Let’s look at some examples of how this works. I remember living in Los Angeles during a terrible earthquake. Two days later, I watched as a CNN reporter interviewed people commuting to work. The earthquake had damaged one of the main freeways leading into the city. Traffic was at a standstill, and what was normally a 1-hour drive had become a 2- or 3-hour drive.
The CNN reporter knocked on the window of one of the cars stuck in traffic and asked the driver how he was doing.
He responded angrily, “I hate California. First there were fires, then floods, and now an earthquake! No matter what time I leave in the morning, I’m going to be late for work. This sucks!” Then the reporter knocked on the window of the car behind him and asked the second driver the same question. This driver was all smiles.
He replied, “It’s no problem. I left my house at five a.m. I don’t think under the circumstances my boss can ask for more than that. I have lots of music and my Spanish-language lessons with me.
I’ve got my cell phone. I have coffee in a thermos, my lunch—I even brought a book to read. So I’m fine.”
Now, if the earthquake or the traffic (the event) were really the deciding variables, then everyone should have been angry. But everyone wasn’t.
It was their individual response to the traffic that gave them their particular outcome.
It was thinking negative thoughts or thinking positive thoughts, leaving the house prepared or leaving the house unprepared that made the difference.
It was all a matter of attitude and behavior that created their completely different experiences.
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