Pulling strings

 From my observations, people choose to deal with problems in two ways.  Some people choose to embrace a "victim" mentality.  For example, when they get a speeding ticket, they are mad at the fact that the cop was where he or she was, because if the cop wouldn't have been in that place at that time, they wouldn't have received the ticket.  A person who exhibits this type of mentality frequently views the world as if they are not in control of what happens to them.  "Victim" thinkers seem to wonder why bad things seem to always happen to them.  They are the puppet in the puppet show, and the puppet master pulls the strings from above.


Some other people embrace an "ownership" mentality.  For example, when they get a speeding ticket, they realize that they voluntarily chose to drive faster than the posted speed limit, or they failed to keep track of how fast they were going, and because of that, they got the ticket.  There was a rule, the rule was broken, and they accept the consequences for their actions.  A person who exhibits this type of mentality frequently views the world as if they are largely in control of what happens to them.  This is largely due to the fact that they understand they always have the opportunity to choose how they will respond to what happens in their life.  These people are not "puppets."  They cut the strings and control their own actions.

The next time life hands you a curve ball, think about how you view the situation.  Do you look to hang the responsibility on someone other than yourself, or do you realize that only you are responsible for your own actions?  Bad things happen to everyone; it's just a matter of how we choose to react to the bad things that happen.

Remember that you always have the power to choose how you react to the things that happen in your life.  As Dr. Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor, stated, "Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Best wishes,

Victor