While listening to Michael Beckwith this morning, the concept of choosing my reality soaked into my bones a bit more. He said something like, “Circumstances don’t create our reality, our attitude does.”
This may be the thousandth or ten thousandth time I have heard or read this or some variation of it. Yet, today I got it that I want to choose my attitude even when it’s more challenging for me.
I almost always have a fantastic attitude with my work – except if something technological malfunctions, or even hiccups. Then I am sure my world as I know it is coming to an end. I almost always have a superb attitude in my personal life – until my sister or my sweetheart says or does something I don’t like, or worse, something I judge.
So, what if I took the opportunity with a technology hiccup to breathe, know that all is well and take a short walk? What if I focused on the opportunity to learn about that technology or the opportunity to connect with the techno genius helping me? What if I focused on the opportunity to love even when I don’t like? What if I examined my judgment of another to see what is crying out for love in me?
What if I consistently and consciously make the choice for freedom, rather than bondage to situations that don’t seem to be going “my way?”
Twenty-five years ago, when I read Victor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, I first came to understand the importance of choosing our focus and thoughts. If he kept himself alive in a Nazi concentration camp by focusing on hope for the future, surely I can hold a positive mental attitude when my email goes down for a few hours.
I’m now challenging myself to override my initial, knee-jerk reaction to consciously choose a positive mental attitude every time I start to fight something/someone.
Ah, that may keep me busy for awhile . . .
Brenda, WOW! I got goosebumps when I read that you are willing to look at your judgment of your sister to see what is crying out for love in you. I can’t wait to hear how your experiment unfolds . . .
I pride myself on my ability to see many points of view at once. I think of myself as calm in the middle of a storm. I watch other people’s dramas with curiosity, wondering what has them so riled up, what has them so attached to their position or the result or the method they had in mind. And now, I am the one caught in the drama, fighting with my sister (close to the trigger), judging her for her point of view. I will use your suggestion, “What if I examined my judgment of another to see what is crying out for love in me?” And I will watch as my experiment unfolds.