Can you master your attitude?
November 8, 2009“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can
control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in
that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it
to master you.”- -Brian Tracy
Wouldn’t it be great to tune it out? Really, who wants to hear the kids fight over who took the biggest piece of cake? Do I care about the one hundred reasons they didn’t clean their room? I don’t. I could do without the whining and the fighting and the endless bit about life not being fair. So, let’s turn the volume down, eh?
Be careful what you wish for. This week, one of my good mom friends had surgery to help her from going deaf. She’s had days when her equilibrium’s been so thrown that she felt like she’d been tossed on a wild carpet ride, minus the drugs. It’s hard to imagine a world without noise. Some days, we all wish for it. But when you are brought face to face with such reality, you think again.
My friend is brave. Braver than I. She’s tackled her loss with incredible grace and spirit. She can’t control what’s happened to her. But she’s certainly handled her attitude. Of course, she’s depressed. Sad. Angry. Who wouldn’t be? I’m sure Beethoven and Helen Keller felt the same way. But look what they did. We do have the ability to make lemonade, when life gives us lemons. Like my friend, maybe we should try.
Carrie Brown-Wolf • Rock, Paper, Write 
Just some encouragement for anyone who might be reading this blog and is dealing with “lemon” circumstances right now. 23 years I broke my back and shattered my leg in a parachuting accident; 16 years ago today I almost died giving birth – spent the weekend in ICU where the doctors gave my husband no promises that I would survive and had an emergency hysterectomy (only hope to save my life) which took away our hope for more chirldren; 2 years ago I was given a brain cancer diagnosis (Dr. was %95 sure) which after painful weeks of testing was changed to a “better” diagnosis of MS. I lived the first 1/2 of my life (including the parachuting accident) without God, the last 1/2 as a Christian, having a wonderful, growing relationship with God. There is no earthly explanation for the peace we had during the childbirth and brain cancer crises, especially contrasted with the terrifying, out-of-control way I felt during my accident and months of recovery. I learned that I do not have any capacity in myself to handle crises as well as the “daily” lemons. God is the one who makes life sweet no matter how bitter the situation and uses the lemonade he creates to refresh others.