Attitude adjustment
Benjamin Zander, author, motivational speaker, and director of the Boston Philharmonic, often quotes his father as saying that “There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.”
I live on the south shore of New Hampshire, about an hour north of Boston, and when each winter brings day after day of snow, cold, and the ever-present icy mix, I stick this sentence into my brain.
There is no bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.
And I remember how happy the skiers are an hour north. I watch the little kids building their snow forts, their snowmen and everything else. Every once in a while, when the snow is really beautiful and deep and still falling, I venture out and make a snow angel. (It’s always fun trying to get up from the snow angel without messing it up.)
So I guess Mr. Zander’s father knows what he’s talking about.
We can take this further if we want. Tom Crum has always said that “It’s not what happens to us, it’s what we do with what happens to us” that makes the difference in life. It’s true. I’ve been sick all week with the flu, and while it wasn’t fun having a fever, chills, aches and pains, once I relaxed, I felt like I was on vacation, catching up on fun reading. Bad TV and good movies. The more I relaxed, the faster I recovered.
There are all kinds of quotes about this idea that we make up our reality from moment to moment by the attitude we give it:
“Either we make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.”
– Carlos Castaneda
“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”
— Dr Charles Swindoll
“We can change our circumstances through a maternal change in our attitude.”
-William James
“I found that I always have options and sometimes it’s just an attitude choice.”
-Judith M. Knowlton
External circumstances are the “what is” of life. They exist whether we like it or not. How we see, interpret, and recognize “what is” makes the difference between a life of stress and struggle or one filled with gratitude and grace.