Attitude and Survival

Dear Ward family,

Last night there was a webcast by safeharboralliance.com  The message covered much of what I mentioned in the ward newsletter last Sunday, emphasizing the critical importance of attitude and why it is the key factor in who will make it and who won't in survival situations. When things become extremely difficult, even desperate, more than anything else, YOU are the one to determine if you make it or not based on your attitude.

I am realizing more than ever the importance of making this the foundation of preparedness.  Just in case you were unable to read the preparedness article in the ward News Letter last Sunday, I am sending it out via email for your reading.

What you don’t know will kill you; the Three black holes of Preparedness

            

1. ATTITUDE the crucial approach

2. CLOTHING our most important defense

3. SANITATION the hidden disaster

These three areas of self-reliance are often looked over, misunderstood or avoided.

This month I will focus on the first and most important:  Attitude. 

In an intensely stressful situation, our outlook and attitude can truly be the

determining factor of survival. 

In a class I attended focusing on this topic, Jim Phillips the instuctor told a

story of a boyhood friend who didn’t survive something that he might have if he had been taught to have a proper mindset in a dangerous situation. 

A family gathering was held up in the mountains.  When it had come time to pack up and leave, their ten-year-old boy was nowhere in sight.  The family searched and searched.  A rescue team was sent out.  Three days later, they found the boy’s body.  He was battered, cut and bruised, but not by any person or animal.

It was discovered that on the first night he had become so hysterical, so full of panic and fear, that in his attempt to find family he ran around in the dark, banging into trees, tripping over rocks and branches, running like a wild animal being chased. He died within a few hours of being lost.

This is a tragic story, and something we don’t like to imagine, but we can learn a lot from it.

First, we all need to realize that disasters happen.  If we are properly

prepared emotionally and spiritually to meet them, and if we are willing to keep the attitude and approach that there ARE solutions to the problem, then we have a much higher chance of making it through.

Major catastrophes require that we respond rather than react.  That we adapt to the reality rather than panic, wallow in fear and stay in denial. 

A focus on the number one asset of self-reliance, a proper attitude or mindset, is something a bit different than our regular approach to preparedness: stashing a bunch of supplies and equipment for some future disaster.  That is only half of the equation of survival.

I have regularly got the nudge from God reminding me that my being prepared with “stuff” must always be accompanied with a foundation of spiritual preparedness.

If that is skipped, nothing else matters. Supplies will not do much good without knowing how to let go of fearing the unknown and turn to God for help.  And, we really never know if all our “stuff”  will be where we need it when we need it…but God will. I don’t believe God wants us to become so self-reliant and dependent on our things that we forget how to rely and depend on Him.  

It is key to survival that we face all things with faith and hope.  If not, we

will be victims.  We do have choice in the matter.  And when things get really bad, victims suffer more. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

We need to be prepared to not fall into panic and despair when something

difficult comes our way. Every day we are giving opportunities to practice

patience, faith and calmness despite the little daily storms.  Look forward to these and make it a habit to practice having an attitude that will bring

positive results. This will come in handy for the real big storms ahead.  Even the practice of patience and forgiveness puts us in a mindset of “letting go” and letting God be in charge of those things that we cannot control. 

Elder Harold B. Lee encouraged all to ponder the principles taught in the

Serenity Prayer used In AA

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  Living one day at a time…Trusting that He will make all things right, if I surrender to His will.”