Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow – Helen Keller.
Attitude is a person’s view or way of thinking and feeling about a situation, person or event. Our attitudes define our world because they impact on relationships, work performance, commitments and more. Our thoughts shape our attitudes and govern our actions and the way we feel about people and events. Our attitudes control our lives by making most situations positive or negative. Our attitude forms part of our mindset which is our mental operating system which also includes values and beliefs.
Attitudes control our lives because they determine our level of happiness or unhappiness and our level of success or failure. What you think determines your attitude and how you act. Therefore, it is important that you take responsibility for how you think and how your attitudes are determined. This requires you to have a high level of attitude awareness so that you take responsibility for your state of mind. Attitudes are created by thoughts and feelings so you need to control them or they will control you. What you think you become- Buddha.
We often hear that attitude is everything in life. It is true that a positive attitude, created by a positive mind, results in a positive life. Yet many of us often lapse into negative thinking and some of us can be permanently locked into an unhappy, negative frame of mind . There is a saying in the Irish language; Feiceann súil ghruama saol gruama which translates; a gloomy eye sees a gloomy world. While we may occasionally experience gloom in our lives it should not be a persistent feature influencing our attitudes. By not actively dispelling negative thoughts and continuing to entertain them we will be the cause of our own unhappiness which could even lead to depression.
if you want to change your attitude to life you will need to change the way you think. Negative thinking can be habitual. If that is your frame of mind you will need to significantly change your subconscious thinking, to break the habit of negativity and replace with a habitual positive outlook. This requires you to be alert to your mindset and to be aware of how you react to situations and other people.. It is your attitude which makes a situation positive or negative. While you may nor always be able to stop negative thoughts, you can, with determination, replace them with positive ones.
The Monty Python song , Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, is all about having a positive mental attitude. In this song from the film The Life Of Brian, one of the robbers advises Brian and others enduring death by crucifixion – Keep ’em laughing as you go/ Just remember the last laugh is on you/ And always look on the bright side of life…. This is a man with a positive mindset who sees the positive in every situation -including death by crucifixion! While it is satire there is a clear message to always look on the bright side of life.
The challenge for those of us who are prone to regular negative thinking is to systematically banish those unhelpful thoughts by choosing an inner dialogue of self-encouragement. Some people tend to undervalue themselves and could do well to remember the words of the Finnish composer and violinist, Jean Sibelius; If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.
There is no value in being overly self-critical. Perhaps some of us have been conditioned from childhood to fear change and to expect failure. It is a fact that failure is a part of life but how we react to it is what matters most. Rather than be conditioned to always expect failure we need to build our self-confidence to learn from failure. Remember the words of Albert Einstein; Anyone who has never made a mistake has never learned anything new. As Theodore Roosevelt once said; Believe you can and you’re half way there.
Poor attitudes are habit-forming so we need to remember that habitual negative attitudes can become part of your personality. None of us were born with a negative mindset but some of us cultivated negative mindsets by developing negative attitudes .You are in charge of your attitude so a negative mind sees a negative world. This is not where you should be as you can easily be overwhelmed by a negative situation.
To shift your mindset to a more productive path you need to adopt a healthier state of mind. Having the willpower to adopt and maintain a positive mindset can lead to happiness and success. Attitude is a choice and happiness is also a choice, so choose wisely. This is the prize for your effort and the reward for your willpower.
Never underestimate the power of positive thinking. Thousands of books have been written about the transformational impact of positive thinking on our lives and attitudes. What you feed your mind is your responsibility, so be your own gatekeeper and monitor your thoughts and how you think. Those with positive attitudes lead healthier lives. Research shows that positive thinkers have less stress, are less prone to depression, have longer lifespans with increased immunity, better resilience, better health, improved wellness and enhanced self-esteem. Who wouldn’t want all that!
To shift your mindset you need to change your attitude. Your thoughts define your attitude. Either you control them or they control you. Don’t give away your power to think and act positively and lose the benefits of positivism as listed above. Work hard, be alert and change your sub-conscious thinking until positive thinking becomes habitual. Always remember that a positive mindset transforms your world to one of positive potential. Important ingredients for success are self-belief , confidence and a positive attitude. Make optimism a way of life. No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit- Helen Keller.
if you want to change your life, then change how you think. Positive affirmation is crucial to the process of change. Focus on the good things in life. Practise gratitude. Stop comparing yourself unfavourably with others. Learn from failures and don’t be defeated by them. Set reasonable goals and view problems as challenges. Try to see the good in people and events. Believe in yourself and believe that change is doable because change creates opportunities, options and choices. All this takes practice but is achievable through willpower and determination .
A successful, transformational process requires you to practise self-awareness and be alert to any inclination to default to negative thoughts and attitudes. A bad attitude disables you and diminishes your potential. Vote for optimism by changing your attitude and mindset. Don’t let others dampen your spirit; it’s your life not theirs, so live your reality not theirs.
By changing your attitude you can change the course of your life. Once your mindset changes, everything in your world changes. Our attitude toward’s life determines life’s attitude towards us- John N. Mitchell. A negative attitude is a bad attitude and there are no benefits in having one. If you don’t control what you think you can’t control what you do. Don’t let your past define your future.
Your attitude is your choice. If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me – Tom Dreeson.
(Feature photo by Mark Adriane on Unsplash)
(Believe In Yourself photo by Katrina Wright on Unsplash)