The Car Accident

"Within every adversity is an equal or greater opportunity."
- Napoleon Hill

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It has been said that the events that occur in your life are neither good nor bad; they’re simply events. Its a person perception of the event that makes the event good, bad, or somewhere in between. For example, how is it that two people can experience the same thing, yet feel differently about the event? It’s because our perception of an event is influenced by our attitude. Attitudes are derived from thought. Thoughts control our perceptions. Plain and simple; think positive thoughts and you’ll perceive positive outcomes; think negative thoughts and you’ll perceive negative outcomes. Remember it’s you, and you alone, that will determine whether an event is good or bad. You have the power, at anytime; to turn what may have been perceived as a bad event into a good event.

A friend of mine got into a car accident the other day. My friend had never been in accident before and had never received a traffic citation prior to the accident. My friend continually groused about how the accident had inconvenienced him. He complained about the cost of the ticket. He complained about police officers and the court system. He complained about the towing company, the body shop and the rental car. He complained about the cost of the citation and how he never has any money. For there, he went on to complain about his job, his boss, his marriage and everything else he could think of. He was on the complaint train and he had no intention of getting off anytime soon. My friend’s perception of the car accident was completely negative. The more he allowed his negative thinking to determine the outcome of the event, the more negative he became about the event, and the more negative he became about things completely unrelated to the event.

My friend doesn’t understand the power of positive thinking. You see, he believes happiness is contingent upon external events and circumstances. His happiness is dictated by his perception of the events and circumstances that that take place in his life. Being a negative person, his predominant mode of thinking is negative. Hence, most events and circumstances in his life are perceived as negative.

The power of positive thinking dictates that your thoughts not only create the positive perception of an event, they actually create the positive circumstance and events that occur in you life. Because of your positive thinking, you begin to attract positive people and positive events into your life. That’s not to say that unfortunate events don’t occur in the life of a positive thinking person; they do. The difference is a positive person looks for something good contained in the event; an opportunity or lesson to be learned. The positive thinking person lives Napoleon Hill’s quote, “Within every adversity is an equal or greater opportunity.” I told my friend that if he looked hard enough, he would find an opportunity or lesson from the car accident. But, it wouldn’t be until he was willing to view the event from a different perspective. Research has demonstrated that it’s impossible for a person to hold a negative thought and a positive thought simultaneously. As long as he continued to think negatively, he wasn’t capable of seeing something positive.

Remember, a car accident is an event; neither good, nor bad. It’s our perception of the event that makes it good, bad or somewhere in between. How does one find good from a car accident? The good comes from realizing that things could have been much worse. It comes from being grateful that no one was critically injured or killed. The good comes from realizing how fortunate you are to have financial means to own a vehicle (one to get into an accident with) when so many people can’t afford a car, because of unemployment or low wages. The good comes from realizing that you’re healthy enough to operate a motor vehicle when so many people have disabilities that prevent them from taking care of themselves, let alone drive a car. A car accident can be a catalyst for appreciating what you really have in their life. It can be a “gut check” about taking things and people for granted. A car accident can be a positive experience, if we choose to perceive it that way. Besides lessons, a car accident also holds opportunity. Anytime you meet someone new, whether it is directly or indirectly related to an event, there exists the possibility that new doors will open for us. Any time an event forces you to experience something out of the ordinary, you have the potential to learn something new.

How about you? Are you controlled by the external events that occur in your life? Are you apt to immediately think or respond negatively when things don’t go your way? Or, do look for the opportunity or lesson to be learned from the event. Remember, an event remains negative by your own choosing. An unfortunate event will always remain an unfortunate event until your willing to look for the good that it holds.

It's your life: live it, love it & celebrate it!
MJD