Attitude Matters
For some people, a positive attitude seems to come quite naturally, for others, it is very difficult. For all of us, attitude matters. Your attitude and the way you think make up your personality. People who think positively most of the time have a better outlook on life. Your outlook on life directly affects your perception of the world around you. Trying to see life positively doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore its unpleasant situations it just means that you approach the unpleasantness in a more productive manner. You’d rather think the best is going to happen, not the worst. President Abraham Lincoln was fond of saying “People are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
Simply having a positive mindset won’t actually stop bad things from happening. Bad things happen to good people – it is called life. Having a positive mindset allows you to better deal with bad situations. Often, the best coping skills come down to nothing more than refusing to give in to negativity. The attitude you have towards something, determines what you think about that something. If you think about something long enough, you begin to talk about that something. When you talk about something enough, it begins to happen.
Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head every day. These thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information. Your self-talk determines your attitude. If your self-talk is mostly negative, your outlook on life is going to be mostly negative. If your self-talk is mostly positive, your outlook on life is going to be mostly positive.
In general, people see the world not as it is, but rather, how they want to see it. Your view and your attitude create a lens that shapes and colors the people and situations around you. By trying to be positive as much as possible, you will find yourself in a much nicer world. Think about what is right in your life instead of dwelling on what is wrong. Thinking positive most of the time can add much value to your life. To a negative person, even the talk of being positive might sound delusional and unrealistic. Winston Churchill once said, “I am an optimist, it does not seem too much use in being anything else.”
To be a positive person, you should be keenly aware that life is not all sunshine and rainbows. Bad things happen to good people all of the time – it is called life. Through your attitude, you possess tremendous power to do good or inflict harm, to reward or punish yourself and others. It is your choice – one you have to make on a daily basis. My attitude matters! Your attitude matters! In fact, it makes all the difference.
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