Proactive not reactive

One of the things that I have been studying is attitudes and how to gain an absolute attitude of success. The latest book I am tackling is 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It's an awesome book that teaches people how to have a highly effective life. The first step is very interesting, you must first learn to be proactive and not reactive.
Being proactive is not the same meaning today that it was many, many years ago. Today it means you are acting upon another object, then it meant that you were in control of things. Reactive is obviously when you are taken back by something and react to it.
Well, in his book Stephen Conyer tells us to understand ourselves and fix ourselves before we try to fix anyone else, or even try to lead anyone else. He says that being proactive is understanding that you have a circle of influence. Those things that you personally have control over, many people do not have control over the things inside this circle. For instance, someone says something to you that you do not like. You have choices to make, you can get angry and fight back, you can get sad and sulk or you can let it slide off your shoulder like it never happened. Getting mad is your choice. Being sad is your choice. You make the decision, whether it is subliminally or not to be either sad or mad. You can also chose to be happy when good things happen.
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?" (Ps 13:1-2).
King David had a very extreme life. In that, it was either full of extreme highs, or it was packed full of extreme lows. In this situation he is blaming his feelings(which he chose) on God. Circumstances are out of our controls, most of our actions and our feelings are not. I know I can think of a lot of times in my life where I have blamed outside sources for my attitude or my feelings. The truth is, I chose them. And the more influence we allow God to have on us, the more good choices we will have. Road rage has been out of my bag of tricks for over 10 years now. People cut me off, if it doesn't endanger my kids or myself, then oh well it happened. It's because I chose a long time ago to get rid of it, and now I am able to chose to let it slide.
So think about your attitude, what influences are a part of your decisions in attempting to decide your actions. Become pro-active and watch life get better for you, control the things you can control and don't let the things you can't control control you.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!