The legendary Italian violinist Niccolo Paganini was playing a difficult piece of music before a large audience. Suddenly one string on his violin snapped, yet he continued to play, improvising beautifully. Then two more strings broke, and he completed the composition playing with only one string.
When the applause eventually stopped, he nodded at the conductor to begin the encore. The violinist smiled at the audience and shouted, “Paganini . . . and one string!” Placing his instrument under his chin, he played again with that one string.
Paganini didn’t let something that seemed to be a deal-breaker interfere with his attitude and outlook on what he needed to do. The violinist was supposed to play and that is what he was going to do – and do it to the best of his ability.
What is the one-string that we encounter in life that we just don’t feel like we can overcome? The obstacle that might seem like a deal-breaker?
When it comes to life, we truly are about as happy as we decide we will be. It is up to us to determine our attitude. No situation – or person can make us feel a certain way unless we allow it.
Author Charles Swindoll once said, “Life is 10% what happens to us but 90% how we react to it.”
Sure, we might have problems or inconveniences today but they become much worse if we react negatively toward them. Do you want to have power over your life or allow something else to have power over you. We are in charge of our actions and our attitude. We cannot control whether we are faced with having only one-string, but we can certainly decide how we will play that one-string.