Choose your freedom to choose.

I've been reminded this week of the importance of choosing a positive attitude.  It has not been easy and I have checked myself, consciously, multiple times in the face of stark unfairness, injustice and death. 

Viktor Frankl said "Everything can be taken from a (wo)man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." He said this of his harrowing experiences of a Nazi concentration camp.  He also concluded that  "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." I have been challenged to change myself this week, in the face of desperately sad and unfair circumstances, that I have had no control or influence over.  

As humans I believe we are predisposed to see risk and threat before anything else - it's part of our DNA, our survival.  This may be our instinctive reaction to situations, but as conscious beings I think we shouldn't give in to our "Chimps" (see "The Chimp Paradox" by Steve Peters) so easily, we should think and respond (not react) using our human brain.  And the thinking human in us always has choice - even in the most testing time we can choose our attitude, and we can usually find and choose a positive one - even if it appears to be invisible.  I believe every situation, like every physical force, has an equal and opposite, but we may have to search for it - the silver lining, the cup half full, the smooth or the light. 

So the next time you find yourself challenged beyond belief, remind yourself to respond and not react, steel yourself, think, and believe, that it's equal and opposite positive is there somewhere - search for it.  It is wanting to be seen and chosen, but the choice, ultimately, is yours.