Choice and Attitude
“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.” These words come from the world famous neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) who survived the holocaust.
When we choose
There are times when we are confronted by situations that leave us paralyzed – literally. Our mind-body goes into shock with disbelief. In this state our survival instinct prepares us for fight, flight or freeze and our ‘lizard’ brain takes over. At some point, however, we move out of the survival-instinctual response to one where we can rationalize more functionally. It is at this point when we can consciously choose how we might respond to the situation.
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl
We are always choosing
I believe we choose, or make decisions, constantly. The difference is whether we do so consciously or unconsciously. When we are in a state of panic we tend to resort to default or unconscious decision-making. However, the more we consider our responses the more we make better choices for ourselves. We may even improve our reactions in panic or life-threatening situations.
It’s an attitude
Easy for you to say! There are times when choosing how to react to certain situations is difficult or even impossible. Still, even when we choose not to choose, this is an attitude and a decision has been made, right? In Viktor Frankl’s famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning” he was stripped of everything that might have given him a purpose for continuing to live in the most horrendous of circumstances, yet he chose to stay alive and make meaning out of this suffering. As a result of his experience in the concentration camp, he developed “Logotherapy” which helps individuals find meaning in life.
How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours – Wayne Dyer
The more conscious we are, the less we take other people’s drama personally. On the other hand, the more we buy into other people’s drama, the more pain we’ll experience. It’s a choice and choice requires that we take responsibility for our behavior, and that means choosing how to respond to a situation. You are more in control than you give yourself credit for! What are you choosing for your life today?
