For the love of…..Life!

Texture by Kim Klassen: Sunkissed 100% hard light with selective masking

You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because is is only at this level that you can exercise choice. That you do comes from what you think.
~Marianne Williamson

Kim’s prompt this week for Texture Tuesday is For the love of……..

And I first thought of For the love of spring, which is why I chose this shot. You know, rebirth, renewal, the annual, seasonal do-over. But then I found this quote and it really spoke to me. After I paired it with the photo, I thought the title needed to be changed to For the love of life.

Because isn’t this quote all about how we choose to live life? We make choices every day on how we’re going to approach life and react to its challenges. And it begs the question, which comes first….attitude or behavior? Does our attitude direct our behavior, or by forcing a change in our behavior, do we create a change in our attitude?

I’ll let you ponder that one for a while.

Case in point: When I’m having a bad day and my attitude about life is dragging me into an abyss, what are my choices? I can continue to let the depression and angst overwhelm me to the point where I’m dysfunctional, or figure out how to climb out of the pit and create a different ending…despite the circumstances surrounding me.

Can I choose to make the decision that I’m not going to let my current psychological head trash dictate my actions and then act accordingly? Or, can I choose to force myself to do things to break that cycle and eventually my attitude will shift to be one with more positive and constructive thoughts?

I believe the bottom line is what we think and what we do are so very inter-connected it’s impossible to just snap your fingers and make a change one way or the other. Changing an attitude is a process. But to change an attitude, we must be open to changing our behaviors. And changing behaviors only happens when our minds are open to the idea of shift in our attitude.

What attitudes and behaviors do you need to choose to change in order to fully enjoy life?

Linking up with Texture Tuesday, Texture Twist and Life Through the Lens.