"If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now."
~ Marcus Aurelius
"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind."
~ William James
The attitude that you adopt is a major factor in determining both the success and happiness you are able to attain. Since both your whole overall attitude toward life and your particular attitude in any given moment or circumstance is within your power to choose, your success and your happiness are, for the most part, a matter of choice?your choice.
Most people refuse to accept that responsibility. Instead, they allow their attitude to be determined by whatever passing circumstance they encounter. It rains. Their attitude is damp and dreary. Their boss reprimands them. Their attitude is resentment. Their lover leaves. Their attitude is misery. They are victims of circumstance and condition. Powerless creatures. Reactors.
The few who walk the path of self-mastery own their attitude. They choose how to feel in any circumstance or condition. As a result, they are more self-reliant, more successful and happier people. Enactors. Victors. They are also the ones who end up being creators of circumstance, leaders and contributors.
The single most important attitude that you can adopt is the attitude of gratitude. Once you have made the choice to simply be grateful for what your life has to offer, all other necessary winning attitudes become easy to adopt.
It is not necessary to be grateful to anyone or anything. Gratitude can be felt without it being directed toward any giver or cause. Grateful appreciation is the key that unlocks the doorways that lead to happiness and personal fulfillment.
Obstacles in your path become opportunities to hone your skills and strengthen your will. Setbacks become opportunities to reassess and improve your approach; roadblocks, a chance to take a new road. Endings become beginnings. It is all a matter of attitude. Yours.
Each of us has the option at each and every moment to choose what attitude we shall adopt. If we allow conditions or circumstances to determine how and what we feel and think-what attitude we hold, we are making the choice to be mere creatures, more, to be victims.
As soon as we decide to take control of the attitudes we hold, no matter what the circumstances, events or conditions we encounter, we have made the choice to become victors.
Opt for victory. Choose your attitude. Do it carefully and purposefully. Do it now.
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."
~ George Bernard Shaw
"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.
Leslie is the author of The DELFIN Knowledge System Trilogy: The Initiation, The Journey and The Quest plus many more success publications. He also the co-author of The End of the World with Hugh Jeffries and Alexandra's DragonFire with his daughter Ashley. Subscribe to his free and ad-free eZine at http://www.ProsperityParadigm.com or http://www.LeslieFieger.com.
Reprinting and republishing of this article is granted only with the above credit included. Permission to reprint or republish does not waive any copyright.
AP - President-elect Barack Obama intends to name Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his treasury secretary to confront the nation's intense economic turmoil, senior Democratic officials said Friday.
AP - Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law Friday a bill adding a 30-day age limit to a safe-haven law that allowed 35 children — including teenagers as old as 17 — to be abandoned at state hospitals. The law, approved hours earlier by the Legislature in a 45-3 vote, goes into effect Saturday, and makes Nebraska the 14th state with a 30-day age cap. It had been the only state with a safe-haven law without an age limit.
AP - Pressure intensified on Citigroup to sell part or all of itself as its stock fell below $4 a share on Friday and fears escalated about future loan losses.
AP - Democratic leaders ordered Detroit's Big Three automakers Friday to submit what amounts to a detailed loan application to Congress so lawmakers can decide whether to give the beleaguered industry an emergency $25 billion lifeline.
AP - In a last dash of diplomacy, President George W. Bush on Friday sought China's help in pinning down North Korea to keep its shaky promises of nuclear disarmament.
AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he would like to add significant U.S. forces to the war in Afghanistan before national elections scheduled for next year, and that grim depictions of backsliding in the seven-year-old war are "far too pessimistic."
AP - Germany is dropping its pursuit of a ban on Scientology after finding insufficient evidence of illegal activity, security officials said Friday.
AP - The New York Knicks traded Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford in separate deals Friday, parting with their two top scorers to free up coveted salary-cap space for the summer of 2010. Crawford was sent to Golden State for forward Al Harrington. Hours later, Randolph was shipped to the Los Angeles Clippers along with reserve guard Mardy Collins for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas.
Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama on Friday moved toward nominating Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary and charging the respected head of the New York Federal Reserve with helping pull the United States out of an economic nosedive.
Reuters - Citigroup Inc has begun talks with the U.S. government as its plummeting share price raises doubts about the bank's ability to survive, a person familiar with the matter said.
Reuters - Detroit automakers began work on turnaround plans demanded by Congress in return for $25 billion in aid as General Motors Corp said it would cut production more and give up two of its controversial corporate jets.
Reuters - The board of directors of embattled U.S. automaker General Motors Corp is considering "all options" including bankruptcy, according to a report on the Wall Street Journal's website late on Friday.
Reuters - U.S. stocks stormed higher in a late rally on Friday to cap another volatile week as investors welcomed reports that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his point person to combat the U.S. economic crisis, instilling confidence about the administration's ability to take action.
Reuters - The Pentagon is considering a plan to send more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan over the next 12 to 18 months to help safeguard elections and quell rising Taliban violence, officials said on Friday.
AFP - The economic team of US president-elect Barack Obama came into view as fears mounted on the global financial crisis and more mass job cuts loomed worldwide.
AFP - US President George W. Bush began Friday his last scheduled foreign trip, meeting the leader of increasingly important China ahead of a summit aimed at containing a spiraling financial crisis.
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