In the late 90's, Anthony Hopkins starred in a movie called "The Edge" with Alec Baldwin. A scene from the movie that comes to mind this morning follows:
"Bob? Do you know what most men stranded in the wilderness die of?
Shame.
They die of shame.
They just sit there and try and think of the one thing that will save their lives; when the one thing they need they have had all along,
thinking."
Anthony Hopkins' character Charles is referring to man's inherent ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome situations in order to survive by using their head. And what I think his character is really saying is that attitude is everything. If you think you can, you will.
When both men are faced with the life and death struggle to survive a savage bear who is stalking them and trying to eat them, Charles says to a distraught Bob:
"You want to die out here, then die. Not me, I'm not going to die, cause today, I'm going to kill the bear."
Charles had decided that he was going to live through the challenging experience no matter what. His attitude propelled him to eventually kill the bear and survive the ordeal.
Our everyday life may not be this dramatic, but attitude can and does make a big difference in how we view the world and how we choose to live our lives.
In closing, a former boss of mine once said, there are three types of people: those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those that don't know what happened.
Today, make it your day.
