OUR ATTITUDE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
The well known phraseATwo men looked out from prison bars. One saw mud and the other stars@ communicates well the fact that our attitude, how we look at things determines our reality. What we see is depends mainly on what we look for. We need to set our sights high. As Robert Browning wrote: A
Ah, but a man=s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what=s a heaven for?@
Ah, but a man=s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what=s a heaven for?@
Josh Billings has rightfully said that life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those you hold well.
For the most part we get out of life what we ask of life. Our attitude and our view point about our personal situation determines to a great extent what we get back. We all have demons that live within us and which we keep in chains most of the time. They come to haunt us at 2:00 am in the morning and in our weakest moments, but everyone deals with this to one extent or another. The late Johnny Cash in an interview several years ago said: AThere is that beast there in me. And I got to keep him caged or he=ll eat me alive.@Thomas Dreier, writer has pointed out ANo lions are ever caught in mouse traps. To catch lions you must think in terms of lions, not in terms of mice. Your mind is always creating traps of one kind or another and what you catch depends upon what you are thinking. It is your thinking that attacks what you receive.
A change of attitude can mean the difference between average and greatness. Howard Hawkes movie director has said AI=ve seen actors go along for years and no better then satisfactory. Suddenly they become brilliant because they have found confidence. Confidence brings poise, style and polish to an actor.@
It= s all how we see ourselves. In Margery William’ s Velveteen Rabbit there is a story about a toy rabbit talking to a toy horse who has lost most of his hair because he has been handled so often by the children. The toys talk about the A precious moment’S in the life of a toy when a child loves it as a real person. The horse says it usually happens after most of the hair has been A loved off. But the ugliness, caused by the loss of hair, says the horse A doesn’ t matter. Because once you’re real to children, you can never be ugly to them anymore.
Carol Burnett has said A I’ ve learned that it’s not how you look that counts. It’ s how you feel inside. I used to be a people pleaser and I wound up doing the darndest things because I thought I was only as good as wheat people thought of me. But I’ ve learned that there’ s n one on earth – including me – who everybody loves.”