Our Attitude – It’s with us Everywhere we go!
Our Attitude – It’s with Us Everywhere we go!
Our attitude is with us wherever we go. When we wake up, when in the car, when talking with a spouse or friend and everywhere else. It’s a simple fact, no matter where we are our attitude comes along. In a world where we often hear what’s wrong and what we’re not doing right, it’s easy to allow our attitude to sour and be disheartened. When we see gas prices at record levels, politicians caring more about themselves than their constituents, covid and flu still lurking, and out of the blue our car or an appliance breaks down and we need to come up with money for repairs it’s easy to wonder, “will we ever get ahead?”. I could easily go on and list all the things which are disheartening but is that what you really want to hear? I don’t think so. So instead, I’ve decided to focus on what’s right, what’s good, what’s lovely in my life, in our world and why it’s important to keep a positive attitude.
I’m blessed and have a beautiful wife, a wonderful family, an awesome home, freedoms many only dream of and a church community who cares about me. So, how can I complain? Life is good despite my setbacks, my shortcomings, my problems. The key is that I need to remind myself at times of what’s important and not stay discouraged when things get overwhelming or frustrating. The fact is, life isn’t going to show up the way I always want it to!
I was reminded how blessed I am recently when I participated in something called a transformation table. These tables are simply Zoom(virtual) meetings where men and women who want to grow get together for open discussion. During the recent session we covered the area of attitude and how it can adversely impact our life. Our outlook on life can greatly affect everything we do and when we allow a negative attitude to grip us it can negatively affect our health as well as those around us. There’s nothing worse than a feeling of hopelessness or depression as it can immobilize us to where we don’t want to leave our homes. This isn’t good.
I’ve come to find that keeping a positive attitude is a moment-by-moment decision we all have to make, even during tough times. Reminding ourselves to be grateful should be an ongoing practice as it helps us overcome even the greatest of challenges. Keeping things in perspective is a great way to change negative attitudes into positive ones.
We’ve all been reminded of times when we thought we were going through a rough situation and someone came along and shared with us something they were going through and thought, “WOW, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that”. Take the people of Ukraine for example, many have died fighting for their country. Many have been humiliated, raped and millions of men, women and children are displaced from their homes. Families have been torn apart, possibly never to be reunited, and their country has been destroyed by missiles, grenades, fires and other means. They have had their freedoms stripped from them as the world watches on in horror. That’s just one example of those living in horrific conditions so we must remember to count our blessings.
Our attitude affects our outlook, which in turn, affects the actions we take to make life better. Having a positive attitude sets the stage to try new things, volunteer, get involved in clubs or take trips. There are many intangible benefits of having and keeping a positive attitude and having good relationships is just one on them. No one likes to hang around someone who is always negative.
My wife likes to write things down that are bothering her as it helps let go of or deal with things as they come up. Writing things down forces us to acknowledge them and then we can take appropriate actions to eliminate or overcome them. We can all get overwhelmed with everything that’s going on and writing things down keeps life more manageable.
Another great way to keep a positive attitude is to laugh. Laughter is a great way to let go of things bothering us and helps us see that life can still be good even when things aren’t the way we want them to be. Let’s all keep a good sense of humor and learn to laugh at ourselves. It’s a great way to keep things on the lighter side!
In closing I’d like to say that I am acutely aware of times in our lives where we can be in continual physical or emotional pain. During these times it can be extremely hard to keep positive. But this is where friends can help by lending a hand, praying and / or giving words of encouragement. When my grandson Jeremy passed away a few years ago our family had to go through a grieving process that took several years. It was hard to smile much less find humor in life. Fortunately, with the help of friends, God carried us all through it and are now stronger for it. There are no guarantees that adversity won’t come our way but keeping positive in the midst of it shows great strength and courage. Let’s all strive to stay POSITIVE and have a blessed day!!
Robert is a personal growth and leadership coach, loves to sing and share the bible. He’s married, has two grown daughters, one son-in-law and three living grandchildren. In 2016, he wrote a book called, Experiencing God’s Love Through His Creation which is a devotional about the love of God. He can be reached at rjnegron@aol.com
