As the title of my post indicates, I'm back! I've been gone for a long time. After Mom's passing last year, I did not--could not--find the desire to write. It seemed futile. I have had too much on my plate to think about writing. Now, we're nearing the close of 2012 and approaching a new year: 2013. In view of 2011 and 2012, I wonder what 2013 will bring. Many are biting their nails thinking about the number 13, but I have never been the superstitious sort. I think the year--any year--will be what you make of it.
We often blame circumstances for our place in life rather than looking
at the one thing we can control no matter the circumstances. Think about the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles for a minute. There is a line in the song that goes “You can check out anytime you
like, but you can never leave." People "check out" of life when they stop having a passion for life and
put their lives on “automatic pilot.” They have “checked out” but still
function waiting for the next event or the next day. I am reminded of how my colleague put it. When she was referring to her life, she said: "I'm only existing, not living." The unfortunate
thing and also the wonderful hope is we can check back in!
Remember Victor Frankl! Who is Victor Frankl? Frankl is the famed psychiatrist who wrote an inspirational book, "Man’s
Search for Meaning.” Frankl was a prisoner in the Nazi concentration
camps. He had been separated from his family with little
hope of ever seeing them again. The conditions brought him near death
and he saw those around him marched to the gas chambers. What drove him to survive? In Frankl’s situation, he had a burning desire
to do two things: be reunited with his family and to disprove a theory
by Sigmund Freud. Freud theorized that
if you strip away everything that makes us human--our identity,
family, our hope--we will revert to an animalistic state. Frankl
refused to believe this theory. He believed that there was a power
within each person to want to help and make a difference and he saw it
throughout the camps. The most powerful statement in the book was: “When
everything is taken away from us, the one thing we can control is our
attitude in any given circumstance.”
So what is “the one thing” you need? It is your ability to choose how you will
react to the failures and difficulties in life. You can blame them on
others, on luck, or destiny but in truth it really does not matter. You
can control the outcome by never “checking out.” If you were passed over for a promotion, demoted, divorced
or faced uncontrollable circumstances, you still had the ability to
believe in your own future and to be the architect of your own life. Remember, you are the master of your fate through taking responsibility for your life and working to be the best!
The new year is almost here. Resolve to make it the best year yet.
With the new year, there is always a new baby. Take a look at the latest addition to our family!
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