It's All about Attitude

There is a lovely, perhaps simplistic story about a father and his young son who were taking a walk in the countryside. As you read this, keep in mind, that the simplest of tales often teach the most important lessons.

It was a fine sunny day, but the terrain was rough and as the pair climbed a steep mountain, the son stumbled and hurt himself. He yelled out in pain. To his surprise there was an immediate echo of his scream. The boy, no longer concerned about his injury, was fascinated by this and called back, "Who are you?" He was rewarded by a bounce back of his question. He then began to send different messages to the mountain, some threatening, some admiring, just anything, to see what might happen. Whatever message he called out, the exact message bounced back.

The son was confused and asked his father what was going on. His father explained that what he was hearing was in fact, an echo. "But," he warned, "it is much more than that. It is a little like life itself. The echo simply returns whatever directive you send it."

The boy was confused. The father then went on to explain the parallel. He told his son that if we want to create more love in the world we must allow more love in our hearts. If we want more compassion, then we must be compassionate. If we are part of a team and the team is less than competent, then it is up to us to take the initiative, to be in the driver's seat, and promote excellence. "Whatever you achieve in life," said his father "is a direct reflection of the kind of person you are and the attitude that you adopt. If you strive for excellence, your life will be accordingly enriched. You see, your life is not a coincidence. Rather, it's a reflection of you, of your actions, of your responses in this world."

So how does this simple analogy relate to you and me in our everyday living? Let's see. Have you ever got out of bed in the morning, in a bad mood, to find that everything that day went against you? It didn't matter what you did, either at home or work, everything and everyone appeared to be out of kilter.

You know, the reality is that nothing had changed, except for your attitude that is! Whether you like to believe this or not, your negativity was your choice! The reason for your bad mood is irrelevant, but the choice to decide to embrace a negative attitude is entirely relevant. Your mood set the pattern for the day. Because of it you found everything to complain about, the traffic congestion, the elevator at work not functioning, people's attitude to you, and maybe even, the coffee being cold. The list could go on, but you get the picture!

Now flash back and visualise that same day. Now this time, decide to embrace an absolutely positive, unshakable mindset for the rest of the day. Are you ready?

Now, you set off in your car for work and ten minutes into your journey you find that there has been an accident on the road and traffic is banked up. Consequently your journey to work has slowed down to a snail's pace. You refuse to be upset! It just means that you have time to listen to the news on the radio, maybe stretch your vocal cords on one of your favourite songs, or think about a work-related problem that is waiting for you to deal with in the office.

Later, when you get to work, you have to climb the stairs because the elevator has mal-functioned. You reason to yourself that at least you're factoring in some exercise. Your heart-beat is elevated and you're using up energy! Eventually you make it up to the fifth level where your office is. By that time you have decided that in fact you could really do this every day, given that you don't use a walking stick or need a wheel chair!

Happily you grab a well-earned coffee. It turns out to be lukewarm. "So what?" you reason. "Some people can't afford a cup of coffee." You drink it and are grateful. Life is good!

So you see, what started off as a potentially bad day, ended up being an exceptionally good one. You made not one, but a series of commendable choices to see the positives in so many of your situations, the choice to put up with things, the choice to smile and be in a good mood, the choice to see the other side of the equation, the choice to echo something good to the world at large. Bet your bottom dollar, when you elected to be positive, everyone noticed. I'll bet too, that the people working with you were more productive that day. That's right! Your mood would have had a profound, a far-reaching effect on how others performed at work and beyond. That's a bit of a scary thought is it not? We all have so much power to make or break things!

So next time you feel that the world owes you something, next time you feel grumpy, why not stop and turn it around and ask what you owe the world? Be assured that your debt to the world will far outweigh anything the world owes you. And always be mindful that any messages that you send out on any day, will surely be echoed right back to you.

Decide to make each day a good one and see where life takes you.