Attitude

I believe is one of the most overlooked secret of recovery. By choosing to have a positive, healthy attitude about life, suffering, the past, the future, relationships, etc., I can actually control the quality of my serenity on a minute-by-minute basis.

Notice I did not say "control my life" or "control my circumstances." These are not necessarily always under my control -- but my attitude is always under my control. My attitude is one of the few things that I can maintain and control all the times.

If I fail to control my attitude, life invariably gets messy and out of control. But even if my circumstances are terrible and my life is filled with pain, I can control my attitude.

Attitude is simply a matter of choosing how I will respond to the situations life presents. Life is constantly asking questions of me, and my responses are all-important.

Any situation where I found myself is an opportunity for me to choose how I will respond. Any situation that life throws at me, I am capable of choosing an appropriate, healthy attitude and appropriate response. Even if my worst nightmare came true, I could still choose my attitude in that situation.

Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning (维克多.弗兰克尔， 《活出生命的意义》), chose his attitude in the Nazi concentration camps.

Jesus Christ chose his attitude when he was crucified as a criminal.

I'm unlikely to ever face either of those extremes in my life. More often, for me, the little annoyance of life are the ones I must guard against.

不想做事的时候、没有精神的时候，读或者写英文会觉得很好、很开心，感激这些字母背后的力量。

[Cited from textbook An Integrated English Course 4, Version 2 ]