your attitude will change your life.
My mother told me hundreds of times, attitude isn’t anything … it’s everything! If you spend your life feeling like a victim, you will fulfill that destiny.
Have attitude… but be sure it is the attitude that will lead you where you want to be.
Please, take a moment and listen to this incredible insight on attitude. It’s short, and it’s important you to listen through to the end. If you do, you will walk away with a new perspective…if only for a while.
To change your life, you have to make the decision. No one can do that for you. Just remember…
“To get what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done.”––Mackay’s Moral
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- *Side Note: take a look at my other articles on Medium — like this one: The Thing About Dreams
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Maybe you’ll discover something about yourself that might help guide you to live your own dreams.
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I love Illumination. What a fabulous publication! Please take a moment to click on these links for more stories you might enjoy: Tim MaudlinJeffHerring.com Brenda Christopher MaryJo Wagner, PhD Dr Mehmet Yildiz Vickie Trancho Jesse-Melva Johnson Sunita Pandit Peg DuchesneBenecia L. Ponder John Kremer Jacquelyn Lynn Kelda YtterdalPhilNomanono Isaacs Rick Hoefer Ellen Mogensen Dave KwiecinskiJoan Kent, PhD Roger Himes Esq. Terri Ward Nicki Walsh Susan Joy SchleefNancy H. Vest Dr Jeanne King PhD Nile Nickel Cynthia Charleen AlexanderLinda Miles Murray Thomas Anderson Andrew Poletto Dr. Sue MassimoBreakfield and Burkey Tom Antion Linda Halladay