Vinny Khinda
June 13, 2021
Let me begin by confessing that what lies ahead in this essay are not my original thoughts. I am just plain intrigued by this idea, the concept of Attitude. Read this passage more like a collection of notions on Attitude; it is merely a perusal of literature on the subject, albeit on a minuscule scale, not even a drop in the ocean. On a personal note, examining what the thinkers had to say on the subject has been very inspiring; hope it is of help to the readers as well.
Viktor Frankl was a prisoner of war in Germany during WWII from 1942-1945 at Auschwitz. His mother, father, brother, and pregnant wife were all killed in the camps. While it would appear he had lost everything, he remarked, “Everything can be taken from a man 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.” Frankl lived to be 92 and contributed a great deal of value for many years after overcoming Auschwitz.
John C. Maxwell has spent a great deal of time and study on the topic of attitude. In his book, The Winning Attitude, John says, “Our Attitude…
1. …Is a Choice
2. …Determines Our Approach To Life
3. …At the Beginning of a Task Will Affect the Outcome More Than Anything Else
4. …Determines Our Relationship With People
5. …Can Turn Our Problems into Blessings
6. …Can Give Us an Uncommonly Positive Perspective
7. …Is the Only Difference Between Success and Failure”
“Always be kind to your ‘A’ and ‘B’ students. Someday one of them will return to your campus as a good professor. And also be kind to your ‘C’ students. Someday one of them will return and build a two-million dollar science laboratory.”
– The President of Yale University
Words Have Power! Here Is One Simple Yet Powerful Thing To Begin A Change In Your Attitude: Make a conscious effort to speak words of positivity. It’s as simple as replacing “if” with “when” (“when I achieve that goal”, rather than “if I ever finish…”). Talk success into a reality!
If you were trying to motivate someone, you would offer words of support, encouragement, and inspiration. It is the same for yourself. Unfortunately, many people limit themselves with a self-defeating internal voice saying things like “I can’t. I doubt. I don’t think. I don’t have the time. I’m afraid. I don’t believe.”
This self-doubt will deteriorate our attitude and limit success. Rather than speak defeat, change the words to “I can. I expect the best. I know. I’ll make the time. I am confident. I believe.”
Zen has a rich tradition of storytelling. Actually, just about the entire human race has a rich history of storytelling. Why do we like stories so much? Because we can identify with them. Stories, whether real or not, pull and tug at our emotions. We connect personally with stories.
Here is a masterpiece from the Zen stable.
Be the Boss
A horse suddenly came galloping quickly down the road. It seemed as though the man had somewhere important to go.
Explanation: The horse symbolizes our habit energy, our negative attitude. The story explains the way we usually live, at the mercy of our old habit energies which have been established not by our intentional actions, but by our surroundings and mindless activity.
The horse is pulling us along, making us run here and there and hurry everywhere and we don’t even know why. You’re just used to it, it’s how we’re taught to live.
But as much as we run, it gets us nowhere. We need to learn how to take back the reigns and let the horse know who’s boss.
Your attitude must give directions for the horse to follow.
You’re the boss, you’ve always been the boss, so start acting like one.
I recently came across another magnum opus, reproducing it here. The message is pretty clear: Our attitude is the difference between heaven and hell; a misplaced one can literally destroy us and stall our progress.
Murphy’s Plough
McGinty, a farmer, needed to plough his field before the dry spell set in, but his own plough had broken.
“I know, I’ll ask my neighbour, farmer Murphy, to borrow his plough. He’s a good man; I’m sure he’ll have done his ploughing by now and he’ll be glad to lend me his machine.”
So McGinty began to walk the three or four fields to Murphy’s farm.
After a field of walking, McGinty says to himself, “I hope that Murphy has finished all his own ploughing or he’ll not be able to lend me his machine…”
Then after a few more minutes of worrying and walking, McGinty says to himself, “And what if Murphy’s plough is old and on it’s last legs – he’ll never be wanting to lend it to me will he?..”
And after another field, McGinty says, “Murphy was never a very helpful fellow, I reckon maybe he won’t be too keen to lend me his plough even if it’s in perfect working order and he’s finished all his own ploughing weeks ago….”
As McGinty arrives at Murphy’s farm, McGinty is thinking, “That old Murphy can be a mean old fellow. I reckon even if he’s got all his ploughing done, and his own machine is sitting there doing nothing, he’ll not lend it to me and just watch me go to ruin…”
McGinty walks up Murphy’s front path, knocks on the door, and Murphy answers.
“Well good morning Mr. McGinty, what can I do for you?” says Murphy.
And McGinty says, with eyes bulging, “You can take your bloody plough, and you can stick it up your bloody arse!”
Very nicely written. Loved reading it. 👍
Impressive. Attitude is what makes or breaks us. Choice is ours..
It is so good to see you getting back to writing Paa Jee. Neatly written and very well controlled artifact. I couldn’t agree more with the story given in the middle symbolizing horse with our undirected energy that leads us nowhere.
Only and only if we can learn to tame the horse with positive and constructive attitude, it can lead to great achievements.
However, optimism is a difficult art, one needs to practice this over and over again to master it. Once done, it can change one’s personality drastically.
very well done paa jee, please keep writing 🙂