Attitude

At·ti·tude

Noun:  1. Manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind: a negative attitude; group attitudes.

That's what the dictionary says. It didn't say positive attitude. I think that I generally have a positive attitude most of the time. My wife says that I need an attitude adjustment. It's because I don't agree with her. I feel positive even though I don't agree. It's very difficult to feel negative about everything. Maybe I'm too calm and serene.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.

Have you ever noticed how refreshingly fun it is to be around positive thinking people who seem to naturally maintain a positive attitude? No matter how bad the circumstances, negativity never even enters their minds, let alone crosses their lips to form negative, faithless words! But let's be honest, encountering a positive person is a rare occurrence these days. Whoops, that sure was a negative thought! 

I became positive after I got sober. They said to stay away from people, places, and things that involved alcohol, and to avoid negative people. It was easy for me to avoid those people and places because I didn't have any friends anyway. I made a lot of new friends and it changed everything.

Negative Versus Positive Thinking

Why is it so much easier to have a negative attitude than a positive one? What's inside of us that just naturally pulls us toward the negative side of things?

We read the books. We attend the seminars. We buy the tapes, and things seem to go well for a while. We feel better. Our outlook is improved, and we're hopeful. That is ... until something happens that sends us reeling all over again.

It doesn't even have to be a major, catastrophic event to send us back to the land of negative thinking. It can be something as simple as someone cutting us off in traffic or pushing ahead of us in the grocery checkout line. What gives those seemingly simple occurrences of everyday life so much power to literally throw us into a tizzy all over again?

This never ending cycle continues because its source is never addressed. We "try hard" to be positive, attempting to over-ride how we truly feel. It's a lot of work pretending to be positive when inside we know all too well that it won't take long before one of those annoying life issues creeps up and dumps all over our positive attitude.

Negative Thinking

Negative attitudes come from negative thoughts that come from reactions to negative behavior. And around the cycle goes. We know that none of this negative stuff is coming from God. There is nothing negative about the way he thinks or acts.

So how do we put a stop to all this nonsense? How do we get to a place where our positive attitude is what's natural for us and not the other way around?

It might be nice to wish we could get a magic formula that, when applied correctly, would erase your negative attitude in three days. Yup, can't you just see the infomercial on a product like that? For just $19.95 you can have all your dreams come true. What a bargain! People would be lining up for this one.

But alas, the real world isn't quite so simple. The good news is that there are some things we can do to help transition from the land of negativity to a much more positive place.

Positive Thinking Tips for a Positive Attitude – Permanently 

•First, focus on what you're thinking about.

• Remember what I said about being stuck because we never addressed the source? Our negative actions and words are coming from our negative thoughts. Our body, including the mouth, has no choice but to follow wherever our mind goes.

It is possible to control our thoughts, regardless of what we've been led to believe. As soon as a negative thought comes into your mind, purposefully make it a point to replace it with a positive one. (2 Corinthians 10:5) At first, this may take some work, because chances are, we will probably have a lot more negative thoughts in our head than positive ones. But eventually, the ratio will reverse itself.