One of the really scary things about having cancer, or any debilitating illness or disease, is the awareness that you can’t control what happens. It’s easy to feel powerless in these situations. You may even feel like a victim. While going through surgery for breast cancer and the rigorous chemotherapy that followed, I realized there was much that I could not control even in my own body. That’s when I saw Gift #2 in this time of adversity.
            Gift #2. I may not be in control of what happens to me but I am in control of my reactions and attitudes. I can choose my attitudes. I can choose to be grateful or resentful. I can choose to be positive about my recovery or I can choose to be negative and tell myself I won’t make it.
            In 1956, Viktor Frankl wrote, “Man’s Search for Meaning” which described his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and his method of finding a reason to live. He learned that everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances. Because he believed that, he refused to give up his human dignity and survived a horrible experience.
            Professional application: I can choose my reactions to a bad economy, failing businesses, losses and all other circumstances in my life. I can choose to have a positive attitude toward life.