Can You Move From Trouble To
Tranquil in The Blink of An Eye?

Friday evening rush hour in Los Angeles is a bad scene. How is it in your area? Friday evening rush hour before a three-day weekend is the worst--stalls, stops, and frustration.
On a recent Friday I was on the north side of LA and needed to get to the South Bay area. I waited until 7 p.m. to begin the journey, thinking I would get behind the bulk of the traffic. Most of the drive went smoothly, the 405 (Californians call their freeways,,, like Interstate 405, "the___) the 405 became a parking lot as it neared the Getty Center which looks down on the highway from a cliff high above. Cars stood shoulder to shoulder on the six-lane highway, crawling forward at a snail's pace. Luckily, I remembered an audiotape I'd pulled out of the trunk earlier and popped it into the player. Instant change! The London Philharmonic was playing opera marches. Suddenly my white Mercury Topaz became a gilded coach and the trumpets were clearing the way for me--from insignificance to importance in a single solid stanza. It was amazing how the small opening in front of me became majestic--like it opened up just for me, with a black Jaguar on one side, a champagne colored Mercedes on the other, then a white pickup truck, and so it went. Sure, we continued to inch along, but I relaxed as the music transformed my mood from extreme frustration to exuberance. The only things in my control in that sea of cars were my own thoughts and emotions.

How often have you heard opera marches playing while you're on a freeway? What do you do to lift your spirits? It doesn't have to be music. How can you change your attitude in an instant from negative to positive? What resources do you have that you can use in an instant?
Isn't it important that we control our attitudes? If we are always "done onto," it's easy to see ourselves as victims of circumstances. Why not take charge of your attitude and be happy!

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength,
not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."
--Vince Lombardi