A Conscious Effort

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."
Tonight, Nelson was baptized. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.I am so proud of him and his decision. It has changed his life, and mine.
I cannot believe that this semester is over halfway complete. It seems only yesterday that I was walking to my classes for the first time. It is bitter sweet for me to think that it is almost over.
I have been thinking a lot about attitude lately. In fact, I even did an experiment. I did away with complaining for one week. I decided that anytime I had a negative thought about something or someone, that I would take the time to see the positives in it. Most everything, I found, had a positive to it -- you just had to find it. I started gaining an appreciation for things I never even considered. It has been a wonderful experience and I am constantly trying to consciously form my attitude, and not base it on events that happen around me. I feel a great sense of power from this. This control. This control of myself.My attitude.My control.